1 Kings 2

David's Final Instructions and Solomon's Consolidation of the Throne

8 min read

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 you strong therefore, and show yourself a man;
3 And keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and 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 yourself:
4 That the LORD may continue his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you (said he) 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 captains of the hosts of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace.
7 But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at your table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom your brother.
8 And, behold, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite of Bahurim, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim: but he came down to meet me at Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, I will not put you to death with the sword.
9 Now therefore hold him not guiltless: for you are a wise man, and know what you ought to do to him; but his hoar head bring you down to the grave with blood.
10 So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.
11 And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. ¶
12 Then sat Solomon on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly. ¶
13 And Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Come you peaceably? And he said, Peaceably.
14 He said moreover, I have somewhat to say to you. And she said, Say on.
15 And he said, You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign: however, the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother’s: for it was his from the LORD.
16 And now I ask one petition of you, deny me not. And she said to him, Say on.
17 And he said, Speak, I pray you, to Solomon the king, (for he will not say you no,) that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife.
18 And Bathsheba said, 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 himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand.
20 Then she said, I desire one small petition of you; I pray you, say me not no. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother: for I will not say you no.
21 And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother to wife.
22 And king Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.
23 Then king Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life.
24 Now therefore, as the LORD lives, which has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me an house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day.
25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him that he died. ¶
26 And to Abiathar the priest said the king, Get you to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of death: but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the LORD God before David my father, and because you have been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.
27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to the LORD; that he might fulfill the word of the LORD, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. ¶
28 Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled to the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
29 And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled to the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall on him.
30 And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And he said, No; but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.
31 And the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.
32 And the LORD shall return his blood on his own head, who fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.
33 Their blood shall therefore return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed for ever: but on David, and on his seed, and on his house, and on his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD.
34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. ¶
35 And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar. ¶
36 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build you an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth there any where.
37 For it shall be, that on the day you go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, you shall know for certain that 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 will your servant do. And Shimei dwelled in Jerusalem many days.
39 And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants be in Gath.
40 And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.
41 And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.
42 And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Did I not make you to swear by the LORD, and protested to you, saying, Know for a certain, on the day you go out, and walk abroad any where, that you shall surely die? and you said to me, The word that I have heard is good.
43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the commandment that I have charged you with?
44 The king said moreover to Shimei, You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return your wickedness on your own head;
45 And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD for ever.
46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell on him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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