THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Kings: The Kings Of Israel And Judah From Solomon To The Babylonian Captivity

I. The United Kingdom, 1 Kings 1:1-11:43

A. Solomon's Enthronement: A Lesson In Handling Strong Insubordination

(1 Kings 1:1-53)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

Today, we often see a lack of respect for other people, and with it, insubordination, a big burden for overseers:

(1) At the international level, Senator Roy Blunt, R-Mo. and member of the Senate intelligence committee, recently spoke of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un to say, "'You've got a leader who is spoiled and reckless . . . (S)poiled and reckless is not a unique thing . . . in the world today. But it is unique with somebody who has control of what may be hydrogen weapons as well as nuclear weapons.'" (Cathy Burke, "Sen. Roy Blunt: Kim Jong Un 'Both Spoiled and Reckless,'" newsmax.com, September 3, 2017)

(2) It occurs in our national politics: in a letter to the Republican-American, September 1, 2017, p. 6A, Sal Geraci of Woodbury, Connecticut expressed dismay at how political groups "resort to violence to get the American people to tear down war monuments of individuals they deem 'offensive'" and "destroy private property . . ."

(3) It happens at the grassroots level: Aaron Holbrook's article, "Society needs more respect for authority" (wiscnews.com, March 4, 2017) claimed, "In my years as a law enforcement officer I have seen a gradual decline in respect that people show for others" due to a "false narrative . . . promoted by various agendas . . . painting any established authority as being evil," a "lack of . . . proper discipline to children" and "drug and alcohol addiction."

Need: So, we ask, "What does God direct that we overseers do if we face disrespect and strong insubordination?!"

I. Adonijah, David's fourth eldest son (2 Samuel 3:2-4), had never been disciplined by his father, and since he was also very handsome, Adonijah grew up spoiled, all primed to be insubordinate, 1 Kings 1:5a, 6b.

II. When David then acquired a beautiful girl to minister to his health in old age, the girl and the throne looked appealing and his for the taking, so the spoiled Adonijah insubordinately politicked to seize them:

A. In his latter years as king, David's failing health left him unable to get warm by himself, 1 Kings 1:1.

B. Thus, at the advice of his servants, David sought throughout Israel for a young virgin girl to sit close to him to warm him up (1 Kings 1:2), a typical practice for elderly kings in his era, Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 486.

C. He found such a beautiful girl in Abishag of Shunem, a town north of Nazareth, and she loved the king and ministered to keep him warm though David never had intimate relations with her, 1 Kings 1:3-4; Ibid.

D. Marriage to such a girl who was considered part of the royal harem was a claim to the throne, and since David was feeble so that his throne looked vulnerable for the taking, spoiled Adonijah insubordinately politicked to become king that he might gain both the beautiful girl and his father's throne, 1 Kings 1:5-8; Ibid., p. 487.

III. The prophet Nathan reacted by getting Bathsheba to go with him to tell David of Adonijah's actions that David might use his power as king to counter Adonijah's effort to seize the throne, 1 Kings 1:9-14:

A. At Solomon's birth, God had sent Nathan to David to say that Solomon would be called Jedidiah, "beloved of the Lord," marking him as the next king, 2 Sam. 12:24-25; Ryrie Study Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to 2 Sam. 12:25.

B. In opposition to this, to form his coup, Adonijah did not invite Nathan, Benaiah and Solomon, men he wanted to kill, but other key men to join him at the spring En-rogel south of the city about 1/2 mile from the palace to hide his plan from David, 1 Kings 1:9 (Ibid., B. K. C., O. T., p. 488; The MacMillan Bib. At., 1968, map 114).

C. The prophet Nathan learned of the plot, and contacted Solomon's mother Bathsheba to plan to tell David of the crisis at hand in a way that would convince David to take action to stop Adonijah, 1 Kings 1:10-12.

D. Nathan asked Bathsheba to go to David first followed by Nathan who would be the second witness so David might have two credible witnesses of the plot and realize the truth and gravity of the crisis, 1 Kings 1:13-14.

IV. Once informed, David trusted God and used great upright force to counter Adonijah, 1 Kings 1:15-48:

A. Nathan's plan worked so well that David not only understood the gravity of the crisis, but he took an oath in God's name to promise Bathsheba that her son Solomon would rule after him, 1 Kings 1:15-31.

B. In taking this oath, David mentioned God's having rescued him from all of his past distresses (1 Kings 1:29) as the basis of his faith that God would save his son Solomon from his present distress so he might rule as king.

C. David then had Solomon ride his own royal mule and be escorted by his own royal servants in full view of the people of Jerusalem out to the spring Gihon located 30 yards outside the city's east wall and near the palace to get Solomon coronated ahead of Adonijah who was still about 1/2 mile south of them, 1 Kings 1:32-33; Ibid.

D. At Gihon, Zadok the priest was to anoint Solomon with the blowing of a trumpet and the shout, "God save king Solomon," rousing all the city's onlookers to rejoice in support of Solomon's coronation, 1 Kings 1:34.

E. Then, Solomon was to be quickly returned back to the city to sit on David's throne, 1 Kings 1:35. These acts would place Solomon as king on the throne well ahead of Adonijah who was still about 1/2 mile away and mark Adonijah and his men as outlaws in the view of the people who then avidly supported Solomon as king!

F. David's orders were heeded so that Solomon sat as king on the throne in a matter of minutes, 1 Kings 1:36-40!

V. David's effort left Adonijah and his men scattering in terror for their lives, 1 Kings 1:41-50:

A. God so moved the people of Jerusalem with joy at Solomon's coronation, the sound of their rejoicing shook the ground so that Adonijah's group that was meeting 1/2 mile south of the city noticed it, 1 Kings 1:41a NIV.

B. Indeed, army commander Joab who had joined Adonijah's group was concerned at what the noise in the city could mean (1 Kings 1:41b), and when a messenger arrived to explain that Solomon had just been crowned king and was sitting on David's throne with God's blessing (1 Kings 1:42-48), Adonijah and his men, realizing their plot had been foiled so that they were now outlaws in the sight of the people, fled for their lives (1 Kings 1:49), with Adonijah fleeing to the tabernacle altar to grab onto its horns and beg for asylum, 1 Kings 1:50!

VI. The newly crowned Solomon let the terrified Adonijah show submission to his reign, asserting that if he showed himself worthy in submitting to king Solomon, Adonijah would not be executed, 1 Kings 1:51-52.

VII. Adonijah thus came and bowed before Solomon, signifying his submission to the new king, 1 Kings 1:53.

Lesson: David responded to the Adonijah's strong insubordination by functioning within his God-given role as king, but trusting in God's help and using all his authority as king to pressure Adonijah to submit to Solomon.

Application: If facing strong insubordination, (1) may we trust in Christ to gain eternal life and thus also be equipped by God's indwelling Holy Spirit of wisdom and power, John 3:16; Ephesians 1:13-14; Acts 1:8. (2) May we then (a) trust God to help us while also (b) functioning within our Biblically correct roles (c) while utilizing all the force our proper role offers us to exert as much influence as possible to impress the insubordinate to submit.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

For your information, we are applying the lesson of this sermon by taking the following actions in our Church:

(1) We face several parties today who exercise strong insubordination against God and against leaders of local churches in trying to push error onto believers: (a) first, BioLogos, an evangelical group funded by the multi-billion-dollar, Templeton Foundation, is trying to get evangelical leaders like pastors to reinterpret the Bible to allow for evolution. (Melissa Skinner, "Funding Darwin in the Church," Answers, May-June, 2017, p. 73) (b) Then, the "New Calvinists" who promote the five "TULIP" points of Calvinism mixed with worldliness, are infiltrating churches (as reported in the Middletown Bible Church Bible Conference flyer, August, 2017). (c) Third, we see an increase in ties between area evangelicals and apostate mainline Protestant denominations and Catholic parishes that influence people in our body to compromise with such evangelicals and thus eventually with apostates and their errant doctrines.

(2) In response, we are applying this sermon by (a) first trusting God to help us. (b) Second, we are starting to assert our best pastoral efforts within the Biblical perimeters of our calling (i) to counter Biologos by of late adding to our morning service introductory address the words: "Jesus exampled in Matthew 19:4-6 that we should interpret Genesis 1-2 literally, so we thus interpret it and believe God created the universe without any evolutionary processes."

To explain, Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6 alluded to Genesis 1:27 and 2:24 to claim that "from the beginning" Adam and Eve were created as "one flesh" as cause for not permitting divorce. He thus affirmed that God made Eve from Adam's rib in a miracle at the start of origins in the solar week of Genesis 1 as it is literally interpreted, not eons of ages later via evolution via some non-literal interpretation used by all who try to harmonize the Bible with evolution, that we must then interpret Genesis 1 and 2 literally and thereby believe in pure creation!

(ii) Also, we have already long countered Calvinism and the "New Calvinists" who Christ in Revelation 3:14-22 predicted would arise in our era with their errant nemesis Arminianism by placing our files "Making Sense of God's Election" and "Christ's Prophetic Message To Contemporary Evangelicals" on our Church web site home page.

(iii) Then, we are starting to counter apostate Catholic and mainline Protestant beliefs by expanding our introductory address on the bread and cup in our communion services in order appropriately to expose the idolatrous or idolatrous-leaning views and/or false gospels of transubstantiation, consubstantiation and receptionism.

The goal of our action is to equip our body, especially our youth who often memorize our addresses, to be well equipped to offset insubordinate error like Solomon was equipped by David to be made king in spite of Adonijah.

May we trust in Christ for salvation. Then, may we heed David's lead to handle strong insubordination.