1 Kings 1

 

1 Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he had no heat. 2 Therefore his servants said to him, Seek a young virgin for my lord the king: and let her stand before the king, and let her nurse him, and let her lie in your bosom, that my lord the king may be warm. 3 So they sought a beautiful young woman in all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The young woman was very beautiful, and nursed the king, and served him: but the king knew her not/had no sexual relations with her.

 

  • Isreal held a beauty contest for David’s electric blanket. David had eight wives and an unknown number of concubines.

 

5 Then Adonijah, the son of Haggith, exalted himself saying, I will be king: and he prepared for himself chariots, horsemen, and fifty men to run before him 6 His father had not discouraged him at any time in saying, Why have you done this? He was a handsome man; his mother bore him after Absalom.

 

  • Absalom was dead.
  • Adonijah was next in line for David’s throne.
  • However, God had chosen another.
  • Adonijah exalted himself.
  • Self-exaltation is what man gained at the fall.
  • If we do not get the right perspective of ourselves in relation to God and His universe, we are like Adonijah, exalting ourselves.
  • God alone is worthy of exaltation.
  • He made the universe, life, us, and died for all.
  • No other comes close to being this great.
  • 1Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

 

7 He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, with Abiathar the priest: and those following Adonijah helped him. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and the mighty men that belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. 9 And Adonijah killed sheep, oxen, and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants: 10 But he did not call Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty warriors, or his brother Solomon.

 

  • It was known that Solomon was God’s stated heir to David’s throne.
  • Adonijah did not seek the will of God.
  • If Adonijah ruled, he would probably kill these people who threatened his reign.

 

11 So Nathan spoke to Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon saying, Haven’t you heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, reigns, and David our lord does not know it? 12 Now come, Please let me give you counsel so that you may save your own life, and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Go in to king David and say to him, Did you not, my lord, O king, swear to your handmaid saying, Solomon your son will definitely reign after me, and he will sit on my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign? 14 Behold, while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words. 15 So Bath-sheba went in unto the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered to the king. 16 And Bath-sheba bowed, and fell down before the king. And the king said, What is your request? 17 And she said to him, My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your handmaid saying, Solomon your son will definitely reign after me, and he will sit on my throne.

 

  • An oath in the name of the LORD was the most binding contract.

 

18 Now behold, Adonijah reigns; and now, my lord the king, you have not known: 19 He has killed oxen, fat cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the army: but he has not called Solomon your servant. 20 And you, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, for you to tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, I and my son Solomon, will be counted offenders. 22 And behold, while she still talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in also. 23 And they told the king saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. 24 And Nathan said, My lord, O king, have you said, Adonijah will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne? 25 For he has gone down today, and killed oxen, fat cattle, and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king’s sons, the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest; and behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, Let king Adonijah live.


  • Notice that this group trying to seize power left out God.
  • Rather than saying God save the king, they said, Live king Adonijah live!

 

26 But he has not called me, even me, your servant, Zadok the priest, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon,. 27 If this thing is from my lord the king, then you have not showed your servant who is to sit on the throne of my lord the king after him! 28 Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.

 

The LORD redeems us from all distress

 

29 And the king swore and said, As the LORD lives, that has redeemed my soul out of all distress, 30 Even as I swore to you by the LORD God of Israel saying, Solomon your son will definitely reign after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place; I will definitely do this today. 31 Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live forever. 32 And king David said, Call me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. 33 The king also said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon: 34 Have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel: and blow with the trumpet and say, God save king Solomon. 35 Then you come up after him, that he may come and sit on my throne; for he is to be king in my place: and I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.

36 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, Amen: So says the LORD God of my lord the king. 37 As the LORD has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David.

 

  • God had been with David as he ruled Israel.
  • In 1 Kings 10 the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon.
  • Her words show that God answered this prayer about Solomon.
  • God will make Jesus’s throne infinitely greater.
  • John 3:35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.

 

38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down and caused Solomon to ride on king David’s mule, and brought him to Gihon. 39 And Zadok the priest took a horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, Let king Solomon live! 40 And all the people came up after him, and the people played flutes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth was torn with their sound.

 

  • The Cherethites and Pelethites were David’s personal bodyguard battalions, enough armed men to enforce David’s edict over Adonijah’s ploy.
  • Oil represented the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Holy Spirit on Solomon to rule God’s people.

 

41 And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar? 42 And while he yet spoke behold, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest, came: and Adonijah said to him, Come in; for you are a valiant man, and bring good news. 43 And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Truly our lord king David has made Solomon king. 44 The king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride on the king’s mule: 45 And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that you have heard. 46 And also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. 47 And moreover the king’s servants came to bless our lord king David saying, God make the name of Solomon better than your name, and make his throne greater than your throne. And the king bowed himself on the bed.

 

God gave David a son to rule in his place

 

48 And also the king said this, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who has given one to sit on my throne this day, my eyes seeing it. 49 And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid. They got up, and every man went his way.

50 And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and got up and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 51 And it was told Solomon saying, Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon: behold, he has caught hold on the horns of the altar saying, Let king Solomon swear to me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword. 52 And Solomon said, If he will shows himself a worthy man, not a hair of his will fall to the earth: but if wickedness is found in him, he will die. 53 So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said to him, Go to your house.

 

  • Solomon was fair.
  • He gave Adonijah a chance to do right.
  • Adonijah was a son of David and brother to the new king of Israel.
  • That should have been enough for him.
  • The phrase ’if wickedness is found in him’ is explained by the two trees in the center of the Garden of Eden.
  • The first tree was the Tree of Life.
  • This tree represented listening to and believing God.
  • The second tree was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil.
  • That tree represented listening to and doing evil.
  • If Adonijah followed God and humbled himself before the king in obedience he would live.
  • If Adonijah listened to the whispers of evil and tried to revolt again, he would be killed.
  • Psalm 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us
  • Revelation 3:21 To him that overcomes I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
  • Revelation 1:6 And has made us kings and priests to God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

 

 

                                           1 Kings 2

 

1 Now the days of David’s death drew near and he charged his son Solomon saying, 2 I am going the way of all the earth: you be strong, be a man; 3 And keep the charge of the LORD your God to walk in his ways, to guard his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may do wisely in all that you do and wherever you turn: 4 That the LORD may continue his word that he spoke concerning me saying, If your sons guard their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you will always have a man on the throne of Israel.

  • Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law he meditates day and night. 3 He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf will not wither; and whatsoever he does will prosper.

 

5 Also you know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, shedding the blood of war in time of peace, and put the blood of war on his belt that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. 6 So do according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to the Sheol in peace.

 

  • Joab killed Abner in 2 Samuel 3:27.
  • He killed Amasa in 2 Samuel 20:9.
  • Both were military commanders but not killed in battle.
  • Joab came to each of them in peace; he asked them about their health, and then unexpectedly thrust his sword into them.
  • Abner had killed Joab’s brother Asahel.
  • Amasa had been made commander of the army instead of Joab.

 

7 But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those that eat at your table: for they came to me when I fled because of your brother Absalom. 8 And behold, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, who cursed me with a strong curse in the day I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD saying, I will not put you to death with the sword. 9 Now therefore do not let him go unpunished: for you are a wise man, and know what you should do to him; you will bring down to the grave his gray head with blood.

 

  • An oath or promise in the name of the LORD was the most binding oath.

 

10 So David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. 11 The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12 Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly. 13 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-sheba, the mother of Solomon. And she said, Do you come in peace? And he said, In peace. 14 He said, I have something to say to you. And she said, Speak. 15 And he said, You know that the kingdom was mine, that all Israel set their faces on me to reign: however, the kingdom turned around, and has become my brother’s: for it was his from the LORD.

 

  • Daniel 2:21 And he changes the times and the seasons: he removes kings, and sets up kings: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

 

16 Now I ask one thing of you, do not deny me. And she said to him, Continue. 17 And he said, Please speak to Solomon the king, (for he will not refuse you,) to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife. 18 And Bath-sheba said, Good; I will speak for you to the king. 19 So Bath-sheba went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, bowed himself to her, sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand. 20 Then she said, I desire one small petition of you; Please do not refuse me. And the king said to her, Ask, my mother: for I will not refuse you. 21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife. 2 And king Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Do you ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my older brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

 

  • Abishag was the very beautiful young woman who kept David warm through his last days (1 Kings 1).
  • God has promised us greater things than Adonijah was scheming for.
  • Revelation 21:7 He that overcomes will inherit all things; and I will be his, and he will be my son.

 

23 Then king Solomon swore by the LORD saying, God do so to me, and even more, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. 24 Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me, set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a dynasty, as he promised, Adonijah will be put to death this day. 25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he attacked him so that he died. 26 And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you have been afflicted in all that my father was afflicted. 27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to the LORD; that he might fulfill the word of the LORD that he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

 

  • Abiathar had a hand in his this because he had followed Adonijah in his attempted revolt (1 Kings 1:7).
  • In 1 Samuel 2:30, 31 God cursed the house of Eli because he did not discipline his sons but let them steal offerings and lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle to worship.
  • Solomon saw the plot behind Adonijah’s request.
  • To marry the former woman of a lord was to take the place of that lord (see 2 Samuel 3).
  • The bigger picture is that God reveals all those who refuse to be ruled by their Maker.
  • Solomon spared Abiathar because he had been with David through the hard times as God is with us through hard times.
  • God always fulfills His word.
  •  Psalm 21:8 Your hand will find out all your enemies: your right hand will find out those that hate you.
  • Isaiah 63:9 In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.
  • Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will not pass away.

 

28 Then news came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, not after Absalom. So Joab fled to the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. 29 King Solomon was told that Joab ran to the tabernacle of the LORD; and behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada saying, Go, fall on him. 30 So Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD and said to him, The king says, Come out. And he said, No; I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again saying, This is what Joab said, this is how he answered me. 31 And the king said to him, Do as he has said, fall on him and bury him; that you may take away the innocent blood that Joab shed from me, and from the house of my father.

 

  • Numbers 35:33Y ou are not to pollute the land you are in: for blood defiles the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, except by the blood of him that shed it.
  • Genesis 9:6 Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood is to be shed: for in the image of God he made man.

 

God returns the blood of murderers on their own head

 

32 And the LORD will return his blood on his own head, who fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, without my father David’s knowledge of it, that is, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

 

  • Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

 

33 Their blood will return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever: but on David, on his seed, on his house, and on his throne, there will be peace forever from the LORD. 34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, attacked him, and killed him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the military: and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar. 36 And the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, live there, and do not go out from there to any place. 37 For it will be that on the day you go out and cross over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die: your blood will be on your own head. 38 And Shimei said to the king, The word is good: as my lord the king has said, this is what your servant will do. And Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

 

  • Solomon kept watch over the man who had cursed David during his flight from Absalom. Shimei was loyal to Saul and his descendants.

 

39 And at the end of three years, two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath. 40 So Shimei got up, saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. 41 And Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and returned. 42 And the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, Did I not make you to swear by the LORD, and solemnly warned you saying, Know for a certain, on the day you leave and go anywhere, that you will surely die? And you said to me, The word that I have heard is good. 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I charged you? 44 And the king said to Shimei, You know all the evil that your heart has known that you did to David my father: therefore the LORD will return your evil on your own head; 45 And king Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before the LORD forever. 46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; who went out, and attacked him so that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

 

  • Jesus Christ is the direct descendant of David.
  • He will rule forever.
  • Psalm 45:6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter.
  • Exodus 15:18 The LORD will reign forever and ever.
  • Revelation 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he will reign forever and ever.


 

 

 

SUMMARY: I Kings 1-2

 

  • The LORD redeems us from all distress
  • He gave David a son to rule in his place
  • God returns the blood of murderers on their own head