1 KINGS 2
Read 1 Kings 2:1-46
As the death of David was approaching he called his son and successor Solomon to give him some advice on how to be a successful king. His first words were, ‘be strong’. This is good advice to someone who is to become a leader but there are echoes of an earlier time here. In Deuteronomy 31:6 Moses said to the Israelite people, ‘be strong and courageous . . . for the Lord your God goes with you’ and the Lord himself said to Joshua, ‘be strong and courageous because you will lead these people’ (Joshua 1:6). David is repeating to Solomon the encouragement that Moses and God himself gave to Israel and its leaders all those years ago.
The first specific advice that David gave to Solomon was to, ‘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’. Again, this repeats what the Lord said to Joshua; ‘be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave to you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left . . . do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night’. (Joshua 1:7). The prime requirement of the leadership of God’s people is not to be a great politician or a great warrior but to know and study God’s word and to be guided by it on a daily basis. This applies as much today as it ever did, and we need to pray for church leaders, that they do know the word of God and are guided by it – sadly there are some Christians in leadership roles that are guided more by popular culture than they are by God’s word. ‘He who hears Jesus’ words and does them is like a wise man’ (Matt 7:24)
David then gave Solomon some advice on how to deal with some particular people but also remarking to him, ‘you are a man of wisdom’ (v9) anticipating the gift that Solomon asked of the Lord that we will see in the next chapter. At the end of this section we get a very short, matter of fact, report of David’s death; ‘then David rested with his fathers [ancestors] and was buried in the City of David’, a quick note of how long he had reigned and that Solomon then became king. And that’s it! The king is dead, long live the king! You would think there would be a greater send off for such an important biblical character but that seems to be the way of the Old Testament. Abraham and the other patriarchs received similar treatment, just a brief mention of their death and then move on.
The remainder of the chapter concerns Solomon securing the kingdom. His brother Adonijah, who tried to take the kingdom when David was still alive, was eliminated when he made another move for the throne. Joab, David’s general was also disposed of being seen as a threat to Solomon. It all sounds a bit severe to us but the security of the kingdom depends upon the elimination of its enemies. And that applies to the Kingdom of God as well as secular kingdoms, which is why Ephesian 6, the armour of God, is so important to Christians.