Year 1, Day 343: 1 Kings 2

It’s So Simple

I love the end of David’s first commandment to Solomon in 1 Kings 2:4.  “If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.”  It sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  If you follow my ways, you will be cared for.  If you follow my ways, life will go accordingly.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I don’t want anyone to think that I am saying here that if we just follow God’s ways we’ll get everything our heart desires.  It isn’t like God is saying that if we just follow His ways that we’ll be the wealthiest people in the world with neither a want nor a care.  In fact, I think it is that kind of thinking that gets us specifically into trouble.  It is those “wants and cares” that get us into trouble when we should be focused on needs and God’s provision.

David is not telling Solomon here that if the Hebrew people follow God’s ways that they will have everything they want.  But what David is telling Solomon is that if they follow God’s ways they will have God’s protection and His provision with respect to what they need.  This then opens up a really deep question: are they willing to be satisfied with God’s protection and provision?

I suddenly feel as though a bomb went off in my mind and in my life.  It isn’t fair to ask that question of the Hebrew people and not ask it of myself.  Am I satisfied with God’s protection and His provision?  Or do I want more than I need in life.  Do I need that bigger house?  Do I need that fancy cell phone?  Do I need that nice car?  Or the nice kitchen cookware?  Or the jeans that don’t come from Wal-mart?  Or the pets that are breeder purchased and not shelter rescued?  Or the computer that has far more bells and whistles than I use?  How much of my life is really evidence that I’m just not satisfied with God’s protection and provision?  I’m not going to lie to you here {Or anywhere, for that matter!}.  That question hurts to ask myself.

It should be so easy to follow God.  Just stay focused on Him, right?  Yet it is far more difficult that it sounds!

Death, Grace, and Forgiveness

Having asked that difficult question, I’ll focus quickly on the deaths of Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei.  Before going too far, though, I will remind us to keep the grace and forgiveness of Solomon front and center.  It is easy to read these passages and think of Solomon as a cruel man.  But when read properly these passages display his grace.  Solomon could have killed them outright when Adonijah rebelled; he has already forgiven them and allowed them to live.

Adonijah comes and asks for one of David’s harem.  Perhaps this sounds like a simple request.  After all, what would Solomon want with David’s harem, right?  Several weeks ago when we were studying the revolt of Absalom we came across a similarly themed passage and at that time I spoke about the need to remember that taking the harem  was akin to claiming right to the kingdom.  To claim to rule over David’s harem would be similar to claiming David’s right to rule.  To make the analogy fit perfectly, to claim a portion of David’s harem would symbolically claim the right to rule a portion of David’s kingdom.  And once a foothold was granted, where would it stop?

You see, Adonijah is still trying to possess the kingdom.  He tried to take it by outright force and Solomon forgave the act.  Now Solomon sees that Adonijah will try more subtle tactics.  Adonijah does not learn the lesson.  He is not repentant.  He wants the kingdom and does not care about God’s choice of Solomon as king.  Adonijah earns his destruction.

The same is true for Shimei.  Solomon is gracious to Shimei and allows him to live so long as he stays in Jerusalem.  In other words, Solomon wants to keep him where he can keep an eye on him.  Solomon knows that if Shimei is allowed to go out into the Hebrew countryside the possibility of trouble and a revolt is likely.  But so long as Shimei was willing to abide by Solomon’s arrangement he would be spared.  Shimei violates the arrangement, the pact is broken, and Shimei earns his destruction as well.  Shimei forsook the grace that was offered to him and tossed it aside.

As for Joab, his case is not so clear cut.  Joab had killed during peacetime.  He had killed against David’s orders.  He had participated in a revolt against Solomon.  He had already earned the judgment and was living on borrowed time.  His flight to the altar tells us that he knew it was coming.  Here we might not see Solomon’s earlier forgiveness clearly, but we do also see judgment coming to a person who had earned the judgment he received.

In the end, it is easy to see Solomon as beginning with a cruel stroke.  But there was grace and forgiveness involved.  It is only after his grace and forgiveness is cast aside that Solomon comes down in judgment.

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