July 19, 2020 Solomon Comes to Power 1 Kings 2:13-25

If you’re like me when you read a book or watch a movie or a show you select a character that you like and put yourself into that character’s role. You will not, however, find any such person to like in what we read for our first reading today. They’re all bad. They scheme, they manipulate, they exploit, they lie,… they kill.

These accounts are also like many shows on broadcast TV or Netflix or other streaming services. There is plot after plot going on between all the characters. There are many levels of deception. As an audience it is hard to know who to trust and who not to trust. We know the story, so we know who comes out victorious, but it seems like no one really has the upper hand much of the time.

Biblical scholars dig deep to try to come up with a theological justification or trajectory for the chapters about the rise of Solomon as king. But they really don’t come up with much of anything. God’s will and God’s intentions are rarely mentioned at all.

Let’s spend a few minutes getting a handle on what’s going on. In the chapters before the passage we read King David as chosen Solomon to be king after him. Solomon is an unusual choice. He is at least the eighth son. You’ll remember that David’s first son was murdered. The second son just disappears from the story. The third son is assassinated. The fourth son, Adonijah, we meet today. Adonijah would be the logical choice as successor to the throne. Indeed in the immediately prior chapters he has attempted to do just that. With his father weak and dying Adonijah gets together some of his father’s military leaders, one of the head priests, and other officials and sets out to offer sacrifices and begin the process of becoming king.

Apparently Adonijah has not consulted with his father about doing this. Perhaps there is a lesson here in that we should not take matters into our own hands and manipulate them for our own selfish gain. A close comparison to Solomon’s initial rise to power shows that Solomon did nothing. Solomon was passive while others worked on his behalf.

For some reason we can only speculate about the text tells us that David has chosen Solomon to succeed him. Solomon is recorded as David’s seventh son. David himself was his father’s seventh son. If there is anything that does set Solomon apart it is that he is David’s son to his wife Bathsheba. It is pure speculation on my part, but for some reason it does appear that Bathsheba was David’s favorite wife. She shows up in the story more than any other and she is the only one who seems to actually have any influence over David. I suspect Solomon was the favored son from day one; and that knowing that Adonijah decides to strike when he has the chance.

That does seem to be Adonijah’s strategy. While he gets some of his father’s leading men to back him he fails to get any number of them. He fails to get the backing of the prophet Nathan, one of David’s trusted advisors. He does not get the backing of other warriors. And he does not get the backing of Zadok, one of David’s two chief priests.

I do want to pause a couple minutes and mention David’s two chief priests. They were Zadok and Abiathar. When David dies Zadok backs Solomon. Abiathar backs Adonijah. We didn’t read the whole story, but as Solomon solidifies power he arrests and/or kills everyone who is a potential rival. He does not kill Abiathar, however. This is perhaps he is a priest. But Solomon doesn’t feel it is safe to have anyone around who was opposed to him either. Solomon banishes Abiathar to his hometown and Abiathar goes.

That would be the end of the story if it weren’t for one of Abiathar’s descendants – who shows up hundreds of years later; a guy name Jeremiah… the prophet Jeremiah. It will not surprise you that even though centuries have passes Jeremiah has little good to say about the king’s authority. When you read the Bible and come across the prophets you may notice two competing themes. Some, like Isaiah, hold up the Davidic bloodline as central. They say that God’s promises to David are unconditional and forever and that divine protection will always come. Others, like Jeremiah, downplay the Davidic kingship. They say that adherence to the Law of Moses is the key to being God’s people. Those two competing themes are rooted in Solomon’s rise to power. Zadok and his descendants stay loyal to the king. Abiathar -the banished one- and his descendants are critical.

Ah, the Bible is not a simple straightforward book. It is record of strife and struggle, confusion and failing. In other words, the Bible is quite real.

Anyway, Adonijah fails to gain the throne. While he is out offering sacrifices and performing rituals those loyal to Solomon quickly act to put him in power. Solomon’s backing includes, as I’ve just said, the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and some of David’s military leaders. Solomon has backing from all the power centers.

When Adonijah discovers his plans have failed he knows he is in trouble. He throws himself at Solomon’s mercy. And at first at least, Solomon is content to let him live. He just tells him to go home. But you almost sense Solomon is looking for any excuse to kill him. Just such an excuse came in what we read as our second reading. If you just read our verses Adonijah’s request for a wife seems perfectly innocent. However, the woman he asks for, Abishag, is not an innocent request. Her background is not appropriate for a public sermon but you can read about it in 1 Kings 1:1-4. And if you do actually read that, know that her service to the king would have also given her a lot of insider information.

So, as we read, Solomon has Adonijah killed. Immediately after he banishes the priest Abiathar. He has Joab, his father’s military leader, killed in the actual tent of meeting – what would become the temple. This would be as if someone came to church, clung to the altar, and begged for sanctuary. The king says he could care less, kill him right there anyway. And indeed, before the temple is even built, Solomon is ordering the killing of his opponents in the holy places.

What to make of all this? As I said before, biblical scholars are largely stumped, excepting this: No matter how badly people act, God continues to stick with them and stay true to God’s promises.

It is very significant in these disturbing and faithless stories -and it is concerning how few people pray or ask for God’s guidance- that God does not give up. God does not say, “I’m sick of the lot of you! I quit! I give up! You’re hopeless! All you do is plot and scheme and kill and exploit helpless people. I’m done with you!”

No, while God is effectively sidelined in the story, God stays faithful. God will show up again in Solomon’s reign. We’ll read about that next week. And there are truly good and faith-filled kings to come who will consult with God. They will work for fairness and for faithfulness. But we aren’t there yet. For now we have schemers ruling the storyline. Though sidelined God is still working through them. In time we learn that God comes to these people even as they are in their sin and darkness and God begins to work in them for good.

When people have wronged us deeply, or seem hopelessly corrupt, we are wise to not constantly put blind trust in them. You know the saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” So we do not blindly trust. Yet we can never fully reject someone as beyond God’s grace and beyond God’s ability to save. God can and does create amazing changes in people and can turn them from seeming hopelessness into goodness. It is always wise for us pray for those who hurt us and those who are our enemies. No matter what happens, that puts our relationship with those people within our relationship with God.

Solomon is going to get off on the wrong foot. He will become know for wisdom in time even though he still does a lot of stupid things. And Solomon will do both good things and bad things, just like his father. God will work through him just as God promised.