12/8/2010 9:58:39 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Solomon the strategist PT 3
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: 1Kings 2:26-46
Message of the verses: I will make an attempt to finish this 4th
main section, and also the 1st chapter in Dr. Wiersbe commentary on
1Kings, (Be Responsible).
Abiathar’s removal: (Verses 26-27): “ 26 ¶
Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth to your
own field, for you deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time,
because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and because
you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted."
27 So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from
being priest to the LORD, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD, which He
had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.”
It
has been a long time since I was studying the section in 1Samuel where this
prophecy was given to Eli concerning his family not being a high priest any
more. When Saul killed all of the priest
at Nob Abiathar was the only one to escape and he fled to David and served
David for many years, but now he ran over to Adonijah to serve him and because
of this deserved death, but Solomon did not have him killed because he had
served his father David for a long time.
Solomon sent him into retirement at the priestly city of Anathoth, which
is about three miles from Jerusalem.
Solomon
then made Zadok the high priest and his family served in this position until
171BC. Ezekiel writes of Zadok: “15
"But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of My sanctuary
when the sons of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister
to Me; and they shall stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood,"
declares the Lord GOD. 16 "They
shall enter My sanctuary; they shall come near to My table to minister to Me
and keep My charge.”
Joab’s execution: (Verses 28-35):
“28 Now the news came to Joab, for Joab
had followed Adonijah, although he had not followed Absalom. And Joab fled to
the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 It was told King Solomon that Joab had fled
to the tent of the LORD, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon sent
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, fall upon him." 30 So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and
said to him, "Thus the king has said, ’Come out.’" But he said,
"No, for I will die here." And Benaiah brought the king word again,
saying, "Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me." 31 The king said to him, "Do as he has
spoken and fall upon him and bury him, that you may remove from me and from my
father’s house the blood which Joab shed without cause. 32 "The LORD will return his blood on his
own head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and
killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know it: Abner the
son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether,
commander of the army of Judah. 33
"So shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of
his descendants forever; but to David and his descendants and his house and his
throne, may there be peace from the LORD forever." 34 Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and
fell upon him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house in the
wilderness.
“ 35 ¶ The king appointed Benaiah
the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed Zadok
the priest in the place of Abiathar.”
Next
on the list of things for this new king to do was to rid his family of Joab who
had taken advantage of his position as head of David’s army by killing two
innocent men who were more righteous than he was and who also went over to
Adonijah and this in and of itself is reason for death. Joab went into the tent where David provided
a place for the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem. Joab went into this tent; for this was a
place where people went who accidently killed someone because the cities of
refuge had not been set up yet. Joab may
have figured that this would save him, but it did not for Solomon sent Benaiah
into the tent to kill Joab. Benaiah was
from a priestly family but was making his career in the military and thus he
became the person in control of Israel’s army.
I have read things about Benaiah which makes me believe that he was
truly a good and righteous man.
Solomon
did not have Joab killed out of vengeance, but because of the innocent people
that he had killed, for the blood of these innocent people were crying out to
God for vengeance: “The voice of your brother’s
blood is crying to Me from the ground (Gen. 4:10b). Saul’s treatment of the Gibeonites had
polluted the land and created trouble for David as seen in 2Sam. 21:1-14, and
Solomon did not want to have that kind of trouble while he was reigning in Israel.
Shimel’s daring: (Verses 36-46): 36 Now
the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, "Build for yourself a
house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place.
37 "For on the day you go out and
cross over the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely
die; your blood shall be on your own head." 38 Shimei then said to the king, "The word
is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do." So Shimei
lived in Jerusalem many days. 39 But it
came about at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran
away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying,
"Behold, your servants are in Gath." 40 Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and
went to Gath to Achish to look for his servants. And Shimei went and brought
his servants from Gath. 41 It was told
Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned. 42 So the king sent and called for Shimei and
said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the LORD and solemnly warn you,
saying, ’You will know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere,
you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ’The word which I have heard is
good.’ 43 "Why then have you not
kept the oath of the LORD, and the command which I have laid on you?"
44 The king also said to Shimei,
"You know all the evil which you acknowledge in your heart, which you did
to my father David; therefore the LORD shall return your evil on your own head.
45 "But King Solomon shall be
blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD
forever." 46 So the king commanded
Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died.
Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.”
Shimel
was a relative of Saul who through dirt on David when he was retreating from
Absalom, and Shimel was a great troublemaker, one who Solomon wanted to keep an
eye on so he told Shimel to build a house in Jerusalem and not leave the city. Solomon was putting him under house arrest
and if he left the city Solomon would kill him, but his blood would be on his
own head. Shimel knew the orders and
agreed to them, but when his slaves ran away some 25 miles to Gath Shimel
decided to test Solomon, which was the wrong decision, for Solomon kept his
promise and had him slain and now the end of this chapter states “Thus the
kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.”
There
has always been some uncertainty in my thinking as to why David had not taken
care of Joab, leaving this for Solomon to do.
Dr. Wiersbe points out that David, too, had killed an innocent man and
actually used Joab to commit this murder and so David’s hands were not
clean: “14 ¶ Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who
saves; then I will joyfully sing of your
forgiveness,” (Psalm 51:14 NLT).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I was listening to a message by John
MacArthur on worship the other day and some of the things that he was speaking
about concerning worship are seen in this section. His text was Romans 12:1-2, which are two of
my favorite verses in all of Scripture.
These two verses reflect on all that Paul had written to the church at
Rome in the first eleven chapters of this wonderful letter. MacArthur’s point is that all Scripture can
be used to worship the Lord and this was just a great example, so with that
being said these verses in 1Kings that were studied by me this morning are
worship to the Lord. One of the other
points in that message was that fearing the Lord is something that is not done
like it should be in this generation that I live in as many people focus on the
love and grace and forgiveness of the Lord and forget about the judgment and
fear of the Lord, which is seen in this section from 1Kings. I must admit that my fear of the Lord is not
what it should be, but by God’s grace I will learn more about this and be able
to worship the Lord through my fear of Him as I should be doing.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Remember that the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom.
2.
Trust the Lord to guide and direct my path this day.
3.
Continue to learn contentment.
4.
Remember that I am in a Spiritual Battle and in
great need of the Spiritual Armor and so I put it on.
5.
I give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
12/8/2010 11:01:48 AM
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