Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Life of David - Lesson 40

The World's Way or God's Way? - 1 Kings 1

Prayer: Lord, open up Your scriptures to teach our hearts & minds this day.  Teach us to depend on Your Spirit in order to know what is pleasing to you, and keep us from letting our lives be directed by our own imaginations.

Quickly Form Groups:
1.  Do you ever fall into the trap of acting first, and then asking God to bless your actions?  Why is it important to pray and consult with God before taking action?

We're back to the narrative of David's life, toward the end of David's earthly life, and yet there is still more trouble to deal with & action to be taken.  David's throne needs a successor, the temple building plans need to be passed along, and David still has lessons to teach us.  This should be a reminder to us that the elderly among us believers, even the bed-ridden, remain here because God still has a purpose for their lives.  We should make a point to respect their godly heritage & advice, to encourage them as their bodies are wasting away (they were once young & vital like you), and to appreciate the walk they taken with the Lord.

The end of David's life introduces the narrative on Solomon's reign, but we're only going to take this series to the end of David's life.  As with anyone who passes away there are things to pass along, loose ends that need to be tied up, and we will be seeing this over the next few weeks.

1 Kings 1:1-4 - Ok, this passage states it clearly, David is old - about 70 years old.  Now in modern times 70 doesn't sound so old, my own mother is 71 & is in very good health. But we live in an advanced culture in an age of modern medicine (see U.S. life expectancy graphs: http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US39-01.html).  We can expect that in David's day the statistics were a bit worse than what we see in the U.S. in the 1850s; additionally, we must remember that throughout David's life the nation of Israel was at war - so many more would have died due to death on the battlefield, so it would have been considered a ripe old age to reach the age of 70.

David could no longer stay warm enough to sleep, so they found him a beautiful young virgin by the name of Abishag to attend the king & care for him, and to sleep next to him to provide him warmth.  This is a very practical solution to caring for the elderly king, he's basically being given a full time live-in nurse, and she'll sleep with David to keep him warm.  Why a young virgin?  Perhaps because she'd be less likely to be interested in intimacy with the elderly king.  Perhaps because she'd be unmarried & without children, and thus able to be in full time service to the king.  Why did they pick a very beautiful woman?  This may simply have been the best qualified young woman that was found - her beauty may be described here to help us understand why Adonijah requests her for a wife after David's death (but that's part of King Solomon's narrative).  What we know for certain is that she cared for David, slept with David, but was not intimate with David.

1 Kings 1:5-10 - Adonijah, 4th son of David, takes advantage of the fact that his father is elderly, and works to set himself up as king.  He may have been the oldest of David's living sons.  Amnon & Absalom, David's 1st & 3rd sons, have died violent deaths.  We don't know about Kileab, David's 2nd son.  Adonijah is handsome, he's been allowed to do as he pleases, and now he pleases to be king.  Adonijah gets himself horses & chariots, and men to run ahead of him, and attempts to garner support from among David's faithful.

We read that Joab (David's nephew & primary general) gives his support, this isn't a surprise knowing Joab's personality.  The surprise is Abiathar, this is a priest & one of the two who had served to be David's eyes & ears in Jerusalem during Absalom's rebellion.  Did Abiathar make a decision without consulting the Lord?  It appears so.  It appears that the rest of David's faithful remained faithful, they did not join Adonijah, so there were only 2 notable "defections".

Adonijah attempted to make himself "look like" he was a guy out to do all the right things, he made public sacrifices & invited many to join with him in this.  He invited his brothers (except one) and all the men of Judah who were royal officials.  But look who he excluded: Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the head of David's bodyguard, and Solomon the son chosen by God to be the next king.

1 Kings 1:11-14 - Nathan warns Bathsheba about what's been happening, if Adonijah becomes king she & Solomon will be put to death.  Apparently it was common knowledge that Solomon was expected to be appointed by David as the next king.  Nathan advises her to go see King David, and tells her what to say & how he will join her to back her up.

1 Kings 1:15-21 - Bathsheba follows Nathan's instructions, she goes in to see David and tell him about Adonijah's actions.   In this we find out Adonijah's sacrifice was massive, perhaps meant to be a show of strength & authority.  She reminds him that he is still the leader Israel is looking to for direction, but that he needs to take action now.

1 Kings 1:22-27 -  As he promised, Nathan comes in to back up Bathsheba.  He poses a question to  David: "Have you declared Adonijah shall be king?".  Then Nathan goes on to tell him about the massive sacrifice & celebration Adonijah is throwing, and that the people with him are proclaiming him king.  Lest David think all have gone over to Adonijah, Nathan tells him precisely who has defected and who has not.  Nathan finishes with another question, asking: "did you do this without letting us know?".  Of course the answer to both questions is "No", but David is being spurred on to take action.

1 Kings 1:28-31 - David reaffirmed his oath to Bathsheba, and he would take care of the matter that very day - her son Solomon would be king.  He had previously, by the Lord's direction, sworn that Solomon would be king - he is going to do all he can to keep that oath.

1 Kings 1:32-37 -  David summons Zadok the priest (the other one that had been part of   David's royal espionage team during Absalom's rebellion), Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the head of his bodyguard.  David instructs them to place Solomon on his royal mount, to have the priest & the prophet anoint him as king, to blow the royal trumpets & announce that David has declared that Solomon will be Israel's next king, and finally to set him on the throne and give him reign over Israel in David's place.  Benaiah exclaims his appreciation & declares his loyalty to Solomon.

1 Kings 1:38-40 - They do as instructed by David, and definitely not in secret.  Apparently there was a huge throng of people shouting, playing music, and rejoicing.  They were so loud in fact that the ground shook with the sound.

1 Kings 1:41-48 - Adonijah hears the noise from the city, what's going on?  He thought he was throwing the big party, and suddenly his party is being drowned out by the noise from the city.  Jonathan, Abiathar's son, comes with news - but not good news for Adonijah & his dad - Solomon has been made king, he's sitting on the throne.  Oh, and those royal officials Adonijah had invited must not have gone to his party because they're celebrating with Solomon & congratulating David.  I'm guessing that many of them saw in Adonijah the same problems they saw in Absalom, and knew better than to back one not chosen by God.

1 Kings 1:49-51 - Adonijah's guests all take off, they know now that they've backed the wrong guy.  Adonijah as well high-tails it, but he heads to the tabernacle & takes hold of the horns of the altar.  People would not have been killed in the tabernacle, that would have been an offense to God, smart move on Adonijah's part.  He wants a pardon from Solomon, and he's not leaving this place of safety until he gets it.

1 Kings 1:52-53 - Solomon handled the situation wisely, he stated that if Adonijah is worthy he won't die, but if he is evil he will.  So Adonijah is brought before Solomon, and bows, and is sent home unharmed.  This disrespectful prince & the two defectors would be dealt with later by Solomon, but not during David's life.

Closing Prayer:  Oh Lord, how easy it is for us to look good in the eyes of men & to get their approval.  Please watch over us and keep us from being white-washed tombs, clean on the outside & dead on the inside.  Helps us instead to be clean before you.  Amen!

Quickly Form Groups Again:
2.  What similarities do you see between Adonijah & Absalom?  What differences?
3.  Adonijah "put himself forward" to be king, promoting himself like a modern-day politician.  Why was this action wrong in that place & time?

4.  Pray for each other.

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