UST 1 KI Chapter 2

◄ 1 KI 2 ► ║ ═ ©

2 Later, David realized that he was about to die, so he gave some final instructions to his son Solomon. He said, 2 ”I am about to die, as everyone on earth does. Then you will be the king, so you must show strong character and great maturity. 3 Do what Yahweh your God has told you to do. Conduct yourself as he wants you to do. Obey every one of the commandments that Moses recorded in the laws that he gave us. If you do this, you will prosper in all that you do and wherever you go. 4 If you continually do that, Yahweh will do what he promised me. He said, ‘If your descendants do what I tell them to do, and faithfully obey my commands with all their inner beings, they will always be the ones who will rule Israel.’ 5 There is something else that I want you to do. You know very well how Joab son of Zeruiah acted contrary to my wishes and interests. He murdered two men whom I wanted to be my army commander, first Abner son of Ner, then Amasa son of Jether. Previously those men had led armies that were fighting wars against my army, which Joab was commanding. But he murdered them during a peaceful time when they were not his opponents in war. He pretended to be friendly to them so that he could get close to them, but then he stabbed them, and he was so close that their blood got on his clothing. 6 I am confident that you are wise enough to know how to make sure that he does not die a peaceful death in old age. 7 But act kindly toward the children of Barzillai the Gileadite. Let them eat meals with you in the palace. Do that because Barzillai helped me when I was running away from your older brother Absalom. 8 I also want you to punish Shimei son of Gera, that Benjaminite from the town of Bahurim. Remember that he cursed me terribly on the day when I left Jerusalem and fled to the town of Mahanaim. Later he came to welcome me back when I was crossing the Jordan River to return to my royal palace, and he asked me to forgive him. I solemnly promised him that I would not execute him. I guaranteed that promise by my devotion to Yahweh. 9 But now you must surely punish him. You are a wise man, so you will know what you should do to him. Make sure that he does not die peacefully in his old age.”

10 After David gave these instructions to Solomon, he died. The Israelites buried him in the part of Jerusalem that they called the City of David. 11 David had been the king of Israel for 40 years. He had ruled for 7 years in Hebron and for 33 years in Jerusalem. 12 Then Solomon became the king in place of his father David. Yahweh enabled him to take firm control of the entire kingdom.

13 One day Adonijah came to speak with Solomon’s mother Bathsheba. She asked him, “Have you come as a friend?” He replied, “Yes, as a friend.” 14 But then he said, “I want to ask you to do something for me.” She replied, “Tell me what you want me to do.” 15 He said, “You certainly know that all the Israelite people expected me to be their king because I am David’s oldest living son. But that did not happen. Instead, my younger brother became king, because that is what Yahweh wanted. 16 But I want to request one thing from you. Please do not refuse to do it.” She replied, “Tell me what you want me to do.” 17 He said, “Please ask King Solomon to allow me to marry Abishag, that woman from the city of Shunem. I am sure that he will agree to do anything you ask him to do.” 18 Bathsheba replied, “All right, I will go and ask the king to allow you to marry her.”

19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to tell him what Adonijah wanted. When she arrived, the king got up from his throne and bowed down to her to honor her. Then he sat down on his throne again, and he had his servants bring a throne for her to sit on as the queen mother. He had her sit in a place of honor on his right side. 20 Then she said, “I want to request one small thing from you. Please do not refuse to do it.” The king replied, “I will not refuse to do what you ask. So please tell me what you want, madam.” 21 She said, “Allow your older brother Adonijah to marry Abishag, the woman from the city of Shunem.” 22 King Solomon replied, “You should not be asking me to allow Adonijah to marry Abishag! That is just like asking me to allow him to be the king instead of me. After all, he is my older brother, so he may still think he deserves to be the king. If I allow this, Adonijah will become the king instead of me, and only Abiathar will be the high priest instead of Zadok as well and Joab will remain the army commander.” 23 Then Solomon made a solemn promise, guaranteeing it by his devotion to Yahweh. He said, “By asking to marry Abishag, Adonijah has shown that he is not truly loyal to me, so he deserves to die! If I do not execute him, may God kill me instead and do other terrible things to me.” 24 I solemnly promise that I am going to order someone to execute Adonijah today! I guarantee that promise by my devotion to Yahweh, who has made me the ruler over Israel, as my father David was. By making me the king, Yahweh has fulfilled his promise to David that his descendants would be kings of Israel.” 25 Then King Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada to go and kill Adonijah, and Benaiah did that.

26 Then Solomon summoned Abiathar the priest and told him, “Go to the town of Anathoth, to your land there. You deserve to die as your punishment for being disloyal to me. But I will not execute you now, since you brought Yahweh’s sacred chest to David my father when he had to flee from Jerusalem. You also endured the same troubles that he endured because you remained loyal to him when Absalom rebelled against him.” 27 So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being Yahweh’s high priest. As a result, he made happen what Yahweh had said would happen to the descendants of Eli. Many years before at Shiloh, Yahweh had said that someday they would no longer serve him as priests.

28 Joab had supported Adonijah when he tried to become the king, although he had not supported Absalom earlier. So when Solomon punished Adonijah and Abiathar, who had also supported him, someone came and told Joab about that. Joab ran to the sacred tent and held onto the projections at the corners of the altar because he thought no one would harm him there. 29 When someone told Solomon that Joab had run to the sacred tent and was alongside the altar, Solomon told Benaiah, “Go and execute Joab.” 30 So Benaiah went to the sacred tent and told Joab, “The king commands you to come out.” But Joab replied, “No, if I must die, I will die here.” So Benaiah went back to the king and reported how Joab had responded when he told him to come out of the sacred tent. 31 The king replied to him, “Do just what he has said. Kill him and bury his body. If you do that, Yahweh will not punish me or my family for not providing justice for the two men whom Joab killed in peacetime for what they did during a war. 32 When you execute Joab, Yahweh will be punishing him for attacking and violently killing Abner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, the commander of the army of Judah. Those two men were both much better men than he was. My father David did not know that Joab was planning to murder them. 33 Yahweh will always hold Joab and his descendants responsible because he murdered Abner and Amasa. But because David had nothing to do with those murders, Yahweh will always make things go well for David’s descendants who rule over Israel as he did.” 34 So Benaiah went to the sacred tent and executed Joab. Joab’s family buried his body on his property in the desolate area within the territory of the tribe of Judah. 35 Then King Solomon appointed Benaiah to be the army commander instead of Joab, and he appointed Zadok to be the only high priest, instead of Abiathar being a high priest as well.

36 Then the king sent a messenger to summon Shimei. When Shimei arrived, the king told him, “You must come and live here in Jerusalem. Build a house for yourself and stay in it. Do not leave the city to go anywhere else. 37 You can be sure that if you ever leave Jerusalem and go farther from the city than the Kidron Brook, I will have one of my soldiers execute you, and it will be your own fault.” 38 Shimei replied, “I agree, Your Majesty. I will do what you have said.” Then Shimei moved to Jerusalem and stayed in the city for a long time.

39 But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away. They fled to the city of Gath, and the king of the city, Achish son of Maacah, allowed them to stay there. When someone told Shimei that his slaves were in Gath, 40 he traveled on his donkey to that city. He found his slaves staying with King Achish, and he took them back home with him. 41 But someone told King Solomon that Shimei had left Jerusalem and gone to Gath, even though he was now back in Jerusalem. 42 So the king sent a messenger to summon Shimei. When Shimei arrived, he said to him, “I made you promise solemnly, with Yahweh as your witness, that you would not leave Jerusalem. I told you that you could be sure that I would execute you if you ever left Jerusalem to go anywhere else. And you replied to me, ‘I agree, Your Majesty. I will do what you have said.’ 43 So you should have done what you solemnly promised to Yahweh! You should not have disobeyed what I commanded you!” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know quite well in your inner being what evil things you did to my father David. Now Yahweh is going to punish you for doing those evil things. 45 But Yahweh will bless me, and he will always enable David’s descendants to rule Israel.” 46 Then the king ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada to execute Shimei. Benaiah took him out of the palace and executed him with this sword. By executing Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei and exiling Abiathar, Solomon obtained complete control of the kingdom of Israel.

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UST 1 KI Chapter 2

UST 1 KI Chapter 2