Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King

  

1Kings 1: 1-10

 

April 1, 2021

David in His Old Age

Now King David was old and advanced in years. And although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm.  Therefore, his servants said to him, “Let a young woman be sought for my lord the king and let her wait on the king and be in his service. Let her lie in your arms,  that my lord the king may be warm.”   So, they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king.   The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew her not.

Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King

Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.   His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?” He was also a very handsome man, and he was born next after Absalom.   He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him.   But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei and David's mighty men were not with Adonijah.

 

Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the Serpent's Stone, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the royal officials of Judah,  but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the mighty men or Solomon his brother.

King David is old, and could not keep warm at night so his servants came up with a plan they believed would work.  So, they came up with their version of the first electric blanket, a young woman who was very beautiful, her name was Abishag the Shunammite.  Now you do recall the king was an old man and she served the king, but they did not have a sexual relationship.

 

When people get old even kings or Presidents people who want power try to step into authority they have not been given, so was the case of Adonijah.  How king David was a man after God’s heart, but history shows he was not a great dad.  A great example is found in this sentence; “His father had never at any time displeased him by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?”  I can tell you, my dad, often, very often ask me that question, and make clear why my action did not meet the standards required.  He was fair and kept the same standards for each of his children.  When the dad is not giving direction to the child you end up in a mess.  That is what David had from most of his sons, even Solomon went against the directions Moses had given.  David had a Nathan, but Solomon, a great king in many ways, was a misguided man, for like of a father leadership. 

 

Verses 9, and 10, speak volumes about the kind of man Adonijah is, he did not have anything to do with anyone that would tell him he was wrong, does that remind you of the Congress of the United States?

 

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice