I Kings 1-2
OK, I confess. I am a little irritated at The Chronological Study Bible’s schedule of readings. Following their schedule, we today come to the end of David’s life and proceed a few years into the reign of David’s son, Solomon. But we are by no means done yet with David. We will be reading his psalms and learning of other things he does for the rest of this month, so today’s reading seems premature to me. But be that as it may…
Recall II Samuel 3:2-5. There we learned that when David was at Hebron, he had six sons in this order: Amnon, Chileab (aka Daniel), Absalom, Adonijah, Shephatiah, and Ithream. Of course, he also subsequently had other sons and daughters, including Solomon. (I Ch. 3:1-9) Absalom killed Amnon, and Joab killed Absalom in Absalom’s rebellion. Nothing is otherwise known about Chileab/Daniel, so it is probably safe to say that he died as a child. That makes Adonijah the current eldest son and thus the presumptive heir to David’s throne. As David becomes old and frail, Adonijah acts upon that presumption and sets himself up as king with the support of Joab and Abiathar, which sets off all manner of political maneuverings to ensure that the younger Solomon — with David’s support — is instead anointed and proclaimed as king.
Solomon does indeed ascend to the throne as a coregent while David is still alive, and Adonijah backs down, averting a war. But in the course of time, Solomon finds good reasons for eliminating four significant figures:
- He kills his brother and rival, Adonijah, when Adonijah asks for Abishag as wife (making it clear that Adonijah still has ambitions for the throne)
- He expels Abiathar from the priesthood for his support for Adonijah, fulfilling the curse on Eli’s house (I Sam. 2:27-36; I Kings 2:26-27)
- He kills Joab, ostensibly for his support for Adonijah, but really as a just sentence for Joab’s murders of Abner and Amasa (I kings 2:5-6, 28-35)
- He kills Shimei for a parole violation, but really as retribution for Shimei’s cursing of David during Absalom’s rebellion (II Sam. 16:5-14; 19:16-23; I Kings 2:8-9, 36-46)
What is curious to me in all of this is why David didn’t handle all these things earlier himself. Why was it not obvious to everyone (including Adonijah) that Solomon was to be king? Why didn’t David properly sentence Joab to death for the murder of Abner years earlier, or later for the murder of Amasa? Why did David initially show mercy to Shimei and swear not to kill him for his cursing, only to then hold on to that grudge and instruct Solomon to deal with him? Those are all questions we cannot answer, so it is perhaps fruitless to ask them, but still I wonder…
And I wonder about myself. Do I have unfinished business? Am I leaving messes behind that I expect my kids to clean up for me after I am gone? I know I have plenty of physical messes — stacks of paper and way too much junk — which will be bad enough for my kids to sort through. I sure hope I don’t leave relational messes…