Transcript 1 Kings 2:13 – 4:34 “Solomon Establishes the Throne In Wisdom” 11 Then Nathan went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, and asked her, “Haven’t you.

1 Kings
2:13 – 4:34
“Solomon Establishes the Throne In Wisdom”
11 Then
Nathan went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s
mother, and asked her, “Haven’t you heard
that Haggith’s son, Adonijah, has made
himself king, and our lord David doesn’t even
know about it? 12 If you want to save your
own life and the life of your son Solomon,
follow my advice.
1 Kings 1
52
Solomon replied, “If he proves himself to
be loyal, not a hair on his head will be
touched. But if he makes trouble, he will
die.”
1 Kings 1
5
“And there is something else. You know
what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me when he
murdered my two army commanders…6 Do
with him what you think best, but don’t let
him grow old and go to his grave in peace…
1 Kings 2
8
“And remember Shimei…He cursed me with
a terrible curse as I was fleeing to
Mahanaim…I swore by YaHWeH that I would
not kill him. 9 But that oath does not make
him innocent. You are a wise man, and you
will know how to arrange a bloody death for
him.”
1 Kings 2
13
One day Adonijah, whose mother was
Haggith, came to see Bathsheba, Solomon’s
mother. “Have you come with peaceful
intentions?” she asked him. “Yes,” he said, “I
come in peace. 14 In fact, I have a favor to ask
of you.” “What is it?” she asked.
1 Kings 2
15
He replied, “As you know, the kingdom
was rightfully mine; all Israel wanted me to
be the next king. But the tables were
turned, and the kingdom went to my
brother instead; for that is the way
YaHWeH wanted it.
1 Kings 2
16
So now I have just one favor to ask of
you. Please don’t turn me down.” “What is
it?” she asked. 17 He replied, “Speak to King
Solomon on my behalf, for I know he will do
anything you request. Ask him to let me
marry Abishag…”
1 Kings 2
“Although Abishag had been only David’s
nurse, in the eyes of the people she passed as
his concubine; and among the Israelites, just
as with the ancient Persians (Herod. iii. 68),
taking possession of the harem of a deceased
king was equivalent to an establishment of
the claim to the throne . . .” C. F. Keil, The Books of the Kings
18
“All right,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak
to the king for you.” 19 So Bathsheba went to
King Solomon to speak on Adonijah’s behalf…
20 “I have one small request to make of you,”
she said. “I hope you won’t turn me down.”
“What is it, my mother?” he asked. “You
know I won’t refuse you.” 21 “Then let your
brother Adonijah marry Abishag, the girl from
Shunem,” she replied.
1 Kings 2
22
“How can you possibly ask me to give
Abishag to Adonijah?” King Solomon
demanded. “You might as well ask me to
give him the kingdom! You know that he is
my older brother, and that he has Abiathar
the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah on his
side.”… 25 So King Solomon ordered Benaiah
son of Jehoiada to execute him, and
Adonijah was put to death.
1 Kings 2
Solomon understood the situation perfectly.
He knew that this was Adonijah’s attempt
to declare or build a claim to the throne of
Israel. Solomon simply acted according to
the “terms of parole” granted to Adonijah.
Adonijah made a wicked, treasonous
request and is executed because of it.
David Guzik
23
Then King Solomon made a vow before
YaHWeH: “May God strike me and even kill
me if Adonijah has not sealed his fate with
this request. 24 YaHWeH has confirmed me
and placed me on the throne of my father,
David; he has established my dynasty as he
promised. So as surely as YaHWeH lives,
Adonijah will die this very day!”
1 Kings 2
Verse 24 makes it very clear that Solomon,
like David, had a proper view of his role
under God as Israel’s king. Adonijah’s
rebellion was not just against Solomon
personally but against YaHWeH and His
anointed whom He had placed on the
throne. Tom Constable
26
Then the king said to Abiathar the priest,
“Go back to your home in Anathoth. You
deserve to die, but I will not kill you now,
because you carried the Ark of the Sovereign
(“Adonay”) YAHWEH for David my father and
you shared all his hardships.”
1 Kings 2
27
So Solomon deposed Abiathar from his
position as priest of YaHWeH, thereby
fulfilling the prophecy YaHWeH had given at
Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli.
The time is coming when I will put an end to
your (Eli’s) family, so it will no longer serve
as my priests. (1 Samuel 2:31)
1 Kings 2
So when Joab heard about Adonijah’s death,
he ran to the sacred tent of YaHWeH and
grabbed onto the horns of the altar…31 “Do as
he said,” the king replied. “Kill him there
beside the altar and bury him. This will
remove the guilt of Joab’s senseless murders
from me and from my father’s family.
1 Kings 2
Joab was a murderer as well as a rebel.
Consequently Solomon had him executed
in obedience to the Mosaic Law.
Manslayers, but not murderers, received
sanctuary at the altar. David’s house
shared the guilt for Joab’s murders as long
as he remained alive. Tom Constable
12
“Whoever strikes a person so that he dies
must be put to death…14 If a person schemes
and willfully acts against his neighbor to
murder him, you must take him from My
altar to be put to death.
Exodus 21 (HCSB)
36
The king then sent for Shimei and told
him, “Build a house here in Jerusalem and
live there. But don’t step outside the city to
go anywhere else. 37 On the day you so much
as cross the Kidron Valley, you will surely die;
and your blood will be on your own head.” 38
Shimei replied, “Your sentence is fair; I will do
whatever my lord the king commands.” So
Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
1 Kings 2
39
But three years later two of Shimei’s slaves
ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of
Gath. When Shimei learned where they were,
40 he saddled his donkey and went to Gath to
search for them…46 Then, at the king’s
command, Benaiah son of Jehoiada took
Shimei outside and killed him. So the kingdom
was now firmly in Solomon’s grip.
1 Kings 2
1
Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh,
the king of Egypt, and married one of his
daughters. He brought her to live in the City
of David until he could finish building his
palace and the Temple of YaHWeH and the
wall around the city.
1 Kings 3
This was not Solomon’s first marriage.
1 Kings 14:21 tells us that his son Rehoboam
came to the throne when he was 41 years old,
and 1 Kings 11:42 tells us that Solomon
reigned 40 years. This means that Rehoboam
was born to his mother - a wife of Solomon
named Naamah the Amonitess - before he
came to the throne and before he married this
daughter of Pharaoh. David Guzik
17
The king must not take many wives for
himself, because they will turn his heart
away from YaHWeH.
“Such arranged marriages were a common
confirmation of international treaties, but this
one was the beginning of Solomon’s spiritual
downfall.” Wiseman
Deuteronomy 17
2
At that time the people of Israel sacrificed
their offerings at local places of worship, for
a temple honoring the name of YaHWeH had
not yet been built. 3 Solomon loved YaHWeH
and followed all the decrees of his father,
David, except that Solomon, too, offered
sacrifices and burned incense at the local
places of worship.
1 Kings 3
1 Kings 3
4
The most important of these places of
worship was at Gibeon, so the king went
there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.
2
Solomon called together all the leaders of
Israel—the generals and captains of the army,
the judges, and all the political and clan
leaders. 3 Then he led the entire assembly to
the place of worship in Gibeon, for God’s
Tabernacle was located there.
2 Chronicles 1
4
David had already moved the Ark of God
from Kiriath-jearim to the tent he had
prepared for it in Jerusalem. 5 But the
bronze altar made by Bezalel son of Uri and
grandson of Hur was there at Gibeon in front
of the Tabernacle of YaHWeH. So Solomon
and the people gathered in front of it to
consult YaHWeH.
2 Chronicles 1
5
That night YaHWeH appeared to Solomon in
a dream, and God said, “What do you want?
Ask, and I will give it to you!” 6 Solomon
replied…7 “Now, O YaHWeH my God, You
have made me king instead of my father,
David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t
know his way around.
“I do not know how to go out or come in.”
Numbers 27:15–17, Joshua 14:11, 1 Samuel 29:)
1 Kings 3
8
And here I am in the midst of your own
chosen people, a nation so great and
numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me
an understanding heart so that I can govern
your people well and know the difference
between right and wrong. For who by
himself is able to govern this great people of
yours?”
1 Kings 3
1
Doesn’t Wisdom call out?...
15
It is by Me that kings reign and rulers
enact just law; 16 by Me, princes lead, as do
nobles and all righteous judges.
Proverbs 8 (HCSB)
2
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of
any kind come your way, consider it an
opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know
that when your faith is tested, your
endurance has a chance to grow…5 If you
need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He
will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for
asking.
James 1 (NLT)
10
YaHWeH was pleased that Solomon had
asked for wisdom. 11 So God replied,
“Because you have asked for wisdom in
governing my people with justice and have
not asked for a long life or wealth or the
death of your enemies—12 I will give you
what you asked for!
1 Kings 3
I will give you a wise and understanding heart
such as no one else has had or ever will have!
13 And I will also give you what you did not
ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all
the world will be compared to you for the
rest of your life! (2 Chronicles 1:11-12 )
1 Kings 3
25
“That is why I tell you not to worry about
everyday life—whether you have enough
food and drink, or enough clothes to wear.
Isn’t life more than food, and your body
more than clothing?...Look at the lilies of the
field and how they grow. They don’t work or
make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his
glory was not dressed as beautifully as they
are.
Matthew 6 (NLT)
31
“So don’t worry about these things, saying,
‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What
will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the
thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly
Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek
the Kingdom of God above all else, and live
righteously, and He will give you everything
you need.
14
Solomon built up a huge force of chariots
and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and
12,000 horses…15 The king made silver and
gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stone… 16
Solomon’s horses were imported from
Egypt…
2 Chronicles 1:13–17
16
But he shall not multiply horses for
himself, nor cause the people to return to
Egypt to multiply horses, for YaHWeH has
said to you, ‘You shall not return that way
again.’ 17 “He shall not multiply wives for
himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor
shall he greatly increase silver and gold for
himself.
Deuteronomy 17 (NKJV)
17
Then the king made a huge throne,
decorated with ivory and overlaid with pure
gold. 18 The throne had six steps, with a
footstool of gold. There were armrests on
both sides of the seat, and the figure of a lion
stood on each side of the throne. 19 There
were also twelve other lions, one standing on
each end of the six steps. No other throne in
all the world could be compared with it!
2 Chronicles 9
20
All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were
solid gold, as were all the utensils in the
Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. They were
not made of silver, for silver was considered
worthless in Solomon’s day!
“Silently, invisibly, like an incubating virus,
sin was at work throughout Solomon’s reign
and in the end broke out in violent,
destructive force. Such is the nature of sin.”
Rice
2 Chronicles 9
16
Sometime later two prostitutes came to
the king to have an argument settled… 28
When all Israel heard the king’s decision, the
people were in awe of the king, for they saw
the wisdom God had given him for rendering
justice.
1 Kings 3
King Solomon now ruled over all Israel…
Israel under Solomon
1 Kings 4:1
1 Kings 4
21
Solomon ruled over
all the kingdoms from
the Euphrates River in
the north to the land
of the Philistines and
the border of Egypt in
the south.
25
During the lifetime of Solomon, all of Judah
and Israel lived in peace and safety. And
from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the
south, each family had its own home and
garden.
1 Kings 4
“It appears that the material prosperity of
the nation was not matched by a spiritual
prosperity, for in a few years the kingdom
would be divided and Solomon’s splendor
would fade away. The people were “eating,
drinking, and making merry” (4:20), but we
do not read of their interest in the Law of
the Lord. It is possible for a person to enjoy
material prosperity and still be spiritual, as in
the case of Abraham, but most people
cannot handle much wealth.” Warren Wiersbe
29
God gave Solomon very great wisdom and
understanding, and knowledge as vast as
the sands of the seashore. 30 In fact, his
wisdom exceeded that of all the wise men of
the East and the wise men of Egypt. 31 He was
wiser than anyone else, including Ethan
(Psalm 89) the Ezrahite and the sons of
Mahol—Heman (Psalm 88), Calcol, and
Darda.
1 Kings 4
A psalm of Solomon. 1 Give your love of
justice to the king, O God, and righteousness
to the king’s son. 2 Help him judge your
people in the right way; let the poor always
be treated fairly… 4 Help him to defend the
poor, to rescue the children of the needy, and
to crush their oppressors. 5 May they fear you
as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon
remains in the sky. Yes, forever!
Psalm 72
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
A psalm of Solomon. 1 Unless YaHWeH builds
a house, the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless YaHWeH protects a city, guarding it
with sentries will do no good. 2 It is useless
for you to work so hard from early morning
until late at night, anxiously working for food
to eat; for God gives rest to His loved ones.
Psalm 127
3
Children are a gift from YaHWeH; they are a
reward from Him. 4 Children born to a young
man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. 5
How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of
them! He will not be put to shame when he
confronts his accusers at the city gates.
Psalm 127
33
He could speak with authority about all
kinds of plants, from the great cedar of
Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows from
cracks in a wall. He could also speak about
animals, birds, small creatures, and fish. 34
And kings from every nation sent their
ambassadors to listen to the wisdom of
Solomon.
1 Kings 4
18
“When he sits on the throne as king, he
must copy for himself this body of
instruction on a scroll in the presence of the
Levitical priests. 19 He must always keep that
copy with him and read it daily as long as he
lives…
Deuteronomy 17
That way he will learn to fear YaHWeH his
God by obeying all the terms of these
instructions and decrees. 20 This regular
reading will prevent him from becoming
proud and acting as if he is above his fellow
citizens. It will also prevent him from turning
away from these commands in the smallest
way. And it will ensure that he and his
descendants will reign for many generations
in Israel.