The Pathway to Security

READ: 1 Kings 2:1-4

The story of 1 Kings begins with King David - the boy-hero, giant-killer, warrior, poet, songwriter, king - David, the legend - every man’s inspiration … David the legen is looking anything but legendary at the beginning of this book. Confined to his bed, he can’t keep warm wihout the help of a beauty pageant winning virgin, who’s body heat is needed to keep the king from dying of hypothermia.

Life on this earth doesn’t last forever and it looks as though David is going to die in a way that’s completely opposite to the way he lived. He lived large, he conquered, he fought any enemy - no matter how large .... but as he approaches death .... it looks like he’s going with little more than a whimper - he’s just going to fade away. Nobody wants to go out that way. We hate seeing David end his life like that - shivering and ignorant: ignroant of the state of his kingdom, with one of his sons, Adonijah, on the streets outside the palace, stealing the throne right from under his nose. God chose David’s successor to be Solomon and David has promised that Solomon will be king.

But David does what can only be done by a man after God’s own heart, empowered by the living God of the universe.

Remember last week, from chapter 1, when queen Bathsheba (Solomon’s mom) comes to pay a visit to the feeble king. Then, Nathan the prophet joins her to tell David what’s going on and how Adonijah is attempting to thwart God’s plan and David’s promise. And David’s response ....

Is to jump out of bed, into action. He throws on his military uniform, the Commander in Chief gets behind his planning desk and sets to work, directing the plan to get Solomon directly onto the throne and stop Adonijah dead in his tracks.

The plan works - of course it works - and God’s purposes continue marching on.

Well, chapter 2 begins with David back on his deathbed. This time, it’s clear, the Lord is going to take him home. But now he’s ready to go. Mission accomplished.

… Well, mission ALMOST accomplished.

1 A FATHER’S PARTING CHALLENGE, vv. 1-11

This is the end of an era. Acts 13:36 tells us the inspired verdict on David’s reign: “David … served the purpose of God in his generation ...”. BY God’s grace, he conquered Israel’s enemies, he established a city - Jerusalem, that would stand at the center of history - and he started a dynasty of kings that would culminate in Jesus of Nazareth, son of David … Son of God, King over every king and Saviour of the world.

As David lies in bed, feeling the end of life drawing near - he knows the time is short. He summons Solomon to his side.

Solomon is king now, but before David crosses ‘Jordan’s stormy banks’ …

… There are some things he needs to say to his son before he can die in peace - things that will ensure that he does more than just ‘wear a crown’ on his head and enjoy the perks of lifestyles of the rich and famous. There’s not a decent father in this world who doesn’t want a life of success - a life that matters - for his child.

John Piper: John Piper recounts a story his father often told in his days as a fiery Baptist evangelist. It is the story of a man who came to saving faith in Jesus Christ near the end of his earthly existence. Piper writes:

The church had prayed for this man for decades. He was hard and resistant. But this time, for some reason, he showed up when my father was preaching. At the end of the service, during a hymn, to everyone’s amazement he came and took my father’s hand. They sat down together on the front pew of the church as the people were dismissed. God opened his heart to the Gospel of Christ, and he was saved from his sins and given eternal life. But that did not stop him from sobbing and saying, as the tears ran down his wrinkled face—“I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted it!”

By the grace of God, even a life that is almost totally wasted can still be redeemed. As the Scottish theologian Thomas Boston once said, our present existence is only “a short preface to a long eternity.” If this is true, then the man’s life was not wasted after all; he was only just beginning an eternal life of endless praise. But why wait even a moment longer before starting to serve Jesus? You have only one life to live. Do not waste it by living for yourself when you can use it instead for the glory of God. This was the wisdom that David gave to his son Solomon.

Not only is David a dad, wanting the best for his son .... he’s also a king - he needs to make sure that Solomon takes the baton he’s handed to him and doesn’t trip and fall on his face, but carries it forward to pass it off strong to the NEXT king.

A chair is brought into the royal bedroom and placed right at the side of the bed. Solomon sits down … and for a few moments, he’s not Solomon ‘the King of Israel’ .... no, suddenly he’s transported back to being Solomon, David’s boy. He leans in to get close enough so that he can hear the faint words that his father strains to utter. He knows these are the last words he will ever hear from the lips of his dad - his hero. Kids have a hard time listening to parents. It’s the same in every generation .... because you know that if you forget what dad said - no big deal. He’s going to repeat the same story or lesson a million times more. But what do you do, when you are sitting by your parent’s bedside as you can see the life starting to fade and then start speaking to you? You listen, that’s what you do. You listen like you’ve never listened before. That’s what Solomon does: he strains to soak deeply in of every word that comes from dad’s lips.

And here’s what David says. READ vv. 2-4

David’s message focuses on the kind of king Solomon, the king of God’s promise, needs to be. So, what kind of king does the promised kingdom need?

Interesting. David says, “be strong, and show yourself a man ...”. We get that part. What dad doesn’t want his son to be a courageous man - who doesn’t always look for the easy, lazy way out. And when the dad is David - the former kid who took on giant Goliath, when Israel’s entire military force was hiding up on a mountainside … well, the importance of courage is triple.

But how do you live courageously? How do you show yourself a man? Don’t miss David’s charge. He tells Solomon, in vv. 3--4 that it’s all about your walk with the LORD: “… keep the charge of the LORD your God … WALKING in his ways … KEEPING his statutes, his commandments, his rules and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses.”

David’s referring to the written Word of God that they had in His day - they had the law of Moses - the first 5 books of our Bibles. And David says: Obey the Bible - and you will be strong and stable.

Now when you think about it - isn’t this a strange focus for the foundation of a nation? When you think of national security - every nation in our world today - and Solomon’s world in his day - will tell you that a nation will be secure if it negotiates beneficial trade deals, or manages to form strategic alliances with other countries … and of course, it has to build and maintain a large enough military with enough advanced weapons to discourage anyone from trying anything ...

There is not a self-respecting political scientist who will tell you, “What you need to do, if you want your country to be strong … is you need to wholeheartedly follow the Lord and obey the Bible.”

David says that the most important factor in the strength of this nation going forward - is to obey.

And the reason for that is, according to v. 4, the LORD of the universe made a promise: “If your sons pay close attention to their way … (IF) they walk before me in faithfulness … (NOT just obeying a set of rules but) with all their heart and with all their soul ...”. IN other words, if your descendants, who take their place on your throne, will love the LORD … the LORD will make their throne secure against any and every enemy.

That was God’s promise in 2 Samuel 7:12-15. “I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. (13) He shall build a house for my name (the temple - that’s coming) and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Now understand this properly: David is NOT saying that if you DON’T follow the Lord, then He will go back on His promise. God does not give and then take away promises, friend. What’s at stake here is Solomon’s ENJOYMENT of God’s promises. God is going to fulfill His Word, no matter what. Jesus Christ is coming as a descendant of David - doesn’t matter what David’s children and grandchildren do. But if those descendants don’t follow the Lord - their lives are going to be lived in misery. That’s what David’s getting at. And as this book unfolds, we’re going to see exactly what that looks like.

But for now, recognize that this is the very same way it works in our day - for Christians. If you have put your trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ - if He is your only hope and you have turned away from your sin and rebellion filled self-driven life, to entrust the controls of your life to Jesus Christ as your Lord as well as Saviour … then you are going to have good and bad stretches. There will be times when you feel delight like a water fountain, bubbling up from within - you feel the joy of the Lord as if you can feel His hand holding you steady - you’re in His Word every day - because it is so sweet to you.

… And then there will be times, when you feel a million miles away from your God. The cover of the Bible seems so unbelievably heavy to crack open and when you do - it seems dry as dust. And you know what’s wrong. You know that you’ve messed up. You know you’ve let God down again for the 5 millionth time. And you wonder if you are even saved.

Well, if Jesus Christ truly set you free - If He saved you - you are SAVED. PERIOD. God’s promises are to you - and He doesn’t take them back. Ever, Christian.

But you may be living a miserable life - because you haven’t been carefully watching your steps. You’ve been playing with spiritual fire - temptation. And you are, right now feeling like you have sinned your way right out of relationship with God. What’s the use?

David is living testimony to God’s faithfulness to his promises. If you could sin your way out of relationship with God … David should have done just that. His taking Bathsheba and then trying to cover it up by murdering her husband … and then ignoring rape among his children and keeping other children at arms length. If God’s himself didn’t say that this is a man after His own heart - you wouldn’t believe it. David suffered misery after misery for his failures as a man of God. Oh, but he knew and loved his God - and by his own experience he knew that there is only one way to joy in this life - and that is to live by God’s Word … with heart and soul.

Okay, so I trust we get the gist of what David is saying to Solomon and what God’s Word is saying to us today: Treasure the Lord and live by His word - if you want to have a firm foundation in this quaking world

But then, verse 5 comes along and something seems to change in David’s tone: READ vv. 5-11.

What’s going on here? If you didn’t know better, doesn’t this sound like something straight out of the Godfather - or every other Mafia movie? You can almost hear David speaking with an Italian accent, like Marlon Brando: Don Corleone: “Remember Joab ...remember what he did to me … Remember Shimei … hs cursed me … You know what to do ...”. Didn’t David just talk about the importance of following the Bible? Doesn’t the Bible say “Don’t murder?” I mean, that’s right in the 10 Commandments!

If you’re wondering what to do with David’s apparent change in tone, remember that he is the king over a physical nation, giving advice to his son, the king. You can’t have a country without laws. You can’t have a country without consequences for breaking the laws. And no country or kingdom can endure without righteousness.

John Adams, one of the American Founding Fathers understood that: “Because we have no government, armed with power, capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and religion.  Avarice, ambition, revenge and licentiousness would break the strongest cords of our Constitution, as a whale goes through a net.  Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

Jesus made it clear that his Kingdom is ‘not of this world’ - it’s a spiritual kingdom made up of people from every physical nation - so we are not fighting the same way that David and Solomon did. And we’ll talk more about that as we conclude our time this morning. But for now, let’s make our way through the rest of the story in chapter 2.

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2 SOLOMON SECURES HIS THRONE, vv. 12-46

Immediately after David dies, Verse 12 summarizes the state of Solomon’s rule over God’s kingdom. “So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, AND HIS KINGDOM WAS FIRMLY ESTABLISHED.”

No sooner are those words out of the narrator’s mouth, than v. 13 begins: “Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon ...”. Hmmm - so the guy who tried to steal the throne is coming to the mother of the one he tried to steal it from (unsuccessfully!), to pay her a visit? You don’t need to have a PhD in literature or in history, for that matter, to recognize that whatever is coming next - it’s going to be some kind of a threat.

1 - ADONIJAH - Verse 13 continues: “And she said, ‘Do you come peacefully?’ He said, ‘Peacefully.’ Then he said, ‘I have something to say to you.’ She said, ‘Speak.’ He said, ‘You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However the kingdom has turned about and become my brother’s, for it was his from the LORD. And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.’ She said to him, ‘Speak.’ And he said, ‘Please ask King Solomon - he will not refuse you - to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.’ Bathsheba said, ‘Very well; I will speak for you to the king.’”

I wonder if you see what’s going on here. Remember how chapter 1 ends? Adonijah is cowering in fear. He had tried to grab Solomon’s rightful place on the throne before he even had it. And when his plan fell apart and David gave the throne to Solomon, Adonijah was terrified he was going to be executed - terrified because that’s exactly what he would have done to HIS rival. But Solomon shows grace. He puts him on probation. 1 Kings 1:52, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground. But if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” So the ball is clearly in Adonijah’s court: “Behave yourself and you have nothing to worry about.”

Now, here he comes to enlist Bathsheba to go to her son, the king, and get a gift from him: Abishag.

You may be a little sympathetic to Adonijah here. His entire life plan has just been torched to the ground. His hope and dreams have all burnt up ended in ashes at his feet. The guy thought he was going to be king. He even admits, in v. 15, that Solomon’s reign is, ‘from the LORD.’

He has come to Bathsheba with one, little, tiny request. “I’m lonely. I don’t have a kingdom … I don’t even have a wife. I have to cry myself to sleep every night - all by myself. Can I at least get a consolation prize out of the deal? Just give me Abishag … that’s all I want.”

If you don’t really have a problem with what Adonijah is asking - it’s no big deal to you … read a little more closely. Verse 15, “You know that the kingdom WAS MINE - and all Israel fully expected me to reign.”

“The kingdom was MINE?!” No it wasnt’. this is a sense of entitlement and manipulation on display. Don’t you just hate when people make a big show out of giving gifts that aren’t even theirs to give?! Like one of those group gifts that you chip in to give at a wedding … and the one person in the group who didn’t actually even make the contribution is going on and on about how, ‘Well, this was a costly gift - but we all just want you to know how important you are to us.” It drives you crazy … and it reveals character.

“Okay, but cut the guy some slack”, you’re thinking. “He just wants a companion.” Oh, but Adonijah isn’t just asking for any wife as his prize - he wants Abishag. She’s the most beautiful virgin in the entire nation. She won the Miss Israel pageant to earn the privilege of moving to the palace and serving as the personal electric blanket to the king himself.

And that’s the big issue here. You can say, “Well, aim high! What’s wrong with that? You can’t blame a guy for trying!” But there’s more to this than beauty. Abishag was David’s last concubine - and THAT is the heart of the issue. This is a power play.

In those days, bedding one of the king’s wives is a way to show dominance and claim his throne. Adonijah knows all about it. His older brother, Absalom did this very thing in 2 Samuel 16, when he was leading a rebellion against his father and trying to take his throne. Absalom pitched a tent on the roof of the palace - so that everyone could see and he went in to the harem … because he wanted to RULE the KINGDOM.

So see how Adonijah doesn’t just want a wife - - he wants the kingdom. He hasn’t given up his ambitions at all. Bathsheba agrees to go and be his agent to her son. READ vv. 19-21.

How will Solomon respond? Will he understand what’s going on here, like we do? Does he see the danger here - not just to his throne - but to God’s purposes? READ vv. 22-25. Solomon gets it. He sees the agenda and Adonijah … is no more.

2 ABIATHAR Next up, in vv. 26-27, is Abiathar the priest who joined Adonijah’s cabinet to be his spiritual leader. He had served the LORD under David for many years, so there’s no capital punishment here … just banishment. “Give up your career, take eary retirement and move up north to your farm.”

3 JOAB In verse 28, it’s Joab’s turn. JOab hears about Adonijah - he knows he’s going to be in the cross-hairs next. Verse 28: “When the news came to Joab - for Joab had supported Adonijah although he had not supported Absalom - Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and caught hold of the horns of the altar.”

Adonijah recruited Joab to be the commander of his armed forces. And that was a smart choice because nobody in all Israel has more experience or more success than Joab. He served David for decades.

But look at verse 5, at how David describes him: “… Abner and Amasa, whom he (Joab) killed, avenging in a time of peace for blood that had been shed in a time of war .... putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals of his feet.”

In other words, this is a blood-splattered, blood-thirsty man. David mentions a couple of individuals that he’s thinking of in particular, whose blood continue to stain Joab’s hands: Abner and Amasa.

First is Abner. His story is in 2 Samuel 3. Abner had been the commander of Saul’s army when Saul was trying to kill David. But he recognized that God’s hand was on David, so he made a eace deal with him and promised to help him unite the divided country.

A feast was prepared to celebrate the new united team. But Joab didn’t like it. So, when David wasn’t looking - he called Abner to come to meet him in the city. And as he’s walking in the city gates, Joab comes out to meet him, motions him over, as if he wants to have a private word with Abner. And when the unsuspecting Abner leeans in to hear what this important message is … Joab pulls a knife out of his coat and buries it deep into Abner’s belly.

Then there’s Amasa. His story is in 2 Samuel 19-20 - David is so sick of Joab’s violent ways by this time that he offers Amasa his position. Amasa hasn’t been sworn in yet - he’s out on official business, when Joab sees him coming with a greeting.

2 Samuel 20:8-10 records what happened: “When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. (9) And Joab said to Amasa, ‘Is it well with you, my brother?’ And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. (10) But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.”

And David doesn’t even mention the most painful slaughter of all to him personally. When his dearly loved, but rebellious son Absalom led a revolt against his dad, David specifically tells Joab to deal gently with the young man Absalom.

One day during the civil war - Absalom is on his mule, riding under a big oak tree. Absalom has long, luxuriant hair - that he’s famous for - and that made all the young Israelite girls swoon. Unfortunately, it was also a health hazard, because on this one particular day, as the mule goes UNDER the tree - Absalom’s hair gets wrapped around the branches … and the next thing you know - Absalom is hanging, dangling from the tree - BY his hair (maybe a Biblical message about guys with long hair?) … dangling but very much alive.

Joab just happens to wander along and see David’s son hanging from the tree - remembering what David commanded about taking it easy on his son - - Joab ignores the command, pulls out three javelins and drives them into Absalom’s belly. Another murder. This time, it’s of David’s own son.

This is a blood-thirsty man who puts his own opinion above the directions of God’s appointed ruler.

Well, Joab knows that Solomon is going to be coming for him after taking care of Adonijah, so what does he do?

He takes refuge in the holy place. “Home Free” - “You can’t touch me here!”

“You wouldn’t dare touch me here!” .... “Would you?!”

Solomon is told what Joab has done - He says, “I don’t care where he is … strike him down.”

Soldiers go back and they give him a chance to come out. Verse 30, “Benaiah brought

4 SHIMEI There’s one more problem Solomon deals with. His story is in vv. 36-46 and his name is Shimei. The reason he became a problem goes back to Absalom’s uprising. Absalom is leading a civil war against his own dad and looks to be on the verge of winning. In fact he got so close to taking control, that David had to leave the palace and leave Jerusalem to save his life. Could there be a worse time in life for any person than to have your own son, whom you love, hate you so badly he wants to kill you and you have to run from home for your life. And to make it worse, as he’s leaving the city - there’s this guy named Shimei - shouting curses at him and throwing stones at this heartbroken king - accusing him of not being a legitimate king in the first place.

When David’s side eventually won the war and the king moved back into his palace, Shimei came to ‘say he was sorry’ and ask not to die. The last thing the nation needed at that point was more division, so David let him live. But Solomon can’t allow insurrection like that to go unpunished. David left it to Solomon’s wisdom to know how to deal with it.

READ vv. 36-38.

So again, Solomon shows mercy - he gives the guy a chance to live. He could execute him, but instead he puts a monitor bracelet around his ankle and tells him to not leave town. Shimei thinks that’s a great idea.

But three years go by and Shimei has two servants who run away (which in itself tells you what kind of guy this is - his own servants can’t stand to be around him). Verse 39, “And when it was told Shimei, ‘Behold your servants are in Gath,’ (40) Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went and brought his servants from Gath.

Well, the beeper goes off in the palace and Solomon is told about it - the king brings him in for another talk. READ vv. 42-46.

The threats to the kingdom that David warned his son about have now been taken care of and the chapter ends with God’s verdict on what Solomon has done: “So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”

CONCLUSION

The Washington Times recently carried a story about the abduction of a police officer. Officer Reinhold, as he was called, sat in his patrol car at various locations in the Maryland village where he served as a deterrent to speeding motorists. Officer Reinhold was, however, a mere mannequin, dressed as a police patrolman and plunked behind the wheel of a departmental cruiser. After he had been sitting in the same location for two days (he was usually moved every twelve hours), someone smashed his car window and pilfered him. Ultimately police work cannot be done passively (i.e. with dummies); it takes, as people say today, a proactive approach.

The kingdom of God is like that. It will not be secure with merely passive attention. If God’s kingdom, which in 1 Kings 2 is also Solomon’s kingdom, is going to be made secure, it’s going to take more than an Officer Reinhold strategy: it’s going to take active and vigilant measures. No Officer Reinhold technique will do.

There’s a lesson for us here, in dealing with temptation in our lives. Just as with Adonijah, hyou can say, “Oh - it’s not a big deal … he wasn’t asking for the kingdom … he just wanted a wife! Joab was just a military man! Shimei just wanted to get his slaves back.”

But every one of those cases is a perfect picture of every temptation to sin that steps across the pathway of your life to meet you. Never does Satan shout in your face: “Deny God and die!”

No, but in a thousand ways he says: “Just give a little foothold here. Just a little indulgence there. It’s only a movie … it’s only a song … it’s only a party … it’s only a juicy tidbit of gossip or one angry outburst ...”

And if you give in friend, it will take from you a little more … and then a little more and you will die the death of a thousand cuts. Because sin will not be toyed with … it will never be satisfied until it consumes you.

Solomon sees that with the threats that Adonijah, Joab and Shimei pose to the security of his Kingdom. And he deals decisively with the danger. Will you?