Scripture: 1 Kings 1:1-4, 15-35 (NKJV)
1 Now King David was old, advanced in years; and they put covers on him, but he
could not get warm. 2 Therefore his servants said to him, “Let a young woman, a
virgin, be sought for our lord the king, and let her stand before the king, and
let her care for him; and let her lie in your bosom, that our lord the king may
be warm.” 3 So they sought for a lovely young woman throughout all the
territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the
king. 4 The young woman was very lovely; and she cared for the king, and served
him; but the king did not know her.
15 So Bathsheba went into the chamber to the king. (Now the king was very old,
and Abishag the Shunammite was serving the king.) 16 And Bathsheba bowed and
did homage to the king. Then the king said, “What is your wish?” 17 Then she
said to him, “My lord, you swore by the LORD your God to your maidservant,
saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on
my throne.’ 18 So now, look! Adonijah has become king; and now, my lord the
king, you do not know about it. 19 He has sacrificed oxen and fattened cattle
and sheep in abundance, and has invited all the sons of the king, Abiathar the
priest, and Joab the commander of the army; but Solomon your servant he has not
invited. 20 And as for you, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are on you,
that you should tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after
him. 21 Otherwise it will happen, when my lord the king rests with his fathers,
that I and my son Solomon will be counted as offenders.”
22 And just then, while she was still talking with the king, Nathan the prophet
also came in. 23 So they told the king, saying, “Here is Nathan the prophet.”
And when he came in before the king, he bowed down before the king with his
face to the ground. 24 And Nathan said, “My lord, O king, have you said,
‘Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne’? 25 For he has
gone down today, and has sacrificed oxen and fattened cattle and sheep in
abundance, and has invited all the king’s sons, and the commanders of the army,
and Abiathar the priest; and look! They are eating and drinking before him; and
they say, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 But he has not invited me—me your
servant—nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, nor your servant
Solomon. 27 Has this thing been done by my lord the king, and you have not told
your servant who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
28 Then King David answered and said, “Call Bathsheba to me.” So she came into
the king’s presence and stood before the king. 29 And the king took an oath and
said, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress, 30 just
as I swore to you by the LORD God of Israel, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your
son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so I
certainly will do this day.” 31 Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the
earth, and paid homage to the king, and said, “Let my lord King David live
forever!” 32 And King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the
prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. 33 The
king also said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have
Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and take him down to Gihon. 34 There let
Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel; and blow
the horn, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 Then you shall come up after
him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, and he shall be king in my place.
For I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.”
Devotion
It is not surprising that when a man is negligent in tending to his family
life, things go awry. God forgave David’s sin with Uriah and Bathsheba, but the
consequences of his sin cascaded down through his life. Now, it is not
guaranteed that an attentive father will not have a rebellious son, but it is
almost certain a neglectful father will have trouble.
Adonijah had not learned to fear the Lord. It was the Lord’s choice to choose
Saul, and then David, and now David’s successor. But Adonijah took it into his
own hands to become king. There are few things as wicked as a rebel and a
usurper. He does not only fail to acknowledge the rightful king, but also fails
to acknowledge the God who sets kings on their thrones and removes others. This
sin of Adonijah is not just rebellion against his father, but rebellion against
the God who chose his father and his father’s successor.
God’s will was to be heard in the voice of David, whom God had anointed. So,
when David declared Solomon king and had him anointed by the priest Zadok and
the prophet Nathan, there was no doubt about which king was the true one.
Everyone would look at Adonijah’s claim to the throne as usurpation and
illegitimate. All positions in life, all vocations, must have God as their
ultimate source or they will amount to nothing.
Posted by The Reverend Jeffrey A. Ahonen on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran
Diocese of North America, publisher of the Lutheran Herald.
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