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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1 Kings 2
2
David’s Instructions for Solomon
1The days of David came near for him to die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying, 2“I am about to go the way of all the world. Be strong and be courageous.#Literally “as a man” 3You shall keep the charge of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his judgments, and his testimonies, as are written in the law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all that you do and everywhere you turn, 4so that Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed of their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel.’ ”
5“Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me when he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, and he murdered them and put the blood of war in a time of peace. He put the blood of war on the leather belt that was on his waist and on the sandals which were on his feet. 6You must act according to your wisdom, but you must not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. 7Regarding the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, you shall do loyal love and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they met me when I fled from Absalom your brother. 8And look, Shimei the son of Gera the son of the Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he cursed me severely#Literally “cursed me with a curse” when I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, so I swore to him by Yahweh, ‘I surely will not kill you with the sword.’ 9So then, do not leave him unpunished, for you are a wise man, and you will know what you must do to him. You must bring his grey hair down to Sheol with blood.”
10Then David slept with his ancestors#Or “fathers” and was buried in the city of David. 11The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 12Then Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.
Adonijah’s Persistence
13Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, and she said, “Are you coming in peace?”#Literally “Is peace your coming?” He said, “Peace.” 14Then he said, “May I have a word with you?”#Literally “A word is for me to you” Then she said, “Go on.” 15He said, “You know that the kingship was mine and that all Israel had set their face toward me as king, but the kingship turned around and became my brother’s, for it was from Yahweh for him to have it. 16Now one request I am asking from you, and you must not refuse me.”#Literally “not turn my face” Then she said to him, “Go on.” 17He said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, so that he will give to me Abishag the Shunnamite as wife.” 18Then Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak to the king concerning you.”
Solomon’s Responses to Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei
19Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him concerning Adonijah, and the king got up to meet her, bowed down to her, and then sat on his throne. Then he set up a throne for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right. 20She said, “I have one small request I am asking from you. Do not refuse me.”#Literally “not turn my face” The king said to her, “Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”#Literally “not turn your face” 21Then she said, “Let Abishag the Shunnamite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.” 22King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah? Ask for him also the kingdom, for he is my brother, older than I; and ask for him also Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23Then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, “Thus may God do to me and thus may he add, if Adonijah hasn’t spoken this thing at the expense of his life. 24So then, as Yahweh lives,#Literally “the life of Yahweh” who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David and who has established for me a dynasty as he promised, then surely Adonijah will be put to death today.” 25King Solomon sent through the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, so he struck him, and he died.
26To Abiathar the priest, the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your field, for you deserve to die,#Literally “you are a man of death” but on this day I will not kill you, for you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you endured hardship in all the hardship that my father endured.” 27So Solomon banished Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, thus fulfilling the word which Yahweh had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28When the message came to Joab (now Joab had supported#Literally “had turned after” Adonijah but had not supported#Literally “had not turned after” Absalom), he fled to the tent of Yahweh and grasped the horns of the altar. 29It was told to King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Yahweh and was beside the altar. So Solomon sent word to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go and fall upon him.” 30So Benaiah went to the tent of Yahweh, and he said to him, “Thus says the king: ‘Come out.’ ” And he said, “No, for I want to die here.” So Benaiah returned a word to the king, saying, “Thus Joab spoke, and thus he answered me.” 31Then the king said to him, “Do as he spoke; fall upon him and bury him, and so you shall remove the innocent blood that Joab shed from on me and from on the house of my father. 32Yahweh will return his blood on his head, because he fell upon two men, more righteous and better than he, and he killed them with the sword, even though my father did not know it; namely Abner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33And their blood will return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever, but for David and his descendants and for his house and his throne, there will be peace forever from Yahweh.” 34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, and he fell on him and killed him, and he was buried in his house in the wilderness. 35Then the king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king appointed Zadok the priest in place of Abiathar.
36Then the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not go out anywhere whatsoever#Literally “where and where” from there. 37It shall happen that on the day you go out and cross over the Wadi#A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season Kidron, know for certain that you will surely die.#Literally “dying you will die” Your blood will be on your head.” 38Shimei said to the king, “The word is good that my lord the king has spoken to me; thus will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39It happened that at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves fled to Achish, son of Maacah, the king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Your slaves are here in Gath.” 40So Shimei got up and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gath, to Achish, to search for his slaves. So Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. 41When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, 42the king sent and summoned Shimei, and he said to him, “Did I not make you swear by Yahweh? I warned you, saying, ‘On the day you go out and you go anywhere whatsoever,#Literally “where and where” know for certain that you will surely die.’#Literally “dying you will die” And you said to me, ‘The word is good; I accept.’ 43Why have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the command which I commanded you?” 44Then the king said to Shimei, “You know all the evil which your heart knows, what you did to David my father. Now Yahweh will return the evil on your head, 45but King Solomon will be blessed and the throne of David will be established before Yahweh forever.” 46Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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