Sermons

Solomon offers a thousand burnt offerings at the high place in Gibeon. That night God appears to him in a dream and tells him to ask for whatever he wishes. Solomon asks neither for long life nor for wealth and honor, but for a listening heart that can discern between good and evil.

In the original language, this listening heart is a heart that hears the word of God and obeys it just as it is spoken. Later, when two women quarrel over one baby, Solomon orders the child divided in two. That ruling brings to light the heart of the true mother, who wants only to keep her child alive, and the baby is spared. The people who heard of the ruling stood in awe of the king and gave glory to God.

Asking for wisdom does not mean that wise decisions come of themselves. Wisdom shows itself when what was asked for is lived out according to the Word. When the church and God’s people hold fast to the Word and live by it, a life-giving authority is restored in the very place where they stand.

After Adonijah is put to death and Abiathar is driven out at David’s command, Joab takes hold of the horns of the altar in Yahweh’s Tent. But unlike Adonijah, he is put to death at once. Shimei had cursed David but survived, and instead of putting him to death, Solomon commands him to live only within Jerusalem.

Joab served David loyally for more than forty years, but to keep his own position he deliberately killed Abner, Absalom, and Amasa, who had no strength to resist. Because deliberate murder cannot be escaped even at the altar, his death was the response to that sin. Shimei was given the chance to keep his life twice, first because of David and then because of Solomon, but he took grace lightly and treated his oath carelessly, and in the end he left Jerusalem and was put to death.

When the wicked are not punished as soon as they sin, it means they are being given a chance to turn back as they go on living. Joab and Shimei failed to take hold of that chance and fell back into their own greed and complacency. This is also why we have nothing to boast of in what we have done well. It is nothing more than one more chance at a good choice, received by the grace of God.

As death drew near, David left his final charge to Solomon. He first passed on a blessing, urging him to keep the word of God, and then commanded him to deal wisely with those who had done him wrong.

Adonijah had committed the grave sin of trying to seize the throne, yet he was pardoned; but he could not be thankful for that grace. Where gratitude had faded, resentment took its place, and in the end his foolish desire to have Abishag, his father’s woman, as his wife cost him his life. Abiathar was the priest who had stood by David at the risk of his own life in his hardest days, but when David grew old, anxious for his own future, he went over to Adonijah’s side.

Adonijah, who so readily forgot the grace he had been shown and set out to satisfy his own desires, and Abiathar, who let the faith he had kept all his life give way at the very last — both came to a sorry end. To live soberly and watchfully before God, thankful for the grace received and content with what one has: this is the life of God’s people who are wise and true.

As King David grew old without naming a successor, his fourth son, Adonijah, put himself forward to be king and gathered chariots, horsemen and an escort of guards. He had the birthright, a handsome appearance, and even the backing of Joab and Abiathar, yet Solomon was the one man he did not invite to his feast.

Adonijah rested his claim to the throne on his birthright and his looks, but Scripture says that God looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart. Solomon did nothing to win the crown, yet even before he was born he had been chosen and loved by God. In the end the prophet Nathan and Bathsheba went in and spoke before David, and in a moment everything was overturned: Solomon took his seat on the throne, and Adonijah was left clinging to the horns of the altar, begging for his life.

Unlike Adonijah, who sought to exalt himself, Solomon had done no more than live quietly and faithfully in his own place, and it was God who raised him up. Rather than rushing to and fro after results they can see, God’s people must be faithful in small things right where they now stand, and wait for God’s appointed hour. Even when no one seems to be watching, God searches the heart, and when that hour comes he will without fail bring them into their rightful place and use them.