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1Ki 2:5 “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, avenging in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and on the sandals on his feet.
1Ki 2:6 Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
1Ki 2:8 And there is also with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse on the day when I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’
1Ki 2:9 Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down with blood to Sheol.”
Our text mentions 2, but there are in fact four people- each one representing a sin in OUR lives- that Solomon is tasked to deal with as David is gathered to his fathers. And the reason is, because David, for whatever reason, failed to deal with them. As a result, Joab and the priest Abiathar tried to circumvent David's intentions and put another of David's sons, Adonijah, on the throne. But a loyal trio- Zadok the priest, the aged prophet Nathan, and the leader of the mighty men, Benaniah, defeated their purposes. David then gives the newly crowned Solomon the above charges. So let's look at the story through the lens of our sins...
First sin: Adonijah
Adonijah represents schemes against us, which we need to be wise enough to see through. Satan is always tempting us with schemes that seem harmless- on the outside. In this case, Adonijah goes to Queen Mother Bathsheba, requesting "nothing for himself" except that he might have the concubine Abishag for his own. Now this girl was a minor 'wife', who only came to David near his death, mainly to be a body beside him to keep him warm. But... as a concubine, she was considered a wife, and to give her to Adonijah woul be a sign of Solomon being subservient to Adonijah. Bathsheba didn't get this- but Solomon did. He instantly gave orders to Benaniah to kill him, because you don't play with Satan's schemes.
Second sin: Joab
The last two weeks we've hit this pretty well- Joab is the sin we let continue, the stronghold established from fear, necessity, or convenience. No matter how it dresses itself- as we saw last week with Joab relying on false piety- it also needs cut out.
Third sin: Shimei
Shimei was a kinsman of the House of Saul, who made a scene barking insults at David, while he fled from Absalom; Shimei turned all sweetness and light on David's triumphant return. Abishai, Joab's brother, advised David to let him kill Shimei; David refused, mainly because David felt the humiliation against himself was God's will. But God wants us humble, not humiliated.
Solomon knew what Shimei was- a poison. A person who says one thing to your face and another behind your back. So Solomon did what you do to poisons- he isolated it:
1Ki 2:36 Then the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever.
1Ki 2:37 For on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. Your blood shall be on your own head.”
1Ki 2:38 And Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
So Solomon gave this person one chance- just not close enough to do any harm- just to test him. And he failed. He lost a couple of slaves two years on, and later someone told him where they were. Instead of petitioning the King to gather the slaves for him, he left without a word to Solomon- and of course, Solomon found out. In isolation, the person was found untrustworthy- and Solomon eliminated him.
Fourth sin: Abiathar
Similar to Shimei, Abiathar had been found untrustworthy. But he was wrapped in the trappings of faith- like a pastor who preaches right from the Bible on Sunday, and molests congregants' children the rest of the week. David had made him High Priest not so much by value but guilt- he was the last survivor of the priests that Saul had Doeg the Edomite kill for helping David. But in the end, something changed in Abiathar- at the mini-rebellion of Adonijah, he turned against David. Where Shimei was poison, Abiathar was broken trust. And Solomon acted:
1Ki 2:26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because you shared in all my father's affliction.”
1Ki 2:27 So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
Solomon forgave him his life- but didn't restore trust.
But that last sentence, about Eli- how does it fit in? Eli was priest before Samuel, almost 100 years before our story. He had not only let his sons run roughshod over the faithful, but grew fat from their sins. Finally, an unidentified prophet told him he was to be cursed- him and all his house: there would never be a man of all his family reach old age until they were all gone. EXCEPT:
1Sa 2:33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men.
And that only one, who wasn't cut down by men, was Abiathar.
So we learn from these stories:
-Cut off the strongholds- no excuses.
-Be wise to Satan's schemes, and go to your Mighty Man- Jesus- to defeat them.
-You don't need to give more than one chance to a poisonous person.
-Cutting off someone who breaks your trust is their grief, not yours.
And of course, God KEEPS His promises.
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