Saturday, February 11, 2012

A STUDY OF FIRST KINGS, CONTINUED

REVIEW:
I. THE UNITED KINGDOM FROM SOLOMON TO REHOBOAM [1-11]
A. SOLOMON'S ASCENSION TO THE THRONE [1-2]
1. ADONIJAH'S ASPIRATION TO THE THRONE IS DEFEATED [1]

CURRENT LESSON:
2. LAST WORDS AND DEATH OF DAVID [2:1-11].

2:1] Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,

2:2] I go the way of all the earth: be you strong therefore, and show thyself a man;

2:3] And keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and whithersoever you turn thyself:

This verse is very similar to the language of Psalms 119.


2:4] That the LORD may continue His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you (said He) a man on the throne of Israel.

These “days” may have been an extended period of months. The words do not necessarily refer to immediate death. David's charge to Solomon may be regarded as twofold:

(1) an exhortation to obey the law of Jehovah (3-4);
(2) an admonition to deal wisely with David's enemies and friends, according to their deserts (5-9).


2:5] Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

2:6] Do therefore according to your wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.

David specifically instructed Solomon to eliminate his enemies: Joab and Shimei. Some critics had claimed these instructions to be “extremely cruel”. However, it should be noted that the inflicting of penalties upon them was not just because of David's personal desire for revenge. Joab, captain of the host, was guilty of a double murder — Abner (2 Sam 3:27) and Amasa, son of Jether (2 Sam 20:10). In fact, Joab had been correctly accused by David of committing acts of war in times of peace. He therefore must die at once; as illustrated by the picturesque figure of speech with the bloody girdle and shoes (5).


2:7] But show kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at your table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom your brother.

The aged Barzillai had sustained David in his flight from his son Absalom (2 Sam 19:3Iff); without which, David might have succumbed to starvation in the wilderness.


2:8] And, behold, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when 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.

During the rebellion of Absalom, Shimei came out to meet the fleeing King, cursing as he came and flinging dust and stones (an extreme insult) at David and his entourage (2 Sam 16:5-13). After the rebellion had been repressed, Shimei asked for pardon which David gave him as far as execution of punishment was concerned.

There are two views of David's charge to Solomon to “hold him (Shimei) not guiltless (innocent)” (verse 9):

(1) David actually feared that the curse he had pronounced might come true; and the best way to avoid it was to remove the one who had uttered it, and thus render it inoperative.

(2) Since Shimei was a Benjamite from the neighborhood of former King Saul, David feared that he might strike at the throne again, once his protective custody was withdrawn.

Before any actual penalty was imposed, Solomon gave Shimei a reprieve which was strongly conditioned on his “good behavior”.


2:9] Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for you are a wise man, and know what you ought to do unto him; but his hoar head bring you down to the grave with blood.

2:10] So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

The city which David (actually Joab) had wrested from the “Jebusites” and later claimed for his capital city became the burial ground for the great King. Though David was born in Bethlehem (also known in places as “The City of David” – remember the announcement of the birth of Jesus), Jerusalem henceforth was to be designated “The City of David”.


2:11] And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.

There is no particular chronological problem involved here. David died at the age of seventy, having reigned forty years. He had reigned seven years over the Hebron area, a small southerly sector within the Tribe of Judah, and thirty-three years over the entire nation of Israel (c 1010—971 BC).


3. SOLOMON’S ELIMINATION OF HIS RIVALS TO THE THRONE (2:12-46).


2:12] Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.

2:13] And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bath-Sheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Comest you peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.

2:14] He said moreover, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And she said, Say on.

2:15] And he said, you know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: howbeit the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's: for it was his from the LORD.

This last statement clearly tells us that Adonijah knew that Solomon had been designated as the heir apparent. It could also be inferred that all the children knew of David’s decision – and that David had been led of God Himself in making it.


2:16] And now I ask one petition of you, deny me not. And she said unto him, Say on.

2:17] And he said, Speak, I pray you, unto Solomon the King, (for he will not say you nay) that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife.

He approached Solomon's mother with a seemingly harmless but really insidious request. He said, in effect, "Let Abishag be given to me." This young girl had been David’s private “hospice nurse” in his declining state. Bath-Sheba did not have God’s Leadership skills and could see nothing unusual or perverse in this request; but simply an "affair of the heart," and so she readily agreed to talk to the king.


2:18] And Bath-Sheba said, Well; I will speak for you unto the king.

2:19] Bath-Sheba therefore went unto King Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And the King rose up to meet her, and bowed himself (“showed proper respect”) unto her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the King's mother; and she sat on his right hand.

She innocently became a go-between for Adonijah. With great courtesy the King received his mother . . . until she placed the request before him.


2:20] Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray you, say me not nay. And the King said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say you nay.

2:21] And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother to wife.

2:22] And King Solomon answered and said unto his mother, And why dost you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

Solomon’s language here is sarcasm; as he could see right through this plot. Even though David had not “known” Abishag sexually, she could have nevertheless been considered an inheritor. With her could go the rights to the throne. Having once failed in an abortive attempt to seize the kingdom, Adonijah now sought in a more subtle way to gain his objective.

This time he would not be pardoned. Adonijah had failed to appreciate the mercy that had been shown him; therefore relentless judgment fell.

It should be noted that this is before God’s “Gift of Wisdom” was granted to Solomon. He already was ahead of the game.


2:23] Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.

2:24] Now therefore, as the LORD lives, which has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.

2:25] And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he (Benaiah) fell upon him (Adonijah) that he died.

2:26] And unto Abiathar the priest said the King, Get you to Anathoth, unto your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you have been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.

Abiathar, a descendant of Aaron through Eli, was removed from his priestly office and sent back in disgrace to his home village. The reason for Abiathar's punishment, as stated by Solomon, was that he had participated in Adonijah's rebellion. Though expelled, he was not executed, because he had remained faithful to David in the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam 15:24ff).


2:27] So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the LORD; that he might fulfill the word of the LORD, which He spoke concerning the House of Eli in Shiloh.

2:28] Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the Tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

Solomon now began to carry out the orders of his deceased father regarding his enemies. The Taber¬nacle was located at Gibeon (see 3:4), to which Joab had fled, knowing that his doom was sealed. However, not even the “sanctuary of the altar” could afford refuge for the willful murderer.


2:29] And it was told King Solomon that Joab was fled unto the Tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

2:30] And Benaiah came to the Tabernacle of the LORD, and said unto him, Thus says the King, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the King word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.

2:31] And the King said unto him, Do as he has said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that you may take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.

2:32] And the LORD shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.

2:33] Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed (his family) forever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.

The King was giving concrete evidence as to the justice of the sentence. The words of the “benediction” imply that once bloodguilt was removed from the throne, it would then stand in a position of blessing before God. After the execution had taken place, Joab was interred in his own house. The old general was not dishonored after all. To be buried on one’s own property was a mark of distinction as in the case of Samuel.


2:34] So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

2:35] And the King put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room (Joab’s position) over the host: and Zadok the priest did the King put in the room (place or position) of Abiathar.

After the replacement of Joab by Benaiah, Zadok succeeded Abiathar.

Zadok’s appointment is going to give a lot of problems because of political and parliamentery maneuvering by the state from that time forward.

The next problem for Solomon was to deal with Shimei.

2:36] And the King sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build you a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither.

2:37] For it shall be, that on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, you shall know for certain that you shall surely die: your blood shall be upon your own head.

The Kidron Valley divided Benjamin from Judah; and since Shemai was from Benjamin, this order forbade him to return to his own tribe. He was obviously placed under strict surveillance.


2:38] And Shimei said unto the King, The saying is good: as my lord the King has said, so will your servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

2:39] And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish son of Maachah King of Gath (in Philistine country). And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants be in Gath.

2:40] And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

He did this while clearly remembering the restriction to not leave town.


2:41] And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.

2:42] And the King sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make you to swear by the LORD, and protested unto you, saying, Know for a certain, on the day you go out, and walk abroad any whither, that you shall surely die? And you said unto me, The word that I have heard is good.

2:43] Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged you with?

2:44] The King said moreover to Shimei, you know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return your wickedness upon your own head;

Whether or not the use of the death penalty was justified is something for seminarians to get bent all out of shape over; but clearly, Solomon read into Shemei’s actions a very serious motive, and punished him with death. Solomon had now completed everything David had charged him to do.


2:45] And King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.

He is congratulating himself here; and saying that the curse placed on David (and his family) would now be removed with Shemei’s death.


2:46] So the King commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him (Shemei), that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

It would have been better for Solomon if he had been as zealous in obeying the commands of God as he was in obeying the commands of David.

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