David's Death, Solomon's Corination
Chapter 2 records for us three events:
- David's instructions to Solomon.
- David's death.
- Solomon's purging of those who opposed him.
First, notice David's instructions to Solomon.
- Obey the Laws of God. If you and your descendants do this, then the
dynasty of David will never end. This the Lord promised.
- Get rid of Joab. This was something that David never seemed able to
do, either because of a promise or because of a deal. But here he
admits that Joab had killed Abner and Amasa and he wanted Solomon to
kill him.
- Be kind to the sons of Barzillai. Barzillai, you remember, took
care of David and his people while they were in Gilead fleeing from
Absalom, in return, David promised to look after Barzillai's sons
for the rest of their lives. So David passed this commitment along
to Solomon.
- Kill Shime-i, the man who had cursed David because he thought David
was responsible for the death of Saul and the taking of the throne
from the family of Saul. David, in a forgiving mood after the
defeat of Absalom, pardoned Shime-i but now he wanted Solomon to
kill him. After giving these instructions to Solomon, David died.
It was the year 965 BC and David was 69 or 70 years old. Then
Solomon became the King of the United Kingdom of Israel. Shortly
after this, Adonijah, who 2 years before had made an attempt to
seize the Kingdom of Israel, requested Solomon to give him Abishag,
the young lady that had been obtained to keep David warm and who had
for all practical purposes, became David's wife, Adonijah wanted her
for his wife. Solomon realized that in effect, Adonijah was asking
for the kingdom so he sent Benaiah, Captain of his father's
bodyguard, to kill him, which he did, with a sword.
Solomon's first acts were the fulfilling of those things that his father,
David, had told him to do.
- Abiathar, the Priest who had sided with Adonijah and therefore had
been a traitor to David and Solomon, needed to dealt with, but
because he had helped carry the Ark of the Covenant and had for
years been faithful to David, Solomon does not kill. He discharges
him as High Priest and sends him to Anathoth, a City of Refuge a
short distance N-E of Jerusalem which may have been his home. He
was the last of the descendants of Eli and this fulfilled the decree
of the Lord at Shiloh in First Samuel 2 concerning the end of the
priesthood for the descendants of Eli.
- Joab needed to be taken care of as David requested. When Joab heard
what Solomon was doing, he realized that he had been a part of the
rebellion of Adonijah and he went into the Tabernacle for safety,
grabbing hold of the horns on the Altar and refusing to leave. When
Solomon heard of this, he sent Benaiah to execute him but when Joab
would not come out of the Tabernacle, Benaiah went back to Solomon
for further instructions. Solomon sent him back with instructions
to kill Joab right by the Altar there in the Tabernacle. This
revenged the death of Abner and Amasa, placing the quilt upon Joab
and his descendants and declaring David and his descendants
guiltless.
- Then Solomon appointed Benaiah Commander-in-Chief and Zadok, High
Priest.
- The last person to be taken care of was Shime-i, the man who had
cursed David. It would seem that Solomon felt that he should
respect his fathers forgiveness of Shime-i even though David had
told him that it was not binding on him, never the less, Solomon
allowed Shime-i to live. He confined him to Jerusalem with the
stipulation that if he would step one foot out of Jerusalem, he
would be killed. Well all went well for 3 years until one of
Shime-i's slaves ran away and went to the city of Gath in Philistia.
Shime-i left Jerusalem and went and got his slave and brought him
back to Jerusalem. When he returned, Solomon commanded Benaiah to
kill him. This, we are told, secured Solomon's grip on the kingdom.
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