1 Kings 2

Acrisis isn’t what makes a person; a crisis shows what a person’s made of.” In one form or another, you find this statement in the writings of insightful thinkers from antiquity to the present. Another version is, “What life does to you depends on what life finds in you.” The same sun that hardens the clay melts the ice.

The kingdom of Israel was facing a crisis because King David was on his deathbed. In facing this crisis, different people responded in different ways.

The new king had his agenda all prepared: deal with Joab, deal with Shimei, reward the sons of Barzillai, and build the temple. But his first major crisis came from his half brother Adonijah.

Adonijah’s request (vv. 13–25). Solomon had graciously accepted Adonijah’s submission to the new regime (1:53), although Solomon certainly knew that the man was deceitful and ready to strike again. The fact that Adonijah went to the queen mother with his request suggests that he expected her to have great influence with her son. Adonijah’s declaration in verse 15 shows how confused he was in his thinking, for if Solomon was God’s choice for the throne, and Adonijah knew it, why did he attempt a coup and try to seize the crown? Like Absalom, he thought that a popular demonstration and the cheers of the people meant success. Perhaps Adonijah said “it was his [Solomon’s] from the Lord” just to impress Bathsheba.

Students differ in their interpretation of Bathsheba’s role in this scenario. Some say she was very naive in even asking Solomon, but Bathsheba had already proved herself to be a courageous and influential woman. It’s likely that she suspected another plot because she knew that possession of a king’s wife or concubine was evidence of possession of the kingdom. This was why Absalom had publicly taken David’s concubines (2 Sam. 16:20–23), for it was an announcement to the people that he was now king. It’s difficult to believe that the king’s mother was ignorant of this fact. I may be in error, but I feel that she took Adonijah at his word, knowing that Solomon would use this as an opportunity to expose Adonijah’s scheme. By having Abishag as his wife, Adonijah was claiming to be coregent with Solomon!

Solomon immediately detected the reason behind the request and said, “Ask for him the kingdom also!” The king knew that Adonijah, Abiathar, and Joab were still united in gaining control of the kingdom. By asking for Abishag, Adonijah issued his own death warrant, and Benaiah went and took the traitor’s life. David wasn’t there to feel the pain of another son’s death, but the execution of Adonijah was the final payment of the fourfold debt David had incurred (2 Sam. 12:5–6). The baby died, Absalom killed Amnon, Joab killed Absalom, and Benaiah executed Adonijah. David paid for his sins fourfold.

Abiathar’s removal (vv. 26–27). But Solomon didn’t stop there: he also defrocked Abiathar the priest, who had supported Adonijah, and sent him into retirement at the priestly city of Anathoth, about three miles from Jerusalem. This had been the home of Jeremiah the prophet. In deposing Abiathar, Solomon fulfilled the prophecy given to Eli that his family would not continue in the priesthood (1 Sam. 2:27–36; see Ezek. 44:15–16). Zadok was made high priest (v. 35), and his descendants filled the office until 171 BC. Solomon recognized the fact that Abiathar had faithfully served his father David, so he didn’t have him executed.

Joab’s execution (vv. 28–35). Joab no doubt had an efficient spy system, and when he heard the news that Adonijah had been slain, he knew he was next on the list. He fled to the tabernacle David had erected in Jerusalem for the ark of the covenant (2 Sam. 6:17) and there claimed asylum by taking hold of the horns of the altar. However, only people who were guilty of manslaughter could do this and claim the right to a trial, and Joab was guilty of both murder and disloyalty to King David and King Solomon. Joab defied both Benaiah and Solomon by refusing to come out of the sacred enclosure, but Solomon was not to be treated in such an arrogant manner by a man who was obviously a traitor and a murderer. Though he was a soldier, Benaiah belonged to a priestly family, so it was legal for him to enter the sacred precincts, and he went and killed Joab at the altar and then buried him. Solomon then promoted Benaiah to be the commander of the army in the place of Joab (v. 35).

It’s important to understand that Solomon wasn’t simply acting in revenge in the place of his father David. Solomon explained that the death of Joab took away the stain of the innocent blood that Joab had shed when he killed Abner and Amasa. The shedding of innocent blood polluted the land (Num. 35:30–34) and the victim’s blood cried out to God for vengeance (Gen. 4:10). The cities of refuge were provided for people who had accidentally killed somebody. They could flee to one of the six cities and be protected until the elders had investigated the case. But murderers like Joab were not to be given any mercy but were to be executed so that the innocent blood they had shed would pollute the land no more (Deut. 19:1–13; 21:1–9; Lev. 18:24–30). Saul’s treatment of the Gibeonites had polluted the land and created trouble for David (2 Sam. 21:1–14), and Solomon didn’t want that to happen during his reign.

Shimei’s daring (vv. 36–46). Since Shimei was related to Saul (2 Sam. 16:5; 1 Sam. 10:21), he was a potential troublemaker who might arouse the tribe of Benjamin against the new king, and perhaps even stir up the ten northern tribes of Israel. David had brought unity and peace the nation and Solomon didn’t want Shimei creating problems. He ordered him to move to Jerusalem, build himself a house, and stay in the city. If he left the city and crossed the Kidron Valley, he would die. Jerusalem wasn’t that large a city at that time, so Solomon’s men could keep their eyes on the Benjamite who had cursed David and thrown dirt and stones at him.

Shimei obeyed for three years and then disobeyed. When two of his slaves ran away and went twenty-five miles to Gath, Shimei decided to go personally and bring them back. Surely he could have hired somebody else to go get the slaves, but he went himself. Perhaps he thought he had fulfilled the terms of the agreement, or maybe he thought the guards weren’t watching him. Most likely he was deliberately defying Solomon and pushing the limits just to see what he would do. He found out. Solomon knew that Shimei had left Jerusalem, and when he returned, the king confronted him with his crime. Solomon delivered a brief but powerful speech that condemned him for what he did to David and what he had just done to Solomon, and it ended with Benaiah executing Shimei the traitor.

Solomon was to be a “man of peace” (1 Chron. 22:6–10), and yet he began his reign by ordering three executions. But true peace must be based on righteousness, not on sentiment. “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable” (James 3: nkjv). The land was polluted by the innocent blood that Joab had shed, and the land could be cleansed only by the execution of the murderer. David didn’t execute Joab, even after Joab killed Absalom, because David knew that he himself had blood on his hands (Ps. 51:14). David was guilty of asking Joab to shed Uriah’s innocent blood, but Solomon’s hands were clean. Solomon was indeed a “man of peace,” and he achieved that peace by bringing about righteousness in the land.

From the human viewpoint, it was sunset for David and sunrise for his son Solomon, but not from the divine viewpoint. “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day” (Prov. 4: nkjv). As a leader, David was “as the light of the morning … even a morning without clouds” (2 Sam. 23:4), and for the sake of David, the Lord kept the lamp burning in Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:36; 2 Kings 8:19). Even today, when we read and sing his psalms and study his life, that light shines on us and helps to direct our way.