RECOGNIZING THE TRUE KING

NOTE: To all my readers…I am now in Qatar, arriving early this morning and am awaiting my flight to my new assignment. Please bear with me during this trip as I adjust to new time zones and surroundings. I am currently 7 hours ahead of EST but intend to continue writing every day while sharing the words the Lord places on my heart. Please keep Grace and I in prayer as we endure yet another separation…our final one before I retire. God bless all of you and thanks for your faithful readership and comments. In Christ, Mark

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. So his servants said to him, "Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm."

Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her.

Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, "I will be king." So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. (His father had never interfered with him by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?" He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David's special guard did not join Adonijah.

Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah who were royal officials, but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon.

Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, "Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king without our lord David's knowing it? Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in to King David and say to him, 'My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: "Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne"? Why then has Adonijah become king?' While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and confirm what you have said."

So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king.

"What is it you want?" the king asked.

She said to him, "My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the Lord your God: 'Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.' But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it. He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king's sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals."

While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. And they told the king, "Nathan the prophet is here." So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.

Nathan said, "Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne? Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king's sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, 'Long live King Adonijah!' But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite. Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?"

Then King David said, "Call in Bathsheba." So she came into the king's presence and stood before him.

The king then took an oath: "As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place."

Then Bathsheba bowed low with her face to the ground and, kneeling before the king, said, "May my lord King David live forever!"

King David said, "Call in Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet and Benaiah son of Jehoiada." When they came before the king, he said to them: "Take your lord's servants with you and set Solomon my son on my own mule and take him down to Gihon. There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, 'Long live King Solomon!' Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah."

Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, "Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, so declare it. As the Lord was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!"

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, "Long live King Solomon!" And all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound.

1 Kings 1:1-40

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we look at the nations of our world today, we see many different forms of government all with their processes for appointing those who would lead their nation. And typically, nations will rise and fall depending on the decisions and actions of those leaders. Stable leadership with effective policies that equally benefit the nation and the people seem to thrive and do well. Conversely, we find that corrupt or ineffective leadership can lead a nation and its people into ruin.

Thus far in our study of the Old Testament, we have found this true with Israel. You’ll recall that for the longest time following creation, God had been the King over His nation Israel and inserted chosen leaders to guide His people as needed.

Well, that lasted through the period of judges but then something happened that drastically altered the way Israel would be governed. The people decided to have a king rule over them.

And so God, seemingly always ready to allow His people to have their way just to show them how much they need His, allowed Israel to have what they wanted. And so Saul was anointed and appointed king of Israel.

And just as God had predicted…it didn’t work out too well. In fact, we read where God grieved over even selecting Saul in the first place…such was His disappointment at the way Saul turned out.

So God went with a second choice and you’ll remember that he sent an equally grieving Samuel to anoint a new king…a king who would begin as a young shepherd boy…and end up in the family tree of the Messiah. This king was, of course, King David.

Well, as we open up this new Old Testament, 1st Kings, it seems only fitting that we begin with David, now up in years and on the decline health-wise.

Chapter 1 opens with David “old and well advanced in years”. In fact, he “could not keep warm even when they put covers over him”. And so his servants looked for a “young virgin to attend the king and take care of him” and selected Abishag who was “very beautiful”. Her role was not sexual in nature. In fact, scripture tells us that David had “no intimate relations with her”. No…Abishag was only there to “lie beside” David to keep him warm.

So here’s what we know up to now. David is up in years and needs a young virgin to attend to him and keep him warm in bed. Truly, David’s time of reign is coming to a close.

Given this fact, we read about one of David’s sons, Adonijah, who decided to “put himself forward” and show his desire to take his father’s place as king. And so he “got chariots and horses ready with fifty men to run ahead of him” and also gained the support of Joab, the commander of the army, and Abiathar, the priest.

There was just one very big problem with Adonijah’s plan.

David had already selected his successor and it would be Solomon.

Well, not everyone decided to side with Adonijah. For we read where Zadok the priest, Benaiah, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei and David's special guard stayed loyal and remained on David’s side.

This didn’t stop Adonijah from beginning to take steps to the throne. For he “sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel” and “invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah who were royal officials” to the feast. But for those who chose to stay on David’s side, no invitation was extended…not to “Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon”.

Would anything stop Adonijah’s plan from succeeding?

Well…we see in our passage where the prophet Nathan wasn’t ready to concede and began to take steps to derail Adonijah’s attempted power grab.

For Nathan went to David’s wife and Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, and asked, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king without our lord David's knowing it? Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in to King David and say to him, 'My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: "Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne"? Why then has Adonijah become king?' While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and confirm what you have said."

The plan was simple. Bathsheba was to tell David about what Adonijah was up to and protest his actions given that David had already vowed that Solomon would succeed him. Nathan would then enter and back up Bathsheba’s account with the hope that David would take positive actions to appoint Solomon as king.

And the plan worked out just as they had planned.

For as Bathsheba shared her account and Nathan reinforced it, we read where David reaffirms his oath saying, “As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place."

And so David called on Zadok the priest and Benaiah, giving the following order:

"Take your lord's servants with you and set Solomon my son on my own mule and take him down to Gihon. There have Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and shout, 'Long live King Solomon!' Then you are to go up with him, and he is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah."

And this is just what happened. For Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah were joined by the “Kerethites and the Pelethites” as they “went down and put Solomon on King David's mule and escorted him to Gihon”. Once there, Zadok “took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon” as king after which a trumpet sounded and the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!"

Scripture tells us that the celebration was so great with “all the people…playing flutes and rejoicing” that “the ground shook with the sound”.

Israel had a new king…the right one who would lead them into the future.

Our scripture today, the first of many that we will look at in the two books of Kings, highlights the importance of ensuring we look to the right leader in life. And I can tell you with all certainty that the leader we need to follow is not any man or woman of the world. No, the only leader we are to follow in life is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords…the Eternal Leader and Savior of us all…the only One through which we can find ourselves to His Father and ours (John 14:6).

Of course, I’m talking about Jesus Christ.

Question: Are you recognizing the true King…the true King of your life and the true King of this world?

As we continue to move through this Lenten season, let us once again surrender and reaffirm our Savior…our Redeemer…our King Jesus…who reigns over us from God’s right hand and will come again to reign supreme over Creation at God’s appointed time.

All honor, glory and praise to our King Jesus…now and forever! Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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