1Kings 2:42 - Prayer Tents

1Kings 2

David Instructs Solomon

2As David's time to die approached, he addressed his son Solomon with these words:H3117H1732H7126H4191H6680H8010H1121H5592"I'm headed down the road that everyone who lives on earth travels, so be strong and demonstrate that you're a grown manH1980H1870H776H2388H3763by keeping the charge that the Lord your God entrusted to you. Live life his way, keep his statutes, his commands, his ordinances, and his testimonies, just as they're written down in the Law of Moses, so that you may succeed in everything you do and wherever you go,H8104H4931H3068H430H3212H1870H8104H2708H4687H4941H5715H3789H8451H4872H7919H6213H64374and so that the Lord may fulfill his promise that he spoke about me when he said, 'If your sons pay attention to how they live by walking truthfully in my presence with all their heart and with all their soul, you will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.'H3068H6965H1697H1696H559H1121H8104H1870H3212H6440H571H3824H5315H3772H559H376H3678H34785"Furthermore, you're aware of what Zeruiah's son Joab did to me and to those two commanders of the armies of Israel, Ner's son Abner and Jether's son Amasa, whom he killed, and how he shed the blood of wartime during times of peace, staining the very belt he wears around his waist and the sandals he wears on his feet.H3045H3097H1121H6870H6213H6213H8147H8269H6635H3478H74H1121H5369H6021H1121H3500H2026H7760H1818H4421H7965H5414H1818H4421H2290H4975H5275H72726So act consistently with your wisdom, and don't let him die as a peaceful old man.H6213H2451H7872H3381H7585H79657Be gracious to the descendants of Barzilla the Gileadite, and provide for them in your household, because they helped me when I had to run from your brother Absalom.H6213H2617H1121H1271H1569H398H7979H7126H1272H6440H53H2518"Pay attention now! You have with you Gera's son Shimei the Benjaminite from Bahurim. He cursed me violently that day when I had to leave for Mahanaim. When he visited me at the Jordan River, I made an oath to the Lord and told him, 'I won't execute you with a sword.'H8096H1121H1617H1145H980H7043H4834H7045H3117H3212H4266H3381H7125H3383H7650H3068H559H4191H27199But don't let him off unpunished, since you're a wise man and you'll know what you need to do to him. Find a way that he dies in his old age by shedding his blood."H5352H2450H376H3045H6213H7872H3381H7585H1818

David Dies and Solomon Consolidates His Reign

10After this, David died, as had his ancestors, and he was buried in the city of David. David had reigned over Israel for 40 years. He reigned in Hebron for seven years and in Jerusalem for 33 years.H1732H7901H1H6912H5892H173212Solomon then assumed his father David's throne, and his kingdom was firmly established.H3427H8010H3678H1732H1H4438H3559H3966

Adonijah asks for Abishag

13Later, Haggith's son Adonijah approached Solomon's mother. "Are you here on a peaceful mission?" she asked. "Yes," he replied.H138H1121H2294H935H1339H517H8010H559H935H7965H559H796514"I have something to ask you about." "Talk," she told him.H559H1697H559H169615So he replied, "You know that the kingdom should have come to me, and that everyone in Israel intended to place me as the next king. However, the kingdom has turned around and now belongs to my brother, because it went to him from the Lord.H559H3045H4410H3478H7760H6440H4427H4410H5437H251H306816So now I'm asking one thing from you. Don't refuse me." "Talk," she told him.H7592H259H7596H7725H6440H559H169617Then he asked her, "Please talk to King Solomon for me, since he won't refuse you. Ask him to give me Abishag the Shunnamite as a wife."H559H559H8010H4428H7725H6440H7725H5414H49H7767H80218"Okay," Bathsheba replied. "I'll talk to the king for you."H1339H559H2896H1696H442819So Bathsheba went to talk to King Solomon for Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed to her, and sat down on his throne. He ordered a throne be set in place for his mother. She sat on a throne to his rightH1339H935H4428H8010H1696H138H4428H6965H7125H7812H3427H3678H3678H7760H4428H517H3427H322520and said to him, "I would like to make a minor request of you. Please don't refuse me." "What is your request, mother?" the king asked her. "I won't turn you down."H559H7592H259H6996H7596H7725H6440H7725H4428H559H7592H517H7725H6440H772521So she asked him, "Give Abishag the Shunnamite to your brother Adonijah as a wife."H559H49H7767H5414H138H251H80222But King Solomon replied to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunnamite for Adonijah?Why not ask me to give up the kingdom for him, since he's my older brother, and why not ask for Abiathar the priest, and for Zeruiah's son Joab?"H4428H8010H6030H559H517H7592H49H7767H138H7592H4410H1419H251H54H3548H3097H1121H687023Then King Solomon took this oath in the name of the Lord: "May God do so to me, and more besides, if Adonijah hasn't endangered his life by bringing up this subject.H4428H8010H7650H3068H559H430H6213H3254H138H1696H1697H531524Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of my father David, and who has established a dynasty, just like he promised, Adonijah will surely be executed today."H3068H2416H3559H3427H3678H1732H1H6213H1004H1696H138H4191H311725So King Solomon sent for Jehoiada's son Benaiah, who attacked and killed Adonijah.24H4428H8010H7971H3027H1141H1121H3077H6293H419126The king also told Abiathar the priest, "Go home to Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I won't kill you today, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David and because you shared all the troubles that my father went through."H54H3548H559H4428H3212H6068H7704H376H4194H3117H4191H5375H727H136H3069H6440H1732H1H6031H1H603127So Solomon fired Abiathar as the Lord's priest, thus fulfilling the promise that the Lord had spoken in Shiloh concerning Eli's household.H8010H1644H54H3548H3068H4390H1697H3068H1696H1004H5941H7887

Joab is Executed

28When Joab learned what had happened, he ran to the Lord's tabernacle and grabbed hold of the horns of the altar, since Joab had supported Adonijah (though he had not supported Absalom).H8052H935H3097H3097H5186H310H138H5186H310H53H3097H5127H168H3068H2388H7161H419629Somebody informed King Solomon, "Joab just ran to the Lord's tabernacle and now he's standing beside the altar!" But Solomon ordered Jehoiada's son Benaiah, "Go kill him!"H5046H4428H8010H3097H5127H168H3068H681H4196H8010H7971H1141H1121H3077H559H3212H629330So Benaiah went into the Lord's tabernacle and told Joab, "The king orders you to come out!" "No," Joab said, "I'd rather die here!" So Benaiah went and informed the king, "This is how Joab answered me."H1141H935H168H3068H559H559H4428H3318H559H4191H1141H7725H4428H1697H7725H559H1696H3097H603031The king replied to him, "Do just what he asked. Kill him and bury him so that you may remove from me and from my father's household the guilt that Joab shed needlessly.H4428H559H6213H1696H6293H6912H5493H2600H1818H3097H8210H1004H132The Lord will repay him for his bloodshed because, without my father David's consent he attacked and murdered two men more righteous and better than he, Ner's son Abner, the commander of Israel's army and Jether's son Amasa, commander of Judah's army.H3068H7725H1818H7218H6293H8147H582H6662H2896H2026H2719H1H1732H3045H74H1121H5369H8269H6635H3478H6021H1121H3500H8269H6635H306333May their blood be repaid to Joab and to his descendants forever, and may there be peace shown from the Lord forever to David, to his descendants, to his household, and to his throne."H1818H7725H7218H3097H7218H2233H5769H1732H2233H1004H3678H7965H5704H5769H306834Jehoiada's son Benaiah then approached Joab, attacked him, killed him, and had him buried at Joab's home in the wilderness.H1141H1121H3077H5927H6293H4191H6912H1004H405735The king appointed Jehoiada's son Benaiah in charge of the army to replace Joab and also appointed Zadok the priest to replace Abiathar.H4428H5414H1141H1121H3077H6635H6659H3548H4428H5414H54

Shimei is Executed

36The king sent for Shimei and told him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but don't go anywhere from there.H4428H7971H7121H8096H559H1129H1004H3389H3427H3318H57537If you ever leave and cross the Kidron Brook, you can be sure that you'll die. You'll be responsible for your own death."2H3117H3318H5674H5158H6939H3045H3045H4191H4191H1818H721838Shimei replied to the king, "What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me. I'll do what you've said." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem for quite some time.H8096H559H4428H1697H2896H113H4428H1696H5650H6213H8096H3427H3389H7227H311739But three years later, two of Shimei's servants escaped to Maacah's son Achish, the king of Gath. Somebody told Shimei, "Look! Your servants went to Gath!"H7093H7969H8141H8147H5650H8096H1272H397H1121H4601H4428H1661H5046H8096H559H5650H166140So Shimei got up, saddled a donkey, and traveled to Gath to find his servants. He found them and brought them back from Gath.H8096H6965H2280H2543H3212H1661H397H1245H5650H8096H3212H935H5650H166141Later, Solomon found out that Shimei had left Jerusalem, gone to Gath, and had returned,H5046H8010H8096H1980H3389H1661H772542so the king sent for Shimei and asked him, "Didn't I make a promise to the Lord and warn you, 'The day you leave and go anywhere else, you can be sure you'll die'?And you said to me, 'What your majesty has decreed is acceptable to me.'H4428H7971H7121H8096H559H7650H3068H5749H559H3045H3045H3117H3318H1980H575H4191H4191H559H1697H8085H289643So why haven't you kept the oath you made to the Lord, and why didn't you obey my personal order to you?"H8104H7621H3068H4687H668044The king also reminded Shimei, "You know all the evil things that you admit you did to my father David. Therefore the Lord is going to repay you for all of your evil.H4428H559H8096H3045H7451H3824H3045H6213H1732H1H3068H7725H7451H721845But King Solomon will be blessed, and David's throne will be established in the presence of the Lord forever."H4428H8010H1288H3678H1732H3559H6440H3068H5704H576946So the king gave orders to Jehoiada's son Benaiah to go out, attack Shimei, and kill him. That is how the kingdom was established under Solomon's control.H4428H6680H1141H1121H3077H3318H6293H4191H4467H3559H3027H8010