1 Kings 2
2
David’s Dying Instructions to Solomon
1As the time approached for David to die, # Gn 47:29; Nm 27:13 he instructed his son Solomon, 2“As for me, I am going the way of all of the earth. # Jos 23:14 Be strong and be courageous like a man, # Jos 1:6-7,9 3and keep your obligation to the Lord your God to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do # Dt 29:9; 1Ch 22:12-13 and wherever you turn, 4and so that the Lord will carry out His promise that He made to me: ‘If your sons are careful to walk faithfully before Me with their whole mind and heart, # Dt 6:5; Mt 22:37 you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’ # 2Sm 7:12-13; 1Kg 8:25; 9:5
5“You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me # 2Sm 18:5,12,14 and what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s army, Abner son of Ner # 2Sm 3:27 and Amasa son of Jether. # 2Sm 20:10 He murdered them in a time of peace to avenge blood shed in war. He spilled that blood on his own waistband and on the sandals of his feet. # LXX, Old Lat read on my waistband and . . . my feet ; v. 31 6Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head descend to Sheol in peace.
7“Show loyalty to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table # 2Sm 9:7; 19:28 because they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom. # 2Sm 19:31-39
8“Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim. # 2Sm 16:5-13 But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will never kill you with the sword.’ # 2Sm 19:16-23 9So don’t let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.”
10Then David rested with his fathers # Ac 2:29; 13:36 and was buried in the city of David. # 2Sm 5:7 11The length of time David reigned over Israel was 40 years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. # 2Sm 5:4-5; 1Ch 29:27 12Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingship was firmly established. # 1Kg 2:46; 1Ch 17:14
Adonijah’s Foolish Request
13Now Adonijah son of Haggith # 1Kg 1:5,51-53 came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come peacefully? ”
“Peacefully,” he replied, # 1Sm 16:4-5 14and then asked, “May I talk with you? ” # Lit then said, “I have a word for you.”
“Go ahead,” she answered.
15“You know the kingship was mine,” # 1Kg 1:11 he said. “All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother, # 1Kg 1:38-46 for the Lord gave it to him. # 1Ch 23:9-10; 28:5,7; Dn 2:21; 4:17; Jn 19:11; Rm 13:1 16So now I have just one request of you; don’t turn me down.” # Lit don’t make me turn my face
She said to him, “Go on.”
17He replied, “Please speak to King Solomon since he won’t turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite # 1Kg 1:3-4,15 as a wife.”
18“Very well,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king’s mother. # 2Sm 15:16; 1Kg 15:13 So she sat down at his right hand. # Ps 110:1; Mt 20:21
20Then she said, “I have just one small request of you. Don’t turn me down.”
“Go ahead and ask, mother,” the king replied, “for I won’t turn you down.”
21So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.”
22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my elder brother, # 1Kg 1:6; 1Ch 3:2,5 you might as well ask the kingship for him, # 2Sm 16:20-22 for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab son of Zeruiah.” # LXX, Vg, Syr read kingship for him, and on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah # 1Kg 1:7 23Then Solomon took an oath by the Lord: “May God punish me and do so severely # Ru 1:17; 1Sm 3:17 if Adonijah has not made this request at the cost of his life. 24And now, as the Lord lives, the One who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as He promised # 2Sm 7:11-13 — I swear Adonijah will be put to death today! ” 25Then King Solomon gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, # 1Kg 1:8,26,38 who struck down Adonijah, and he died.
Abiathar’s Banishment
26The king said to Abiathar the priest, # 1Kg 1:7,19 “Go to your fields in Anathoth. # Jos 21:18; Jr 1:1 Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death today, since you carried the ark of the Lord God in the presence of my father David # 2Sm 15:24-25,29 and you suffered through all that my father suffered.” # 1Sm 22:20-23; 2Sm 19:11 27So Solomon banished Abiathar from being the Lord’s priest, and it fulfilled the Lord’s prophecy He had spoken at Shiloh against Eli’s family. # 1Sm 2:31-35
Joab’s Execution
28The news reached Joab. Since he had supported Adonijah # 1Kg 1:7 but not Absalom, # 2Sm 18:1-5 Joab fled to the Lord’s tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar. # Ex 21:12-14; 1Kg 1:50
29It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to the Lord’s tabernacle and is now beside the altar.” Then Solomon sent # LXX adds Joab a message: “What is the matter with you, that you have fled to the altar?” And Joab replied, “Because I feared you, I have fled to the Lord.” And Solomon the king sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada # 1Kg 1:8 and told him, “Go and strike him down! ” # Ex 12:12,14; 2Sm 3:27; 18:14; 20:10
30So Benaiah went to the tabernacle and said to Joab, “This is what the king says: ‘Come out! ’ ” # Ex 21:14
But Joab said, “No, for I will die here.”
So Benaiah took a message back to the king, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”
31The king said to him, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him in order to remove from me and from my father’s house the blood that Joab shed without just cause. # Nm 35:33; Dt 21:8-9 32The Lord will bring back his own blood on his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David’s knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner # 2Sm 3:26-27 son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa # 2Sm 20:8-10 son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. 33Their blood will come back on Joab’s head and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne, there will be peace from the Lord forever.” # 2Sm 3:28-29
34Benaiah son of Jehoiada # 2Kg 2:25 went up, struck down Joab, and put him to death. He was buried at his house in the wilderness. # 2Sm 2:32 35Then the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army, # 1Kg 4:4 and he appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.
Shimei’s Banishment and Execution
36Then the king summoned Shimei # 2Sm 16:5-13; 1Kg 2:8-9 and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but don’t leave there and go anywhere else. 37On the day you do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, # Jn 18:1 know for sure that you will certainly die. Your blood will be on your own head.” # Gn 2:17; 2Sm 1:16
38Shimei said to the king, “The sentence is fair; your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
39But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish # 1Sm 27:2 son of Maacah, king of Gath. # Jos 13:3; 1Sm 6:16-17; 21:10 Shimei was informed, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.” 40So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath to search for his slaves. He went and brought them back from Gath.
41It was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned. 42So the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Didn’t I make you swear by the Lord and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you leave and go anywhere else, know for sure that you will certainly die’? And you said to me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will obey.’ 43So why have you not kept the Lord’s oath and the command that I gave you? ” 44The king also said, “You yourself know all the evil that you did to my father David. # 1Kg 2:8-9 Therefore, the Lord has brought back your evil on your head, 45but King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain established before the Lord forever.” # 2Sm 7:13
46Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hand. # 1Kg 2:12; 2Ch 1:1
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 2
2
David's Last Instructions to Solomon
1When David was about to die, he called his son Solomon and gave him his last instructions: 2“My time to die has come. Be confident and determined, 3and do what the LORD your God orders you to do. Obey all his laws and commands, as written in the Law of Moses, so that wherever you go you may prosper in everything you do. 4If you obey him, the LORD will keep the promise he made when he told me that my descendants would rule Israel as long as they were careful to obey his commands faithfully with all their heart and soul.
5 #
2 Sam 3.27; 20.10 “There is something else. You remember what Joab did to me by killing the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. You remember how he murdered them in time of peace in revenge for deaths they had caused in time of war. He killed innocent men#2.5 Some ancient translations innocent men; Hebrew men in battle. and now I bear the responsibility for what he did, and I suffer#2.5 Some ancient translations I bear… and I suffer; Hebrew he bears… and he suffers. the consequences. 6You know what to do; you must not let him die a natural death.
7 #
2 Sam 17.27–29
“But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai from Gilead and take care of them, because they were kind to me when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom.
8 #
2 Sam 16.5–13; 19.16–23 “There is also Shimei son of Gera, from the town of Bahurim in Benjamin. He cursed me bitterly the day I went to Mahanaim, but when he met me at the River Jordan, I gave him my solemn promise in the name of the LORD that I would not have him killed. 9But you must not let him go unpunished. You know what to do, and you must see to it that he is put to death.”
The Death of David
10David died and was buried in David's City. 11#2 Sam 5.4–5; 1 Chr 3.4He had been king of Israel for forty years, ruling seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem. 12#1 Chr 29.23Solomon succeeded his father David as king, and his royal power was firmly established.
The Death of Adonijah
13Then Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, went to Bathsheba, who was Solomon's mother. “Is this a friendly visit?” she asked.
“It is,” he answered, 14and then he added, “I have something to ask of you.”
“What is it?” she asked.
15He answered, “You know that I should have become king and that everyone in Israel expected it. But it happened differently, and my brother became king, because it was the LORD's will. 16And now I have one request to make; please do not refuse me.”
“What is it?” Bathsheba asked.
17 #
1 Kgs 1.3–4
He answered, “Please ask King Solomon — I know he won't refuse you — to let me have Abishag, the woman from Shunem, as my wife.”
18“Very well,” she answered. “I will speak to the king for you.”
19So Bathsheba went to the king to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king stood up to greet his mother and bowed to her. Then he sat on his throne and had another one brought in on which she sat at his right. 20She said, “I have a small favour to ask of you; please do not refuse me.”
“What is it, mother?” he asked. “I will not refuse you.”
21She answered, “Let your brother Adonijah have Abishag as his wife.”
22“Why do you ask me to give Abishag to him?” the king asked. “You might as well ask me to give him the throne too. After all, he is my elder brother, and Abiathar the priest and Joab are on his side!”#2.22 Some ancient translations and Abiathar the priest… on his side; Hebrew unclear. 23Then Solomon made a solemn promise in the LORD's name, “May God strike me dead if I don't make Adonijah pay with his life for asking this! 24The LORD has firmly established me on the throne of my father David; he has kept his promise and given the kingdom to me and my descendants. I swear by the living LORD that Adonijah will die this very day!”
25So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah, who went out and killed Adonijah.
Abiathar's Banishment and Joab's Death
26 #
1 Sam 22.20–23; 2 Sam 15.24 Then King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest, “Go to your country home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not have you put to death now, for you were in charge of the LORD's Covenant Box while you were with my father David, and you shared in all his troubles.” 27#1 Sam 2.27–36Then Solomon dismissed Abiathar from serving as a priest of the LORD, and so he made what the LORD had said in Shiloh about the priest Eli and his descendants come true.
28Joab heard what had happened. (He had supported Adonijah, but not Absalom.) So he fled to the Tent of the LORD's presence and took hold of the corners of the altar.#2.28 corners of the altar: See 1.50. 29When the news reached King Solomon that Joab had fled to the Tent and was by the altar, Solomon sent a messenger to Joab to ask him why he had fled to the altar. Joab answered that he had fled to the LORD because he was afraid of Solomon. So King Solomon sent Benaiah#2.29 One ancient translation Solomon sent a messenger… sent Benaiah; Hebrew Solomon sent Benaiah. to kill Joab. 30He went to the Tent of the LORD's presence and said to Joab, “The king orders you to come out.”
“No,” Joab answered. “I will die here.”
Benaiah went back to the king and told him what Joab had said.
31“Do what Joab says,” Solomon answered. “Kill him and bury him. Then neither I nor any other of David's descendants will any longer be held responsible for what Joab did when he killed innocent men. 32The LORD will punish Joab for those murders, which he committed#2.32 will punish… committed; or will kill Joab, because he committed those murders. without my father David's knowledge. Joab killed two innocent men who were better men than he: Abner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, commander of the army of Judah. 33The punishment for their murders will fall on Joab and on his descendants for ever. But the LORD will always give success to David's descendants who sit on his throne.”
34So Benaiah went to the Tent of the LORD's presence and killed Joab, and he was buried at his home in the open country. 35The king made Benaiah commander of the army in Joab's place and put Zadok the priest in Abiathar's place.
The Death of Shimei
36Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself here in Jerusalem. Live in it and don't leave the city. 37If you ever leave and go beyond the brook of Kidron, you will certainly die — and you yourself will be to blame.”
38“Very well, Your Majesty,” Shimei answered. “I will do what you say.” So he lived in Jerusalem a long time.
39Three years later, however, two of Shimei's slaves ran away to the king of Gath, Achish son of Maacah. When Shimei heard that they were in Gath, 40he saddled his donkey and went to King Achish in Gath, to find his slaves. He found them and brought them back home. 41When Solomon heard what Shimei had done, 42he sent for him and said, “I made you promise in the LORD's name not to leave Jerusalem. And I warned you that if you ever did, you would certainly die. Did you not agree to it and say that you would obey me? 43Why, then, have you broken your promise and disobeyed my command? 44You know very well all the wrong that you did to my father David. The LORD will punish you for it. 45But he will bless me and he will make David's kingdom secure for ever.”
46Then the king gave orders to Benaiah, who went out and killed Shimei. Solomon was now in complete control.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.