Death and Instructions to Live By

1 Kings 2:1-12
    1 Now the days of David drew near that he should die, and he charged Solomon his son, saying: 2 “I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. 3 And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; 4 that the LORD may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul,’ He said, ‘you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 5 “Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed. And he shed the blood of war in peacetime, and put the blood of war on his belt that was around his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet. 6 Therefore do according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to the grave in peace.
    7 “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom your brother.  8 “And see, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, who cursed me with a malicious curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ 9 Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man and know what you ought to do to him; but bring his gray hair down to the grave with blood.”
    10 So David rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. 11 The period that David reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. 12 Then Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.

King David’s death was a time to pass instructions to his heir to rule wisely.  There would be consequences if Solomon did not follow the LORD in his rule, so the first advice addressed Solomon’s personal walk with God as a man.  He was to prove what a man of God was by following the word of God - His statutes, commandments, judgements, and testimonies as the Law laid out.  These things meant that Solomon would obey and live wholeheartedly by the LORD’s ways and not by his own constructions or that of those around him.  Then he would prosper in his work as king and as a father to his own sons; these would also have to follow as instructed to continue the lineage of kings, and they were to follow God truly and with all their hearts and lives if they wanted to likewise prosper in pleasing the LORD God as David had (Acts 13:22).  This meant giving God their all, not putting their lives, desires, or purposes above Him.  Such we are called to as well, for to live is Christ and if we die it is eternal gain!  Do we so commit ourselves to putting God first (Matthew 6:33, Luke 9:23), following His word (Joshua 1:8, 2 Timothy 3:16), following in unforced obedience out of love (Romans 12:1-2, John 14:21)?  We also see in this passage that the sin of Joab in murder (killing in peacetime, not in battle) was to be recompensed along with Shimei who cursed God’s anointed, and that the one who helped David the king was to be honored (Barzillai).  He passed these instructions to his heir to carry on the work of the LORD after his death, a pattern of discipleship for us to come as Paul did with Timothy (2 Timothy 2:2).  We are to model the man of Christ the King in our lives and pass those lessons of living well on to others to follow.  As for this passage in 1 Kings, we see the end of the forty-year reign of the beginning of the line of the Anointed One to come (Romans 1:3), showing a ray and way of hope going forward through time as we look back as Romans 15:4 reminds us.  Remember also what 2 Timothy says to us, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Let us therefore be men and women of His word!