Class Notes, 1 Kings 1-4

Intro:

• 1,2 kings document the reigns of 40 monarchs of Israel and Judah (20 from each)
• In the Hebrew, they were one book until the 16th century
• The English bible places them with Chronicles, emphasizing the history
• Hebrew bible places them with Joshua, Judges , Samuel, and the prophets emphasizing more of their prophetic nature
• Writer(s) unknown
• Period covers Solomon's co-regency with David (973 BC) and Jehoiachin's release from Babylonian exile (561 BC), approximately 413 years
• The books begin with the building of the temple, and ends with the burning of the temple
• Purpose is to show the cause and effect relationship of Israel's (first), and then Judah's (second) disobedience and the subsequent judgment

Timeline:

• 2166 Birth of Abram
• 2091 Abram departs from Haran
• 1876 Jacob's descent to Egypt
• 1845 Israel is enslaved
• 1446 Israel leaves Egypt after 400 years of bondage
• 1395 Conquest of Caanan complete (essentially)
• 1375-1043 Period of the Judges ("Israel had no King")
• 1051-1011 Saul's reign (40 years)
• 1011-971 David's reign (7 years over Judah & 33 years over Israel)
• 991 Birth of Solomon
• 973 Solomon's Co-Regency with David
• 971 David's death

The Reign of Solomon, Chapters 1-11:

• 3:1-8:66 is Favorable
  • Dream
    • Domestic Policy (Women and Wisdom; Administration and Wisdom)
    • Labor Relations (Hiram; Covee)
  • Attitude
• 9:1-11:13 is Critical of Solomon
  • Dream
    • Labor Relations (Hiram; Covee)
    • Foreign Policy (Women and Wisdom; Wealth and Wisdom)
  • Attitude

1 Kings 1:5-8 (NIV) Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, "I will be king." So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 (His father had never interfered with him by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?" He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David's special guard did not join Adonijah.

• What do we know about Adonijah?
  • He was the oldest
  • Custom, in that time, selected the oldest to succeed to the throne
• What is the problem with the selection of Adonijah to the kingship?
  • God had decreed Solomon would be King
  • So, this is outright rebellion to the will of God. Two things to note:
    • One, it succeeds for a short period of time
    • Two, it might have continue without the courageous actions of righteous men (Nathan)
• The passage describes David's relationship with Adonijah -- what is the problem?
  • David has a pattern of not crossing, or causing his children any physical or emotional pain
  • David did not discipline his children nor deny them anything they wanted -- interesting question is why? Maybe David in deference to his many wives over compensated in his role out of fear of comparisons between children
• Who supports David and what do we know of them?
  • Joab, David's Commander of the Army -- also killed two previous Commanders, whom Solomon says were better men than him (despite the fact they rebelled)
    • Joab was loyal to David, but Joab was primarily loyal to himself and to his position
  • Abiathar who was the high Priest, but was more and more being pushed to the side by Zadok
  • Why is Shimei mentioned?
    • As a relation to Saul's family, he had a potential claim on the throne (which suggests there were some people who were secretly hoping for the tribe of Benjamin to retake the throne)
• We are skipping Nathan and Bathseba's responses to defuse this crisis, and pick up the story after Solomon's coronation
  • Leads to one question -- why didn't David act to establish a co-regency sooner?

  1 Kings 1:41-43, 49-51 (NIV) Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they were finishing their feast. On hearing the sound of the trumpet, Joab asked, "What's the meaning of all the noise in the city?"

  42 Even as he was speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, "Come in. A worthy man like you must be bringing good news."

  43 "Not at all!" Jonathan answered. "Our lord King David has made Solomon king.

  ...

  49 At this, all Adonijah's guests rose in alarm and dispersed. 50 But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. 51 Then Solomon was told, "Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon and is clinging to the horns of the altar. He says, 'Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.'"

• The situation is dealt with very quickly. Solomon spares Adonijah's life, for the moment.

  1 Kings 2:1-9 (NIV) When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.

  2 "I am about to go the way of all the earth," he said. "So be strong, show yourself a man, 3 and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go, 4 and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'

  5 "Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me — what he did to the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. 6 Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

  7 "But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.

  8 "And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: 'I will not put you to death by the sword.' 9 But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood."

• I don't know how often we verbalize a charge to our son's -- if I had to condense a charge for my son, what would I say? And, as an application, would I mail it to my son or daughter?
• It was very common for a Monarch to eliminate rivals and threats to his rule, especially early on when the rule is still fledgling
• Why Shimei?
  • Shimei was of Saul's clan
  • Shimei had hurled curses down on David when David retreated from Jerusalem
  • Shimei also represented a threat to the throne, although as far as we know he never did anything. He did blame David for the death of Saul and Saul's sons
• The first person killed is Adonijah (verses 2:13-25)
  • Adonijah requests Abishag the Shunammite as his wife
  • Although David and Abishag had not had relations, she would be considered part of his harem. In the East at that time, taking possession of the Harem is equivalent to establishing a claim on the throne
  • Solomon orders Benaiah to kill his oldest brother, Adonijah

  1 Kings 2:31-35 (NIV) Then the king commanded Benaiah, "Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my father's house of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed. 32 The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without the knowledge of my father David he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them — Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army — were better men and more upright than he. 33 May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord's peace forever."

  34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried on his own land in the desert. 35 The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab's position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.

• The second man killed is Joab. Solomon asserts that they were better men than Joab
  • Solomon orders Benaiah to kill Shimei
  • Joab runs to the altar. You can run to the altar for protection from manslaughter, but not for murder
• Abiathar the high priest is replaced by a man outside of his clan fulfilling the prophecy against Eli
• Shimei is given a simple condition -- not to cross Kidron valley (essentially to stay in Jerusalem). Three years later, he does in search of some slaves
  • Why do you think Shimei is restricted to Jerusalem?
    • Removes access to his Benjamite brothers
  • Solomon orders Benaiah to kill Shimei

  1 Kings 3:1-5, 7-9 (NIV) Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem. 2 The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord. 3 Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.

  4 The king went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, "Ask for whatever you want me to give you."

  ...

  7 "Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

• The marriage to Pharaoh's daughter is unusual. It is in a section of positive triumphs (and not the negative that follow later), so it has a positive purpose
  • Israel was a slave to Egypt
  • Now, Israel is actually greater than Egypt. Typically, Pharaohs took the daughters of other nations and did not give their daughters. Egypt was weaker than Israel at this point in history
• Interestingly, God's question to Solomon is a test
  • God does not ask questions to gain information
  • Therefore, God asks the questions to get Solomon to openly state his heart, and to give the reason for the gift that he was going to give Solomon
• Up to this point, all the actions were prior to Solomon gaining wisdom from God, yet …
  • In 2:9, David says "… You are a man of wisdom."
  • His actions show wisdom
  • His prayer shows wisdom
  • So why does he ask for wisdom?
    • Because a wise man knows, that one can never have enough wisdom
    • Because a wise man knows, God's wisdom is the best wisdom. His wisdom to this point was earthly wisdom, now he would have spiritual wisdom as well

  1 Kings 3:16-28 (NIV) Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. 18 The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

  19 "During the night this woman's son died because she lay on him. 20 So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I your servant was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. 21 The next morning, I got up to nurse my son — and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn't the son I had borne."

  22 The other woman said, "No! The living one is my son; the dead one is yours."

  But the first one insisted, "No! The dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king.

  23 The king said, "This one says, 'My son is alive and your son is dead,' while that one says, 'No! Your son is dead and mine is alive.'"

  24 Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king. 25 He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other."

  26 The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don't kill him!"

  But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!"

  27 Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother."

  28 When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe, because they saw that he had wisdom from God to administer justice.

• What do we learn from this story which captures an aspect of Solomon's wisdom?
  • Solomon understood basic human nature, and more specifically, maternal instinct
• Also, the fact that they are prostitutes shows what?
  • Even the lowest of his subjects deserved justice
• What is wisdom?
  • It is the ability to live life in a skillful way so at the end, one's life would amount to something worthwhile (Constable, 2010)

  [Many of the insights come from Dr Constable's Notes on 1 Kings, 2010 edition]