1 Kings 2

CHAPTER 2THEME: David’s deathbed charge to Solomon and the beginning of Solomon’s reignThis chapter records David’s final instructions to Solomon before his death and Solomon’s wise execution of David’s wishes.

1 Kings 2:1

DAVID’S CHARGE TO SOLOMONFirst of all David said, “I go the way of all the earth.” This is the way of man. In Rom_5:12 the apostle Paul says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” By man came death, and death is passed on to all men because all have sinned. The sin of Adam has been passed down to you and me; if the Lord tarries, we will go through the doorway of death. Why? Because this is the way of all the earth, the conclusion of this life’s journey. It is not a very attractive subject. We don’t like to think about death today because it is something a little too depressing for the human race. In Psa_23:4 David says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” David is not speaking about the fact that he has come to his deathbed. As someone has said, “The moment that gives you life begins also to take it away from you.” David is likening life to a walk through a valley. At birth you start down through the valley, and the farther you walk the narrower it gets. At the end of the valley is death. All of us are walking through that valley today. You may be in robust health today, but you can be dead before the sun goes down. Next David says to Solomon, “Be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man.” The Lord Jesus Christ put it like this to the crowd who had come to see John the Baptist: “But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses” (Mat_11:8). John the Baptist had been brought up in the wilderness. He was rugged. Our Lord was a rugged man also. I don’t like the paintings I see of Him because they make Him almost effeminate, although some of the more recent pictures have tried to make Him look more masculine.

May I say to you that if you could have seen Him when He walked upon this earth, you would have seen a rugged man. He had calluses on His handsHe was a carpenter. He was God, but He was a real man. He was very man of very man and very God of very God. Solomon was not quite like his father. David was a man. Solomon was not much of a man. David was rugged. Solomon had been brought up in the palacesin fact, he had been brought up in the women’s palaces. Why did Solomon have a thousand women around him? My friend, the answer is quite obvious. All Solomon knew about was women. He was a sissy if there ever was one. I don’t think he and David had much in common. So David says to him, “I have made you king. I want you to play the man. I don’t think you are one, but do the best that you can.” This is the injunction David gave to this boy who had been brought up with soft clothing. Solomon was not like David. He was not like John the Baptist. He was not like our Lord, either. But now he is the king of Israel.

1 Kings 2:3

David urges Solomon to stay close to the Lord and to the Word of God. His advice to this young man is very important. There is very little attention ever given to David’s legacy to Solomon, but I believe that what David left to him enabled him to become one of the great kings of the earth. In fact, Solomon is probably one of the best known kings who has ever lived. Eason, in his New Bible Survey (Zondervan), enumerates David’s legacy to Solomon:

1. He transferred the leadership of the nation from the house of Saul and the tribe of Benjamin to Judah and established the royal house of David. This becomes all-important as we shall see when we get to the New Testament. The Gospel of Matthew opens with the statement, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mat_1:1). Then in Luk_1:31-32 the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.” Only a descendant of David is to occupy the throne of Israel.
2. He established Jerusalem as the Holy City and as the religious center and national capital for all Jews. This has continued down to this day. When Israel took the city of Jerusalem from the Arabs in the Six Day War of 1967, they declared that they had no intention of giving it up because it is a legacy that goes back to David. Jerusalem was David’s favorite city, and he made it the capital for the nation of Israel. Solomon beautified the city by building the temple and making it the religious center of Israel. We should note, however, that it was David who made the preparations for the temple.
3. He stamped out idolatry, practically speaking, and made the worship of Jehovah universal in the land. This was his most important contribution.
4. He made conquests of many nations which paid tribute to Israel and its king. He extended the borders of the country to Egypt on the south, and to the River Euphrates on the north and east. David is actually the one who extended Israel’s borders farther than they had ever been extended before or since. The peace during the reign of Solomon was possible because David had subdued Israel’s enemies.
5. Although an Oriental monarch with a sizable harem, David’s foreign marriages were largely political and relatively free from religious and moral corruption. Having a harem was the custom of that day, but God did not approve of David’s many wives, and it was largely due to them that he was in hot water all of the time. The many sons that were born to him by these women caused constant dissension inside the palace. It was something that caused David woe and sorrow all of his life. It was Solomon, and not David, who was influenced by a foreign wife. It is true that David committed an awful sin, but it occurred before his marriage to Bathsheba. There was not even a breath of scandal after that.
6. David was a poet and musician who endeared himself to the people as the “sweet psalmist of Israel” and gave to us at least seventy-three psalms.
7. David planned the temple, which was to exalt the religious life of the nation and the worship of Jehovah, although he was not permitted to build the Lord’s house.
8. Although there was still rivalry of a sort between the ten tribes of the north and Judah and Benjamin in the southand had been since the death of Saul and his sonDavid had no serious difficulty in uniting all tribes under his rule and making Jerusalem the national capital.
9. At the time of David’s death, Israel was second to none in power and military prowess, and the people had a large measure of peace and freedom, as every man “sat under his own vine and fig tree.” The peace that Solomon enjoyed during his reign was a peace that had been made by David during his reign.

1 Kings 2:8

David is revealing here what seems like a vengeful spirit, but it actually is not. Although Shimei had demonstrated that he was a traitor, because David had made an oath not to touch him, Shimei was still alive. David was a man of his word. Now, however, he tells Solomon to keep his watchful eye on him, and if he reveals any of his treachery, Solomon is to deal with him accordingly. The time does come, by the way, when Solomon deals with Shimei, but only after he disobeys and reveals that he is indeed a traitor.

1 Kings 2:10

DAVID’S DEATHThere is a note of sadness in the death of David. He had been a great man of God. Do you recall the first son of David and Bathsheba? He died when he was just a few days old. David said of him, “He will never come to me, but I will go to him.” Now David has gone to be with that child. Solomon, now that his father is gone, comes to the throne. At the change of any dynasty or ruler there is always a time of turmoil and great change.

1 Kings 2:13

SOLOMON’S ACCESSION TO THE THRONEEven though Solomon is now on the throne, Adonijah has not given up the idea about wanting to be king. He comes to Bathsheba still harboring this thought. She does not have much confidence in him and inquires about his mission. He says that it is a peaceful one. She says, “Say on"in other words, “I’m listening.”

1 Kings 2:15

He is saying that he was more popular than Solomon and the people wanted him as king.

1 Kings 2:16

He is saying, “Since the kingdom has been taken away from me, I have only one small request. I would like Abishag for my wife.” Abishag, you recall, nursed David during his last days.

1 Kings 2:18

This was an audacious request, but Adonijah knew that Solomon would not deny his mother anything. That is the reason he went to Bathsheba instead of going directly to Solomon.

1 Kings 2:22

What Adonijah was actually doing was making a move toward the throne. He was doing a dangerous thing, but he was being very clever about it all. Adonijah was Solomon’s elder brother, and Solomon, of course, had been aware of his brother’s move to seize the throne before David named a successor. Although Bathsheba, in her simplicity, felt that Adonijah’s request for Abishag was reasonable, Solomon’s keen mind instantly penetrated the plot.

1 Kings 2:24

Adonijah’s death was a brutal thing, of course, but his death eliminated a contender for the throne. It was necessary to execute him in order to establish Solomon on the throne. As long as Adonijah lived, he would continue to connive and plot in an attempt to seize the throne. Now, having removed Adonijah, Solomon realized it would be necessary to remove from positions of influence those who had supported him.

1 Kings 2:26

Abiathar, a descendent of Aaron, was removed from his priestly office and sent home in disgrace because he had participated in Adonijah’s rebellion. The only reason he was not executed was because of his faithfulness to David during Absalom’s rebellion. This ended the line of Eli.

1 Kings 2:28

When Joab heard what happened to Abiathar and Adonijah, he took off for the tall timber. He ran to the tabernacle of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar for sanctuary. Solomon chose Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, to be Joab’s executioner. He went after Joab and asked him to come outside the tabernacle. Joab refused, saying, “I’ll die here if I have to die.”

1 Kings 2:31

Joab had been a bloody man.

1 Kings 2:33

He was executed because of his part in a rebellion against Solomon. Shimei was another traitor. David would not touch him because he had given his word that he would not. Solomon now puts restrictions on him.

1 Kings 2:36

Solomon wanted Shimei to be where he could keep his eye on him. Wherever Shimei went, he sowed seeds of rebellion. Solomon wanted to watch his every move.

1 Kings 2:37

Solomon commanded Shimei to build a home in Jerusalem and to remain within the city limits. He was forbidden to return and live with his own tribe. Shimei promised to be obedient to Solomon’s terms.

1 Kings 2:39

Shimei went outside the city limits. He did this in direct disobedience to Solomon’s orders. Solomon was told what Shimei had done; so the king sent for him.

1 Kings 2:43

With Shimei’s death Solomon had completed the charge made to him by David his father. Solomon had removed most of the contenders to the throne. Now he could reign in peace.