1 Kings 2

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1When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.

2“I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man,

3and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,

4and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

5“Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me–what he did to the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.

6Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

7“But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.

8“And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’

9But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”

10Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David.

11He had reigned forty years over Israel–seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.

12So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

13Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?” He answered, “Yes, peacefully.”

14Then he added, “I have something to say to you.” “You may say it,” she replied.

15“As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord.

16Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.” “You may make it,” she said.

17So he continued, “Please ask King Solomon–he will not refuse you–to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

18“Very well,” Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”

19When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king's mother, and she sat down at his right hand.

20“I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.” The king replied, “Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.”

21So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”

22King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him–after all, he is my older brother–yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”

23Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request!

24And now, as surely as the Lord lives–he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised–Adonijah shall be put to death today!”

25So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.

26To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father's hardships.”

27So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.

28When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar.

29King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!”

30So Benaiah entered the tent of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’ ” But he answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah reported to the king, “This is how Joab answered me.”

31Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my father's house of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed.

32The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without the knowledge of my father David he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them–Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army–were better men and more upright than he.

33May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord's peace forever.”

34So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried on his own land in the desert.

35The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab's position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.

36Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.

37The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”

38Shimei answered the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.

39But three years later, two of Shimei's slaves ran off to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.”

40At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.

41When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

42the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, ‘On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die’? At that time you said to me, ‘What you say is good. I will obey.’

43Why then did you not keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you?”

44The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the Lord will repay you for your wrongdoing.

45But King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will remain secure before the Lord forever.”

46Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and killed him. The kingdom was now firmly established in Solomon's hands.

Commentary

Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die,.... The number of his days fixed and determined by the Lord, Job 14:5; and which might be perceived as drawing nigh, both by himself and others, through the growing infirmities of old age, decline of nature, and various symptoms of an approaching dissolution which were upon him; see Ge 47:29. Abarbinel observes, that he is called only David, not King David; because Solomon his son was now anointed king, and reigned in his stead; so in 1Ki 1:10; but there is another reason given by some Jews {n}, that no man, even a king, has power in the day of death; he is no king then, he has no rule over that, but that rules over him:

and he charged Solomon his son; gave him his last and dying charge:

saying; as follows.

{n} Bereshit Rabba, sect. 96. fol. 83. 3.

2:1-4 David's charge to Solomon is, to keep the charge of the Lord. The authority of a dying father is much, but nothing to that of a living God. God promised David that the Messiah should come from his descendants, and that promise was absolute; but the promise, that there should not fail of them a man on the throne of Israel, was conditional; if he walks before God in sincerity, with zeal and resolution: in order hereunto, he must take heed to his way.

Chapter 2 In this chapter we have David setting and Solomon at the same time rising. I. The conclusion of David’s reign with his life. 1. The charge he gives to Solomon upon his death-bed, in general, to serve God (v. 1-4), in particular, concerning Joab, Barzillai, and Shimei (v. 5-9). 2. His death and burial, and the years of his reign (v. 10, 11). II. The beginning of Solomon’s reign (v. 12). Though he was to be a prince of peace, he began his reign with some remarkable acts of justice, 1. Upon Adonijah, whom he put to death for his aspiring pretensions (v. 13–25). 2. Upon Abiathar, whom he deposed from the high priesthood for siding with Adonijah (v. 26, 27). 3. Upon Joab, who he put to death for his late treasons and former murders (v. 28–35). 4. Upon Shimei, whom, for cursing David, he confined to Jerusalem (v. 36–38), and three years after, for transgressing the rules, put to death (v. 39–46).Verses 1-11 David, that great and good man, is here a dying man (v. 1), and a dead man, v. 10. It is well there is another life after this, for death stains all the glory of this, and lays it in the dust. We have here,I. The charge and instructions which David, when he was dying, gave to Solomon, his son and declared successor. He feels himself declining, and is not backward to own it, nor afraid to hear or speak of dying: I go the way of all the earth, v. 2. Heb. I am walking in it. Note, Death is a way; not only a period of this life, but a passage to a better. It is the way of all the earth, of all mankind who dwell on earth, and are themselves earth, and therefore must return to their earth. Even the sons and heirs of heaven must go the way of all the earth, they must needs die; but they walk with pleasure in this way, through the valley of the shadow of death, Ps. 23:4. Prophets, and even kings, must go this way to brighter light and honour than prophecy or sovereignty. David is going this way, and therefore gives Solomon directions what to do.1. He charges him, in general, to keep God’s commandments and to make conscience of his duty, v. 2-4. He prescribes to him, (1.) A good rule to act by—the divine will: "Govern thyself by that." David’s charge to him is to keep the charge of the Lord his God. The authority of a dying father is much, but nothing to that of a living God. There are great trusts which we are charged with by the Lord our God—let us keep them carefully, as those that must give account; and excellent statutes, which we must be ruled by—let us also keep them. The written word is our rule. Solomon must himself do as was written in the law of Moses. (2.) A good spirit to act with: Be strong and show thyself a man, though in years but a child. Those that would keep the charge of the Lord their God must put on resolution. (3.) Good reasons for all this. This would effectually conduce, [1.] To the prosperity of his kingdom. It is the way to prosper in all thou doest, and to succeed with honour and satisfaction in every undertaking. [2.] To the perpetuity of it: That the Lord may continue and so confirm his word which he spoke concerning me. Those that rightly value the treasure of the promise, that sacred depositum, cannot but be solicitous to preserve the entail of it, and very desirous that those who come after them may do nothing to cut it off. Let each, in his own age, successively, keep God’s charge, and then God will be sure to continue his word. We never let fall the promise till we let fall the precept. God had promised David that the Messiah should come from his loins, and that promise was absolute: but the promise that there should not fail him a man on the throne of Israel was conditional—if his seed behave themselves as they should. If Solomon, in his day, fulfil the condition, he does his part towards the perpetuating of the promise. The condition is that he walk before God in all his institutions, in sincerity, with zeal and resolution; and, in order hereunto, that he take heed to his way. In order to our constancy in religion, nothing is more necessary than caution and circumspection.2. He gives him directions concerning some particular persons, what to do with them, that he might make up his deficiencies in justice to some and kindness to others. (1.) Concerning Joab, v. 5 David was now conscious to himself that he had not done well to spare him, when he had made himself once again obnoxious to the law, but the murder of Abner first and afterwards of Amasa, both of them great men, captains of the hosts of Israel. He slew them treacherously (shed the blood of war in peace), and injuriously to David: Thou knowest what he did to me therein.

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Translations8 · 5

AMHEVG ዳዊትም የሚሞትበት ቀን ቀረበ፤ ልጁንም ሰሎሞንን እንዲህ ሲል አዘዘው፦ አማርኛ BCV ዳዊት ዝሞተላ መዓልቲ ምስ ቀረበት ንሰሎሞን ወዱ ኸምዙይ ኢሉ ኣዘዞ፦ ትግርኛ GAZBIB Daawit yeroon du'uu isaa yommuu dhi'aate ilma isaa Solomoonin waamee gorsa kanatti fufee jiru in kenneef. Afaan Oromoo BCV GIZ ወበጽሐ መዋዕሊሁ ለዳዊት ለመዊት ወአዘዞ ለሰሎሞን ወልዱ ወይቤሎ፦ giz GAZGAZ Daawit yeroon du'uu isaa yommuu dhi'aate ilma isaa Solomoonin waamee gorsa kanatti fufee jiru in kenneef. Afaan Oromoo BCV aksum ዳዊት ዝሞተላ መዓልቲ ምስ ቀረበት ንሰሎሞን ወዱ ኸምዙይ ኢሉ ኣዘዞ፦ ትግርኛ AMHNIV ዳዊት የሚሞትበት ጊዜ እንደ ተቃረበም፣ ልጁን ሰሎሞንን እንዲህ ሲል አዘዘው፤ አማርኛ SWAHSUV Basi siku ya kufa kwake Daudi ikakaribia, akamwusia Sulemani mwanawe, akasema, Kiswahili