All right, last week we got through the first about 10 verses of this, and I want to review just a little bit of what we looked at and get a little bit of background here. because we're gonna start looking at this man, one of David's sons, Adonijah. His name comes up again. Matter of fact, immediately in verse 13, he comes back on the scene. Now, you remember Adonijah was the king that was in line By this time, he was the oldest son. He wasn't initially the oldest son, but he was by this time. And so he assumed that, well, I'll qualify this. He assumed that he should be king. Now, keep in mind, he was assuming that based on what would be considered the normal protocol. In other words, the oldest son automatically has that right, and so therefore, the way things naturally run, that he would be the next in line. Of course, the thing he was conveniently forgetting about is that God had declared and David had declared that Solomon would be king, and David had made that promise to Bathsheba, and Nathan course, was involved in that promise as well. So it wasn't anything in secret. It's something that really everybody knew about. It was an open matter that that was God's choice to follow David on the throne of Israel. This man didn't care about what God had to say. He cared about just the normal way things ought to operate. So that's the way—that's a key element to recognize about him. It's always a problem with people when they care more about what the normal circumstances of the culture are, and that to them is the most important thing, and don't really care what God has to say about it, especially when it benefits them to ignore what God had to say. But you'll see several times, remember with Jacob and Esau, God loved Jacob and hated Esau. That was God's choice. And so here God also made a choice, and this man doesn't care. He wants the throne for himself. Now, when you look at back in 1 Kings chapter 1, in verses 40 to 53, you see that it says in verse 41, Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard as it heard it as they had made an end of eating, that is, they heard that Solomon had been placed on the throne. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet and said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar? Well, he hath spake, Behold, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar, the priest, came, and Adonijah said unto him, Come in, for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings. Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily the Lord King David hath made Solomon king. And so the rest of the story unwinds and they all fled to their place and Solomon then was established on the throne. If he had just even now accepted that not only did God say this and God established it, David had declared it, Nathan had declared it, and recognized and just simply accepted God's will and gone about his business, he'd have had no problem. He would have still been no different than he was before this. He would have been one of the king's sons, still in the royal family, and all of those things. But he couldn't do that. Sinners often do not know, they don't know when they've got it good, I guess I should say, too. They don't know when they've got it good. But they don't know when to appreciate the mercy that they've received. Rather than recognize they've had mercy shown to them. And so now they need to be grateful for that and just go about their business. But he couldn't do that. Instead, he tried to take advantage of Solomon. To me, it's evident that he perceived a weakness, at least to see how far he could go, and still trying to gain some prominence, and as a matter of fact, eventually take over the throne again. Sinners presume upon God's goodness, too. That's what this man is doing, and that's what sinners do all the time. In Romans 2, verse 4, God says through Paul, and forbearance and longsuffering." Well, this man had had all that shown to him. There wasn't, you know, just immediate strict justice. You don't get a second chance or any of that. No. Things were dropped, but he wasn't satisfied with that. Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, but after thy hardness an impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." Now, we're looking in this text, we're looking at an example in this earthly life of this very thing, the way sinners treat God. It's part of human nature that gets manifest in people. Human nature gets manifest in different ways in different But this is one of the ways. And so you'll find in 1 Kings 2 and verses 13 to 25 that Solomon moves to sentence Adonijah to death. Look at how this plays out. There's a lot of things we can learn from this. Let's read beginning in verse 13. First of all, in verse 52 of chapter 1, In verse 52, Solomon said, if he will show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth. But if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die. Now, that's pretty clear, isn't it? I mean, if I took him seriously, I think I'd just go mind my P's and Q's and go about my business. and let him go ahead and be the king and leave it alone. If you want to stay alive, there's some things that are pretty evident. Adonijah, first of all, he didn't respect the will of God. As I mentioned before, he knew what the will of God is, and when you look at verse 15, let's read down through verse 15. Adonijah, the son of Haggad, came to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon. And she said, comest thou peaceably? And he said, peaceably. In other words, as she sat in her chamber, she wondered, he wanted to be king at one time. What's he up to? And he, oh, peaceably. He said, moreover, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And she said, say on. And he said, thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. Now just stop there a minute. Is that true? No. All Israel didn't set their faces on him that he should reign. He took it on himself that he should reign. Joab and Abiathar and the other sons and their friends that they had with him, that he had with him, they set their face on him, but the nation as a whole didn't even know about it. So that's a lie. But then he goes on and says, Albeit the kingdom is turned about and has become my brother's, for it was his from the Lord. Now, look at how he, you talk about spinning the truth. The kingdom is turned about. No, it never was his. But secondly, notice what he says, for it was from the Lord. So the man knew what the will of God was. He knew what the will of God was, but he didn't care. That's the first thing. The second thing is this. He asked for Abishag. He didn't say anything about he loved her, not that it would have made it right. He didn't want her because he loved her. The reason that he gives is exactly why he wanted her. He believes he can either have a branch of the government or he can undermine Solomon's reign and still replace Solomon. But either way, it's about splitting the kingdom or undermining Solomon on the throne, and then succeed him. So when you look at verse 17, it says in verse 16, And now I ask one petition of thee, deny me not. And she said unto him, Say on. And he said, Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king. For he will not say thee nay, that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife. He uses Bathsheba. I've looked at this so many times and wonder, how did this work? Because when you look at it, I guess when I look at it from my standpoint, but I'm not the mother in this case, and I'm not a woman, but I look at it from my standpoint, I think it'd be a long day when I would do what he's asking me to do. I guess I'm just a, you say, well, you're a skeptical person. I don't know, but actually it's pretty obvious what he's trying to do. But she does it. He uses Bathsheba kind of like children do when dad tells them one thing and then they go to the mom, see what mom will say. Or if they perceive that the other one's the weak link, they go to the weak link. And this is something you don't have to teach kids. They just know how to do it. And don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. You've all done it. You've all done that. You ask one, you don't get the right answer. You go ask the other one until you learn that that doesn't work. So the sooner the kids find out that doesn't work, but this man had never found out it didn't work because the Bible told us earlier that he'd never been told no. He'd never been challenged about what he did about anything. So he doesn't know that doesn't work. He's always got his way, just like Absalom did. So that's a problem. So he goes to Solomon's mom. He knows that if he just walks into Solomon and asks for that, Solomon's going to know immediately what's up. But he thinks that if he has Bathsheba go in, his mom, she can persuade him he'll do it for her. What is he doing? He's playing family emotions. He's playing on family emotions to try to deceive Solomon or get Solomon. He's also assuming, to me, he's assuming a lot about Solomon. But it's not surprising to me. Okay? By the time you live long enough, you begin to realize, and maybe you already do, You kind of realize, how many of you have older siblings? Raise your hand if you've got older siblings. OK. How many of you have siblings that are quite a bit older than you are? Like 10, 15, 20 years older? 10 years? Something like close to that? OK. I don't know about with you, but I've seen this. I didn't. Mine was old. My brother was only like 11 and 1 1⁄2 months older It's my poor mom, you know, but then I came along, she said, that's it. I don't want to take a chance on another one of these. But I've seen plenty when there's a younger sibling that's 10, 15, sometimes 20 years younger. Generally speaking, the older kids don't really give them a whole lot of credit. And as a matter of fact, think about this. What did the Lord say about despising a prophet? Who does a prophet have the least likelihood of having credibility with? Yeah, his own country and his own people. In other words, country, not just the nation, but the immediate vicinity, the people that he was raised with. Because isn't that what the people of Nazareth said? Well, who's he? I mean, we know his mom, we know his dad, we know his brethren, we know his sisters. Why should we listen to him? That's very common. That's a very common thing. Still, it doesn't change. And even if there's not that many years in between, but you're looking now at a man that, well, he could be easily 20 years older than Solomon. You think about when he was born, when David was running from Saul, even more than that maybe. But at least 20 years older, how much credibility do you think this man automatically assumes that Solomon, how much wisdom do you think he thinks that he actually has and perception that he has? He obviously thinks that he'll do what his mom wants. He perceives him as a mama's boy. He'll do what his mom wants him to do. So that's how much respect he has for Solomon. And he's showing that. One of the problems with that is that, well, first of all, he's wrong. And secondly, Solomon does have the perception to know. And he's not as stupid as he thinks he is. He's not still a little kid. So there's a perceived if you will, small favor. He's asking this like it's just a small favor, but this small favor can make a huge overthrow. You know, that's the way sin works. Small sins grow into big problems, but we perceive as small sins, small favors. If we don't have the discernment to see where this is headed. And Solomon did. And so when you compare verse 15 with verse 17, he says he's presenting, it's just a small compensation, if you will, for losing the kingdom. In verse 15, he says, thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had their faces set. Verse 17, he said, speak I pray thee unto Solomon the king, for he will not say thee nay. that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife. In other words, it's just a small compensation for the fact that I'm not the king. At least I can have David's, you know, last wife to be my wife. Well Bathsheba, and this is what sometimes I've looked at this so many times and puzzled over this. It seems that she's pretty unsuspecting. She agrees to do it. She goes in and she asks Solomon. I don't know if it were me, you know, being a man talking to a man, a brother talking to his brother or something like that, and I was talking to him or his dad, I'd say, you know, that ain't going to work. You're going to be in big trouble when you do that. As a matter of fact, I'm not going to do it anyhow because I know what's up. But she did. And I could be wrong. Maybe she just figured, well, Solomon, I'll just leave it in Solomon's hands. But the fact is, this is not just a family affair. I think sometimes the tendency would be for her to say, well, it's just a small favor. It's just a family affair. No, it's not. It's a political issue. Solomon saw the reality. And he names the parties that were in the original rebellion. Notice what he says. In verse 22, after she asks him, makes this petition to him, he says, and King Solomon answered and said unto his mother, and why dost thou ask Abishag, the Shunammite, for Adonijah? This isn't just anybody. Why do you ask for her? Ask for him the kingdom also. That's what it's about. That's what it's about. If he has David's last wife to be now his wife, forget the illegalities as far as the law is concerned, but if he can have David's wife to be his wife, he's going to be perceived at least to have part of authority in the kingdom. And notice what he says. 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. Solomon had already been blessed with a lot of wisdom. And he immediately saw exactly what it was about and who was involved in it. I'll get it out. In other words, Adonijah was still in cahoots with these other two men. They're still involved in it. They knew they're involved in it, and you're going to see this in verse 23. The king, Solomon, swear by the Lord, saying, God do so to me, and more also if Adonijah have not spoken this word against his own life. Now therefore, as the Lord liveth, which hath established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who hath made me a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this day. He has proved, in other words, he has proved exactly where his heart is, and will he'll do if he has any opportunity at all. This man, Adonijah, is literally snared by the words of his own mouth. And Psalm 89 in verse 35 says, once have I sworn, it's talking about the throne of David, once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. This is more than just a brother against a brother. It's a brother against a brother and a brother that's against God. He doesn't care. The heart of this whole problem is he doesn't care what God said. That doesn't make any difference to this man. His will is more important to him by far than God's will. He doesn't care what God thinks. He doesn't care what it does to the king. He doesn't care what his dad's will was. It's deadly to view the work of God and God's anointed man the way he does. In verse 24 and verse 25, Notice what he says in verse 25. Now all three of these were Solomon, David, and Christ are the three main primary men that God had declared were going to sit on David's throne. Solomon immediately after David And then ultimately through Solomon would come the Lord Jesus Christ. They would be in his lineage. When you fly in the face of God's declared will, you're in trouble. And so then you come down to Abiathar. Well, in verse 26 it says this, so we know Solomon perceived that these two men were still involved with it, with Adonijah. And so in verse 26 it says, And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields, for thou art worthy of death. But I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted, and all wherein my father was afflicted. In other words, he stood with David during his affliction. It seems strange to me that this man Looking at it humanly speaking, God's involved in this. But it seems strange that this man would do this after sticking by him and all that he went through when Absalom tried to overthrow him, and then turn around now and not only get involved in the original plot, but then still be involved in this plot against Solomon. To me, that's a strange thing. People do strange things when they're in rebellion against God. And that's exactly all this amounts to. But there's a reason for it. Beyond that, there's a reason. God, and I'll just tell you ahead of time, God left this man, this is when people do things, any sin people fall into, it's the case, God leaves them to themselves. But God left this man to his own devices to fulfill his word. Now notice something here. It shows here when he begins to talk to Abiathar that Solomon knew that Joab and Abiathar were still involved. Now when you compare this passage, notice what he, let's read the whole thing here. So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord, verse 27, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord which he spake concerning the house of Eli and Shiloh. You remember that? This Abiathar, when it says he went with David in all of his afflictions, remember when Abiathar became priest under David? It was when David was running from Saul, and he went down to the tabernacle, remember, and he got the sword, Goliath's sword, And Doeg the Edomite saw him and reported it to Saul. And Saul slew all the priest's sons, except this one man who was able to flee. This one man got away, went to David, and David said, you stay with me. With me, you're in safeguard. Why? Because God had promised in the kingdom, you'll be in safeguard with me because of the promise of God. And so then he was with David and all of that David fleeing from Saul and all those times was with him as priest all through his kingdom. And now at the end of this life, he pulls this. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it? It doesn't, except that God left this man to his own devices. And it's to fulfill the word of God in 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 2. Excuse me, 2 Samuel, 2. Yeah, it is 1 Samuel, I'm sorry. 1 Samuel chapter 2. Verse 31. You remember Eli was the priest, the high priest at this time. And his sons were wicked men. They profaned the sacrifices. They committed fornication with the women that came to offer sacrifices. They were a total disgrace. And Eli wouldn't stand up to them. And so, what you find here in verse 31, it says, Behold, the days come that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, and all the wealth which God shall give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in thy house forever. And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume mine eyes, and to grieve thine heart, and all the increase of thy house shall die in the flower of their age. And it shall be a sign unto thee that shall come upon thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. In one day they shall both die, and they did. And I will raise me up a faithful priest that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before mine anointed forever. Now, Zadok became priest after Abiathar, but not all of those priests were perfectly faithful either, were they? So what does ultimately this point to? It points to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our high priest. All of those other priests were men, and they all had failures, just like all of the kings had failures. But the priest that fulfills that office is the Lord Jesus Christ. So when these people are like Abiathar and Adonijah and Joab, when they're rebelling against what David established because God told him it was going to be that way, it's not against men that they're rebelling. It's against God they're rebelling. It's a dangerous thing. And what it shows us is some things about the way God looks at things, doesn't it? The way people treat, David was not only a king, he was also a prophet. God used him to write most of the Psalms. Many things that God wrote, David wrote, were prophetic. The Lord Jesus Christ quotes from the Psalms many So he's a prophet of God. These men didn't respect him as a prophet of God. They respected him as a king, but just as a man. But in all of these things, Eli was a priest that had responsibility before God to make sure that he guarded, first of all, the sacrifice and the worship of God. He put his sons ahead of the worship of God. And he paid a horrible price, not only in his own life, but in the life of his family following after him. Now, notice, if you will, in verses 28 to 34, Joab retreats in fear. Here's a man, beginning in verse 28, Then tidings came to Joab, for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told King Solomon that Joab was fled under 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. Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay, I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king. Of course, he didn't think he would. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab. And thus he answered me. And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall on him, and bury him, that thou mayest take away the innocent blood which Joab shed from me, and from the house of my father. And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword of my father David, not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and amassed the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed forever. But upon David and upon his seed and upon his house and upon his throne shall there be peace forever from the Lord. So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and slew him. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. Terrible price. This man was, you think about it, he was a man that had showed tremendous valor. He was one of David's mighty men. But when men are wrong with God, they lose all their valor. He died in dishonor and he died in fear. A man who had lived his adult life with great valor and fearlessness, seemingly, and yet he's a man who was so more interested in himself and maintaining his own position that he slew three men in his life that had done nothing to him As far as offending him, they were innocent. Solomon's indicating that Job slew these three men unjustly, and his own life was not sufficient to pay for his sin. There is strict justice that Solomon is exercising. Without Christ, men can flee to the tithe. That is the mercy seat. They can flee to the tithe. but they're going to die in fear without Christ. Now the last person is Shimei. Verse 36. The king sent unto Shimei. Remember he's the one who cursed David when he fled from Absalom. So Solomon tests him. The king sent and called for Shimei and said unto him build thee a house in Jerusalem and dwell there and go not forth hence any whither. And it shall be that on the day thou goest out and passest over the brook Kidron, that thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die, thy blood shall be upon thine own head. This is a test. You're going to live here, or I can keep my eye on you. And if you leave, you're done. Now what would you do with that? I think I'd stay in Jerusalem. I'd say, yes, sir. I don't have a whole lot of years left, but I think I'll just stay right here. That'll be just fine. That's not what he did. It came to pass in verse 39, the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away from Akish, or unto Akish, son of Maika, the king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath. And Shimei arose, and settled his ass, and went to Gath, to Akish, to seek his servants. And Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. Wouldn't you think the man would maybe go to Solomon and tell him what happens, see if somebody could help him out? You know, the problem is this. The man was a rebel against God and against David, his father. And he never changed. He came back and made a big show of repentance. When David came back across the river, when he was coming back after Absalom, He made a big statement publicly. David couldn't do anything about it at the time because the kingdom was more important than this one man. But it shows the man never changed. He said a lot of things, but he didn't mean anything. And he proved that. God and Solomon here left him to his own devices and he did the same thing. So God comforted When you look at Luke chapter 11 in verses 49 to 51, let me just read this quickly to you. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send the prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation from the blood of Abel under the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple. Verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this generation. The same rebellion against David was evidenced against Solomon. Follow that. It's not just about Solomon. It's the same throne. Solomon is sitting on David's throne. It's the throne that God established. It's the house that God established. Those who have God's men, who hate God's men, hate the God of those men. Those who hate God's men hate the God of those men. That's what the Lord's talking about in relationship to the prophets. They hated the prophets because they hated their God. The prophets gave the message of God. They slew the prophets, but it's the God of those prophets that they hated. God comforted Samuel the same way when Israel desired a king in 1 Samuel 8, verse 7. Israel came to Samuel, and the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people, and all that they say unto thee. For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should reign over them." Men, many times, and we as God's people, many times, take abuse for the testimony of Christ. But it's not us, it's the testimony of Christ. It's God that people hate. Shimei did not respect Solomon as David's son or as the king over Israel because he did not respect the God who established Solomon's kingdom. Now that goes all the way back to verse 12, but it's what it's talking about back there in verse 12. Notice in verse 12 it said, and this is the theme of this whole chapter, verse 12 says, At the last part of the verse, David put Solomon on the throne, and his kingdom was established greatly. In other words, the whole nation was behind him, but they weren't. They did not accept the will of God, and it cost him his life because his rebellion was against God. And he used Solomon to exercise judgment and bring the kingdom fully under