1 Kings 2:13-46
Solomon Executes Adonijah
13 Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. So she said, “Do you come peaceably?”
And he said, “Peaceably.” 14 Moreover he said, “I have something to say to you.”
And she said, “Say it.”
15 Then he said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had set their expectations on me, that I should reign. However, the kingdom has been turned over, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from the LORD. 16 Now I ask one petition of you; do not deny me.”
And she said to him, “Say it.”
17 Then he said, “Please speak to King Solomon, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.”
18 So Bathsheba said, “Very well, I will speak for you to the king.”
19 Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; so she sat at his right hand. 20 Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me.”
And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”
21 So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”
22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my older brother—for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23 Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! 24 Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house for me, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!”
25 So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.
Abiathar Exiled, Joab Executed
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted.” 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, that he might fulfill the word of the LORD which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.
28 Then news came to Joab, for Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. So Joab fled to the tabernacle of the LORD, and took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 And King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the tabernacle of the LORD; there he is, by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” 30 So Benaiah went to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said to him, “Thus says the king, Come out!’”
And he said, “No, but I will die here.” And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”
31 Then the king said to him, “Do as he has said, and strike him down and bury him, that you may take away from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab shed. 32 So the LORD will return his blood on his head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword—Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah—though my father David did not know it. 33 Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his descendants forever. But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the LORD.”
34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.
Shimei Executed
36 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. 37 For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head.”
38 And Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39 Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Look, your slaves are in Gath!” 40 So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. 41 And Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back. 42 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and travel anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I gave you?” 44 The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know, as your heart acknowledges, all the wickedness that you did to my father David; therefore the LORD will return your wickedness on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.”
46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
When Solomon ascended to the throne and his father king David passed away, he began tying up loose ends to establish the kingdom given by the LORD into his hands. He began by dealing with Adonijah (1 Kings 1:52) after his reprieve for rebellion of an attempted coup as promised when wickedness was then found in him. The wickedness was the arrogant hubris to ask for Abishag the Shunammite, former concubine of David his father, as his wife. He dared to go to Bathsheba instead of Solomon with this demand because he thought the throne would be his by the people’s choice even though he acknowledged that his brother Solomon was crowned because it was God’s will, a loaded statement of discontent. When Solomon heard this, he knew the reason for the outlandish request as another way to steal the throne by taking someone king David had as concubine to further his own legitimacy and make another possible attempt on the throne. Solomon wisely had him executed as promised for this wickedness that ended his former conditional reprieve. Then he banished Abiathar the priest (1 Samuel 2:31) as prophesied punishment for Eli’s family. This was the priest who carried the Ark, was faithful to king David, but later rebelled with Adonijah to attempt to overthrow the king and take the throne for the one just executed for that crime. Then Joab was dealt with, the man who killed two righteous men, Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the commander of the army of Judah, and also had defected to Adonijah. This held him accountable for his vengeful murders and cleared the blood from the house of David to brought peace on David’s house. Then exiled Shimei broke the terms of his banishment after three years by traveling across the brook Kidron against the conditions of his right to live. The wickedness he did to Solomon’s father David (2 Samuel 16:5, 13) was therefore held to account at last as his reprieve was lifted and he forfeited his life. After dealing with these loose ends of rebellion against the house of David the LORD’s anointed, the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Solomon at last. Sin against God’s people must be dealt with, though now through church discipline and not executed, excommunication when unrepentant and persisting in rebellion against the Lord and His word (Matthew 18:15-16, 17, 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15, James 5:19-20) but not with hate or vengeance or violence. Loose ends must be dealt with or they consume the body of Christ (1 Timothy 1:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:16-17) like a gangrenous cancerous. Remember Solomon and the kingdom of God in these things given for our (Romans 15:4, 5-6, 1 Corinthians 10:11) example to learn from (2 Timothy 2:16-17) His word to be the men and women He has designed for us to become.
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