1st Kings 2: Solomon replaces David as king

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At the end of the last chapter, David ensured Solomon’s succession to the throne and strictly speaking, David was no longer king. There could be only one king on the throne at a time. Here, David charges Solomon with several pieces of advice to try to ensure Solomon’s success and long reign.

The first piece of advice to Solomon is (1st Kings 2:2–4):

“Be strong, therefore, and show yourself a man.  Keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn,  so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’”

David goes on to tell Solomon to “clean house” just as Yeshua, the Messiah also cleaned house in the Temple. Solomon is a picture of the Messiah. 

There are a couple of enemies David asks Solomon to strike down from power, men who David did not have the strength to remove. But Solomon also had a couple of his own enemies who had to be removed from power for the sake of his throne. 

Solomon accomplished most of what David told him to do:

1. Adoniyah (Adonijah), Solomon’s elder brother and a cunning liar. 
2. Abiathar, the priest who was unholy and conspired against the anointed descendant of David. David did not command his death so Solomon had him banished instead since Abiathar himself is an anointed figure. 
3. Yoab (Joab), the great general of David’s army who was also a murderer. 
4. Shimei, the one who presumed to curse God’s anointed king. 

The first enemy Solomon has to deal with is Adoniyah. After Solomon’s coronation, Adoniyah cozies up to Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba and tries to get her to help him gain Abishag as his wife. Abishag was David’s last concubine. David never slept with her but she still had a status as a member of David’s household. Adoniyah wanted this particular concubine/wife because it was a ploy to regain the authority of the throne. Solomon saw through it, even though he was a relatively young man, between 12 and 20 years old. Adoniyah’s request has precedent in the lives of Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son and Absolom, who both slept with their father’s concubines. 

When Adoniyah realized that Solomon was saw through his treasonous request, he ran to the altar and his life was spared because although he wanted to murder Solomon he didn’t do so. Adoniyah did not have blood on his hands. 

With Adoniyah’s death, Solomon had the momentum to deal with the enemies that David warned Solomon to kill to protect the future of his reign. 

The second  of Solomon’s enemies was Abiathar, the high priest. Solomon’s reason to deal with Abiathar was to fulfill God’s command that no descendant of Eli would hold office as High Priest after Eli sinned against the Lord by not disciplining his reprobate sons who were desecrating God’s temple. One of the reasons that Solomon spared Abiathar’s life is because he did serve David faithfully, although he did make a grave, treasonous error by supporting Adoniyah against Solomon in the fight for succession to the throne. 

The next enemy was Yoab, who presumed to take a play from Adoniyah’s playbook and runs to the altar to try to plea for his life. This time, Solomon does not spare him and had Yoab killed right on the altar since that is where Yoab wanted to die. 

The last enemy dealt with Shimei, the Benjaminite. Solomon was a little more subtle in the way he dealt with this last enemy. Instead of having Shimei killed outright, Solomon makes a deal with Shimei, “Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place. For on the day you go out and across over the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head.”

Shimei accepts this deal and was living in Jerusalem for three years when he violates this rule and Solomon has him killed at that time. 

Shimei was the third enemy killed and he was killed three years after Solomon became king. 

The chapter ends with the statement, “Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.” 

After the deaths or banishment of these four men, the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hands. 

In 2nd Samuel, there are several people who at different times in their lives were “cunning” just as Satan was cunning and play out the satanic character, including David, Amnon, Yonadab (Jonadab), and Adoniyah. These roles are repeated in the lifetime of Yeshua the Messiah in the roles of Yehudah ish-Kariot (Judas Iscariot) and the high priests who condemned Yeshua to death. 

Yoab, however, was a murderer but he was not a cunning person. He was simply a tool of death. Just as Pilate was not the cunning one who conspired to kill Yeshua but simply the instrument of the cunning high priests who played into their goal to have Yeshua killed.

Reader: John Walsh. Speaker: Daniel Agee. Summary: Tammy.