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)
- Introduction
- All parents have sinned and come short of the glory of God according to Romans 3:23!
- 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!
- 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.
- 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):
- Correcting Rearing Errors In The Late Stage, David, Solomon and Adonijah - 1 Kings 1:5-53.
- 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:
- Adonijah was a spoiled son of David's; he had never been corrected by his father for sin, 1:5-6a,b.
- Adonijah's desires had thus never been checked; he grew up getting everything he wanted, 1:5!
- 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):
- 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!
- 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!
- 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!
- Eventually, as with Absalom, David's failure to check Adonijah developed its own crisis, 1 Kings 1:7-10:
- Solomon had been designated by David to be Israel's next king after him, 1 Kings 1:13.
- Yet, with unbridled ambition, Adonijah tried to nullify his father's will and make himself king, 1:5-12:
- Adonijah mustered David's military and religious leaders to join him in his quest, 1 Kings 1:5a, 7.
- 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)!
- In the process, Adonijah planned to kill Solomon and his mother, Bathsheba, 1 Kings 1:11-12.
- When he learned of the plot, David acted with great power to nullify Adonijah's efforts, 1 Kings 1:11-53:
- God sent the prophet, Nathan to tell David of the godless plan of Adonijah, 1 Kings 1:11-27.
- Thus informed, David countered Adonijah's efforts by powerfully upstaging Adonijah into submission:
- Daved mustered his own followers together, 1 Kings 1:32-33a.
- 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!
- 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!