Insurgents (Part B)

And that's a trap. You know, you can so analyze the Greek and the Hebrew, looking for what you think you should find, to where you're now missing the story. And there are people that don't do that, take it to that level, and they read the story and they walk away knowing, I know what that means.

I don't need a theologian to tell me what that means. And we all have to guard against getting in trouble from too much study. Knowledge puffs up, love edifies.

It's a good thing to remember. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today Pastor Rick will continue his study called Insurgence in 1 Kings chapter 2. So she sat at his right hand. What a good son. There's such respect for his mother. She comes in, he gets up off the throne, he bows to her, this gesture of deference, and he's receiving his mom, and he brings a throne for her to sit right next to him. It's the seat of the highest honor. Probably there's no one else in the kingdom he'd do that for.

Barzillai could come in and he'd bring him a chair, but he's not sitting next to me. The resurrected Lord Jesus is often described as seated at the right hand of God, and so this is just a very honorable thing. What we have when she starts talking again, I think the historian just leaves it out of this section of the story, and he's already prefaced the story with that dialogue between Adonijah and Bathsheba. So here in verse 20, then she said, and I'm going to pause there, when they don't do that, when they repeat it again and we're reading the Bible, we say, why did you make me read all this twice? You said that in verses 5 and 6.

Why do I got to read it nine more times? So here he spares us that, and we should applaud it, if I am right, and I'm usually right, in my world. Verse 20, then she said, I desire one small petition of you, do not refuse me. And the king said to her, did you get that from Adonijah? No, he said, ask it my mother, for I will not refuse you.

Well, I mean, we're learning just from that. Don't write checks with your mouth that you can't produce, your body can't keep. He should have said, well, let's hear what you have to say first. You're someone who says, can you do me a favor? Maybe. It depends on what it is. I don't know what you're going to ask, and what I know of you, it's going to be kooky. Anyway, some of you may be offended by that, and that would be an admission of you being kooky and you know it. So anyway, don't be offended. That's like saying, will the ugly people in the room stand up?

I mean, nobody should stand up. Anyway, so he's thinking, I don't know, what does mom want? Does she want to throw a party? Does she want a new chariot with those dual overhead nimbats?

You know, what does she want? On one hand, since the king's harems were seriously guarded, and everybody knew it, again, I have difficulty believing that she was naive, and did not know the severity of his request. On the other hand, as I mentioned, I can see her saying, well, you know, technically Abishag wasn't the wife of David, and maybe if this will bring peace, I can see her doing that also, until Solomon points it out.

It's going to be one of those, well, I didn't see that. Verse 21, so she said, let Abishag, the Shulamite, be given to Adonijah, your brother's wife. Now, going back to my thought that she is trying to bring peace through matchmaking, it wouldn't be the last time in history that people have wanted peace so much that they have become blind to reason.

It's actually quite frequent. We see it in Genesis 34, with the men of Shechem and the sons of Jacob and his daughter Dinah. Shechem wanted to marry her after violating her. The son said, okay, here are our terms, which essentially rendered the men defenseless, physically. And of course, Levi and Simeon went in and slaughtered them. But there, Shechem, he wanted peace so badly after violating Jacob's daughter, he wanted peace so badly, willing to do anything, and the whole village went with him.

It cost them their lives. Neville Chamberlain, World War II, I've got the treaty with Hitler. You've got no reason to believe that guy.

Who wears a mustache like that? Anyway, we know what happened. And fortunately for Neville, he then backed up Churchill, so he didn't remain blind to the truth. But many Jews today, they want peace so badly that they just, you know, they support anti-Semitic politicians, and you scratch your head and say, what is wrong with you people? I remember speaking with a cab driver in Jerusalem, he said, oh, this Obama's going to be great. The guy does, he's anti-Semitic. Don't you know, do you listen to what he says? Yeah, but he's going to bring peace.

No, he's not. Anyway, so my point is that this is not far-fetched to think that someone may just want to bring peace so badly that they become blind to the facts and to reason, and they end up in a situation like this. Fortunately for her, Solomon is no fool. We know that Abishag is never referred to as David's wife in scripture or said to be a concubine, but we know her role.

But then now on the other side, none of the concubines were named at all. So the legal technicality, as I mentioned, but too close to home for anybody to miss what an insurrectionist could do if he could gain this in the public eye. And that's what, you know, Adam, the people wanted me anyway, so he's very conscious of his public relations.

He's got a shot at the throne. As I mentioned also, had anyone else asked, it would not have been such a great concern. What is clear is that in the eyes of the people, Abishag was not available to him, regardless of the technicalities. If the Song of Solomon is a true story or based on Abishag, then because marriage was not consummated, she could be given to another as the Shulamite in Song of Solomon was eventually given to the beloved shepherd and not the king. So a rival, he did not have that privilege. And that's what's going on behind a lot of this verse. And if I were Solomon, I would say, I don't need any of that. I don't like the guy. He's trying to kill me and he stepped over the line.

I gave him a chance and that's it. You guys can argue about what mom knew and what everybody else knew, but that's it. So verse 22, and King Solomon answered and said to his mother, now why do you ask Abishag, Shulamite, for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother, for him and for Abiathar, the priest, and for Joab, the son of Zoriah. So she says, ask the throne for Adonijah and the priest who was in part of that insurrection along with Joab. Well, just ask it for them.

Mom, what are you doing? Kind of a moment. Now, I didn't say in verse 21 where she says, let Abishag, the Shulamite, be given to Adonijah.

And then it's added, your brother. That's one of the clues that I think belonged to her desire to bring peace. But when Solomon points this out, he takes her back and she probably wasn't too into the politics. She knew about it. How could she not, being part of the palace? But when he points it out, we don't read of her protesting, and I don't think she did. But I also think that Solomon tempers his rage and his tone towards her.

I would love to see the look on her face when she realized, ooh, that dude is dead. I think he's being very gentle with her, but inwardly, he's firm. He knows what he's going to do.

This guy's got to go. And those were the terms that he had established with Adonijah when he spared him the first time. He never lost sight of these guys. That's why he's bringing up Joab and Abiathar, because they were part of the party that looked to plot against him being king. Had they prevailed, as I mentioned, it would have meant death, exile at the least.

That would have been a form of death. These were the highest ranking loyal list to Adonijah, disloyal to David's will and God's will in Joab and Abiathar, the high priest, co-high priest with Zadok. We can almost hear them, Abiathar and Joab, telling Adonijah, well, David's almost, you know, he's not many days, okay? They made Solomon king.

Just hang in there. After David passes, we'll get you back in. Solomon had his spy network, and it was active, and he knew who was still not with him, and these two men, they were part of those individuals.

Verse 23, then King Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, may God do so to me and more also if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. Now, the mom may be gone by this point. Well, she may still be there to hear it, but likely she's, mom, you know, let's ask the kingdom for these guys. They're up to no good.

What your request is, is just going to, is awful for us, and she's probably gone at this point. Maybe not, not an important thing, but he knows it's a veiled attempt to overthrow his throne that God has established. We started off reading that in verse 12. Verse 52 of chapter 1, we read about Solomon's treatment of Adonijah, which is a lesson for us.

How do you handle somebody that's done you wrong, and yet there's an opportunity to forgive and give them another chance? Well, verse 52, chapter 1, verse kings, then Solomon said, if he proves himself a worthy man, not one hair of him shall fall to the earth. But if wickedness is found in him, he shall die. He's going to die now because wickedness is found in him.

It's perceived that way because it is that way. You know, looking for the Bible to come out and say, and Adonijah was up to no good. The Bible sometimes tells us that, but many times it just tells you the story and says, come on, you're smart, you can figure this out.

You know where this is going. And it's gotten a lot of men in trouble to overanalyze, and that's a trap. You know, you can so analyze the Greek and the Hebrew, looking for what you think you should find, to where you're now missing the story. And there are people that don't do that, take it to that level, and they read the story and they walk away knowing, I know what that means. I don't need a theologian to tell me what that means. And we all have to guard against getting in trouble from too much study. Knowledge puffs up, love edifies, it's a good thing to remember. And you know, here you have Paul, the theologian, says, I speak in tongues every day because I get into spirit, because I don't trust me. It's the Lord I want. And then you'll have other theologians today come along, I don't believe tongues anymore.

Well, to each their own. Anyway, verse 24, now therefore, as Yahweh lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, who has established a house for me, as promised at Anijah's show, be put to death today. No nonsense, he wasn't given an inch on this. As I mentioned, was she thinking, oops, what was, you know, if she was there, still, what was she thinking?

I think he, again, spared her the court stuff and just, okay, mom, have a nice day, and once the door closed, like, oh, that guy. If Solomon, what if Solomon ignored this offense? Well, it would suggest he was a weak king, and it would have continued. Such weakness would have been an encouragement, not only for, at Anijah, but Shemaiah. Shemaiah wanted a Benjamite to be king. He wanted a dynasty to be of Benjamin. He felt that Saul was wrongfully, you know, replaced with a man from Judah named David, a shepherd boy.

He was, you know, he never let this go, and that's why he's going to get it, too. But Shemaiah wasn't supporting Adonijah. Shemaiah had his own plans.

So this is the intrigue that goes with the kingdom. Verse 25, so King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaniah, the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died. He would not live to put Solomon through what Absalom put David through, and that was part of David's, you know, telling Solomon that there are people in the kingdom, that you can't let them live.

They're going to hurt you. And even though David does not name his son Adonijah, it's the same principle, and Solomon acts on it. Verse 26, and to Abiathah, the priest, the king said, go to Anath to your fields, for you are deserving of death, but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord Yahweh before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was. Anath is about three miles from Jerusalem, and centuries later, Jeremiah will be born there. Jeremiah was a priest also. It was a priest town. But so he's banished from Jerusalem.

He's removed as co-high priest. David likely kept him as high priest with Zadok, because David felt responsible for the death of Abiathah's father and all the priests that were there at Nob, with Saul chasing him. And so it was an uncomfortable situation, but on the bright side, Abiathah was faithful. He brought the Urim and the Tunim to David. He remained with him. As Solomon points out, when my father suffered on the run from Saul, you were right there with him.

When Absalom turned on my father David, you were right there with him. Solomon takes these things into account. He's, again, not a wild man, as some kings are and have been, I should say, but he also did not lose sight of the fact that Adonijah's ploy to take the throne involved this priest, who was a descendant of Eli. Abiathah as a descendant of Eli. Eli was the judge and high priest before Samuel comes along. And God sent an unnamed prophet to Eli to pass judgment on him and say that his family would not be leading the priesthood, that that was part of the judgment. And it was a hundred years or so passed since that judgment. Eli wouldn't correct his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, for the wickedness they were carrying out there in the temple. And so the judgment was to remove him and his family, his line, and this is what is going on here. A hundred years before that was fulfilled. Verse 27, so Solomon removed Abiathah from being priest to Yahweh that he might fulfill the word of Yahweh, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

And so there is the connection. Verse 28, then news came to Joab, for Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. So Joab fled to the tabernacle of Yahweh and took hold of the horns of the altar.

Well, Joab allied himself with Adonijah when that insurrection was put down. Solomon, of course, had surveillance maintained on these people through his spy network. This is why he's going to bring Shemaev into Jerusalem, so you're going to live in Jerusalem now because I've got to keep an eye on you. So what we're getting is he's no dummy.

He's really, he's doing everything right. It's these other men that are wrong. And Joab knows he's guilty by association, by being associated with Adonijah. There's no record of him coming. He wasn't that kind of man of coming to Solomon and saying, okay, I made a mistake.

You've got my allegiance now. Joab just wasn't that kind of man. Loyalty may end in death, but disloyalty ends in destruction. And that's, again, I think another lesson that comes from the pages of Scripture. We see that in Judas Iscariot.

We see that in the apostles. Their loyalty ended in their deaths from almost all of them, as far as we know. But with Judas, it just was destruction, and he went to the place of destruction. It says here in verse 28, though he had not defected to Absalom. Well, again, his loyalty to David was not extended to David's choice, which is so disappointing, is it not? I mean, here's Ben-Aniah, and he's just, Solomon, as I was with your father, I'm going to be with you. But Joab didn't take that route. He said, I'm not going to sign over with him.

Why? I thought you were loyal to David. If you were loyal to David, then you would have been loyal to David's choice. In this situation, with all the other factors of Samuel's anointing and just Nathan the prophet, this was something that is inexcusable on Joab's behalf.

But there's other things, and they're going to be dealt with. It says here at the bottom of verse 28, so Joab fled to the tabernacle of Yahweh, took hold of the horns of the altar. Yeah, because he knew that if Adonijah blew it and was executed for it, he was going to be implicated, to which altar he fled to, not certain.

Probably the tent there in Jerusalem where the Ark of the Covenant was, a sacrificial altar could have been there, the temple not yet being built. Also in a bigger altar was Gibeon, which we'll get to in a few chapters when, the next chapter actually. Anyway, he knew his blood guilt. He knew that he had killed men and had dodged justice, verse 29. And King Solomon was told Joab has fled to the tabernacle of Yahweh. There he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaniah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, go strike him down, verse 30. So Benaniah went to the tabernacle of Yahweh, that is a tent, and said to him, Thus says the king, come out. And he said, No, but I will die here. And Benaniah brought back word to the king, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. I mean, come out so I can kill you. No.

This makes sense. But it was, you know, the saying, you can't fight City Hall. You just, you know, you're going to die, Joab.

I mean, there's no way around this. Benaniah, a very godly man. So he gets to the tabernacle, and he pauses. He just is not reckless like that, even though he is the son of a priest, which means he is in the Aaronic line. 1 Chronicles 27, third captain of the army for the third month was Benaniah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest. So if anybody could execute him in the temple, it would be a man like Benaniah. God had allowed, if you were guilty of manslaughter, not murder, if you unintentionally killed someone, you could run to the horns of the altar and claim asylum. Well, Joab, he is guilty of killing two men, and it was murder, not manslaughter, and that's what Solomon's going to use against him. Verse 31, Then the king said to him, Do as he said, and strike him down, and bury him, that you may take away from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab shed. Well, Solomon wanted to be clear. He wanted everyone to know that this was justice, that there were reasons to take care of this guy. Now, I don't think he said, well, the statute of limitations, you should have done it, and there's no such thing with these chaps. This was something God upheld when he said to David, there's sin in the land in 2 Samuel 21, and you've got to go deal with it because it's a sin that Saul committed against the Gideonites, and you need to go take care of this, and David did.

Well, this is similar to that. Joab was deserving of death for a long time, and judgment was delayed, but it is here now. Verse 32, So Yahweh will return his blood on his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jethar, the commander of the army of Judah, though my father David did not know it. So he explains why asylum is not granted to Joab, and he needs to do this. He's protecting the throne, he's letting everybody know I am a just king. Now, he's not always going to be just and fair, Solomon, and he's going to do several things that are just wrong. One that we forget about is he's going to tax the people to no end, and that's going to be a problem for Rehoboam, his successor, who was also his son. Anyway, Joab's crimes demanded justice, and Solomon wants it in the official court records. My dad did not know that Joab killed these people who were Benjamites, and he didn't need any more trouble from the tribe of Benjamin, which is why he deals with Shemaiah in the moment. What is the use of us learning these things? Well, because there's people.

What is my reaction going to be if I'm in a similar, though less intense, situation? Lessons all over there just abound in the scriptures. Verse 33, their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his descendants forever. But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from Yahweh. There's more Solomon's view, it seems, than God's judgment, what he's speaking here.

I have that opinion because the facts don't agree with him. After Solomon died, there was really not much peace after that of David's descendants on the throne. If you look at the long term, yeah, in the millennial reign, there will be peace forever with Christ, who is connected with the throne of David, of course.

We have no information that God granted this curse upon Joab's family. So I'm thinking this is just, you know, Solomon's pouring it out but is not pouring it out in the spirit, and we have no indication that he is. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

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