Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20050807.htm

BIBLICALLY PARENTING THE MATURING CHILD
Part VI: Correcting Rearing Errors In The Late Stage
(David, Solomon and Adonijah - 1 Kings 1:5-53)
  1. Introduction
    1. All parents have sinned and come short of the glory of God according to Romans 3:23!
    2. That being the case, all of us parents err at points in rearing our children, and sometimes those errors can be rather significant with dramatically calamitous results!
    3. We might wonder what to do when we suddenly wake up to the fact that we have made a mistake, and our maturing children are rather far along in their development where rearing changes are hard to implement.
    4. David had to face a rearing error he had made with his spoiled son, Adonijah. David's effective handling of Adonijah is a lesson to help us parents in similar situations (as follows):
  2. Correcting Rearing Errors In The Late Stage, David, Solomon and Adonijah - 1 Kings 1:5-53.
    1. David erred in rearing Adonijah, spoiling him apparently in connection with David's awkward relationship with Absalom, Adonijah's brother, 1 Kings 1:5-6b:
      1. Adonijah was a spoiled son of David's; he had never been corrected by his father for sin, 1:5-6a,b.
      2. Adonijah's desires had thus never been checked; he grew up getting everything he wanted, 1:5!
      3. This ambitious spirit in Adonijah was due to a rearing error on David's part, for Adonijah reminded David of Absalom, and so David treated Adonijah similar to how he related to Absalom (as follows):
        1. Adonijah was born right after Absalom, and he was handsome as was Absalom, 1 Kings 1:6b,c with 2 Samuel 14:25; apparently the two sons were so similar in age and appearance that David tended to treat one like the other; so, in letting Absalom run relatively free, Adonijah was similary spoiled!
        2. Indeed, Adonijah realized David treated him similar to Absalom, and took advantage of this: he acted pompously, making for himself a reputation as a rising prince in arranging for chariots and footmen to accompany his moves like had Absalom before him, 1 Kings 1: 5 with 2 Samuel 15:1!
        3. When Absalom was slain, it deeply grieved David (cf. 2 Samuel 18:33), so David might well have continued to spoil Adonijah the more, giving him unchecked freedom as he had with Absalom!
    2. Eventually, as with Absalom, David's failure to check Adonijah developed its own crisis, 1 Kings 1:7-10:
      1. Solomon had been designated by David to be Israel's next king after him, 1 Kings 1:13.
      2. Yet, with unbridled ambition, Adonijah tried to nullify his father's will and make himself king, 1:5-12:
        1. Adonijah mustered David's military and religious leaders to join him in his quest, 1 Kings 1:5a, 7.
        2. He picked the border of Benjamin and Judah to host a meal with the nation's elders and there prepare for his coronation, 1 Kings 1:9. Adonijah thus intended to muster united national support by gaining the favor of the tribe of the previous king, Saul (Benjamin) with that of David (Judah)!
        3. In the process, Adonijah planned to kill Solomon and his mother, Bathsheba, 1 Kings 1:11-12.
    3. When he learned of the plot, David acted with great power to nullify Adonijah's efforts, 1 Kings 1:11-53:
      1. God sent the prophet, Nathan to tell David of the godless plan of Adonijah, 1 Kings 1:11-27.
      2. Thus informed, David countered Adonijah's efforts by powerfully upstaging Adonijah into submission:
        1. Daved mustered his own followers together, 1 Kings 1:32-33a.
        2. He got them to upstage Adonijah's efforts, coronating Solomon more quickly and closer to the city of Jerusalem, 1 Kings 1:33b-35. This gave Solomon the advantage of igniting the support of the entire city of Jerusalem quickly around him, something Adonijah lacked in the open field!
        3. God moved the nation to follow David's lead, and Adonijah was completely intimidated into total external submission for the time being, 1 Kings 1:39-41, 49-53. [Later, Adonijah tried to trick Solomon into lending him more power, and Solomon saw through the trick and had him killed for insurrection against the throne, cf. 1 Kings 2:13-25.]
Lesson: When informed of the terrible plot by his spoiled son, Adonijah, David CORRECTLY checked Adonijah with a SUDDEN, OVERWHELMING show of FORCE that GOD CONDONED to bring Adonijah into submission for the first time in his life!

Application: If God reveals we have made a rearing error with our maturing child, we must be ready to take a STRONG move to COUNTER the STRONGLY SET errant view we have let develop in the child!