1 Kings 2 Devotional
By Pastor Lawrence
On his deathbed, David charges his son Solomon to wholeheartedly seek the Lord as the new king over Israel and to tie up some lose ends that would strengthen his kingdom overall. You’ll notice in vv.3-4 that in commending God’s Word to his son, David speaks of it in many different ways as: the charge of the Lord, his ways, his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies.” Surely during David’s reign, he did not merely casually glance at the Scriptures from time to time, but he fully devoted himself to God’s Word, reading his own personal copy of the scriptures each evening and morning, meditating upon it throughout the day, hiding it in his heart, and even praying and singing it every chance he got. Consequently, the one thing that David sought to instill in his son, more than anything else, was this life-long devotion and application of God’s Holy Word. Surely, this should be our greatest desire and commitment as parents today as well, regardless of the status of our sons and daughters in the world.
But in this particular case, it was even more important for Solomon to heed this charge, for the success of his reign would be completely dependent upon his faithfulness to God’s statutes. As long as he kept God’s charge, he was assured of his royal stability, but if he were to turn away from the Lord to idols, he was mutually assured of his own downfall and the downfall of his kingdom as well. This was one of the stipulations of God’s covenant with David that the promise to his seed to sit upon the throne of Israel was dependent upon his son’s obedience. And yet David was promised that he would have a son who would sit on the throne forever. How does the conditional portion of the covenant jive with the unconditional promise? We’ll get to that in a minute.
After giving Solomon this general charge to keep God’s Word, David also gives him some very specific instructions regarding three different men within his kingdom, two of whom were David’s enemies and one of which was a friend who stuck closer to him than a brother. David charged Solomon to not allow the grey heads of his commander Joab and his antagonist Shimei to go down to Sheol in peace, and he also made Solomon swear to honor the sons of Barzillai because of how their father assisted him greatly in his time of need. Is David merely being vindictive here in his last hours on earth and likewise having Solomon repay someone that he should have repaid himself? No, these final words of David are not given selfishly but in the context of God’s greater kingdom.
David’s call for blood is based firmly in God’s justice and the stability of God’s kingdom on earth. Because Joab continually put his own desires before the king and even put David’s kingdom in jeopardy on two occasions by murdering men out of envy, men who were seeking to solidify and unify the kingdom of Israel, he could not be trusted to support Solomon’s reign. In just the previous chapter he had again clearly shown his support for Solomon’s rival Adonijah. Nothing would stop him from lifting up his hand against God’s anointed and dividing God’s kingdom. He must be dealt with.
In a similar vein, Shimei was a descendant of Saul who despised David for supposedly usurping the throne in Israel. When David was fleeing from his son Abasalom who was then seeking to usurp his own throne, Shimei found him and taunted him as a worthless man, calling down curses upon him and even throwing rocks at him. At that time, David received this cursing with humility cognizant of his own sins that led to this great humiliation. Nevertheless, any man who was unafraid to curse God’s anointed king and to reject God’s sovereign ruler should not be allowed to live in God’s land of promise, for how can one live in God’s place under God’s blessing when he rejects God’s king?
On the other hand, David tasked Solomon with honoring the sons of Barzillai because of how their father was loyal to the king in his weakness richly blessing him with provisions and comfort when forced into exile. Such a loyal subject to the king was surely a loyal servant of God, one who would instill the same faithfulness in his sons for years to come. Such loyalty should be commended for the sake of the individual and for the sake of the kingdom as a whole. For Paul says in Romans 13:3-4 “rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”
Of course, we know that upon Christ’s return when he comes into his kingdom here on earth, all the wicked will be punished severely being thrown outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. At that time no mercy will be afforded the wicked. And the Son of David will sit upon his throne over all his glorious kingdom forever precisely because he keeps all the stipulations of the covenant obeying every precept of God his Father. Clearly, Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise, he is the true Son of David, the greater Solomon, the true king of peace. For unlike Solomon he would not falter or fail. He would not waiver in his loyalty unto God but would be obedient unto death, even death on a cross. This is the king we worship, a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, who utterly reject his kingship.