Insurgents (Part C)

Joe Ebb's crimes demanded justice and Solomon wants it in the official court records. My dad did not know that Joe Ebb 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 a 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? There are lessons all over. They're just abound in the scriptures. 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. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the Book of 1 Kings chapter 2 as he continues his message called Insurgence. 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 Adonijah, 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.

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 Benaniah, 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, you know, 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, 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 Beneniah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, go strike him down, verse 30. So Beneniah 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 Beneniah 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. I mean, it just makes sense. But it was, you know, just 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. Beneniah, 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.

First Chronicles 27, third captain of the army. For the third month was Beneniah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest. So if anybody could execute him in the temple, it would be a man like Beneniah. 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, in our thinking we 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. 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 is 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 a 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? There are lessons all over, they 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 David, 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, 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 just pouring it out, but is not pouring it out in the Spirit.

And we have no indication that he is. Anyway, verse 34, so Benaniah, the son of Jehoiada, went up and struck and killed him, and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. Now, he wasn't buried in the house, turned the house into a mausoleum, but that's in his own land.

It was an honorable burial granted to him despite the execution, but such an ignoble end for such a commander hero war veteran of Israel. Why does it have to go this way, Joab? Well, Joab's choice. He felt he was above the law, he was bloodthirsty, and he would suffer no wrong. Some people don't suffer fools.

You know, if you have a person that just likes, yeah, yeah, yeah, another person, I'm not listening to that, and they just can be kind of mean. But Joab, he was the kind of guy, he'd kill you if he felt wrong. He lived by the sword, he died by the sword, and here's the interesting thing. David's son Absalom was killed by Joab against David's commandment, against David's instructions. David said, be gentle with him, and Joab said, yeah, right, and he skewed him to death. Joab, on the other hand, was killed by David's son on commandment, or instruction from David.

Interesting, these ironic twists of events that show up in Scripture, and when they show up, there's a lesson there. Sometimes it's just for us to ponder, and there's a lot of work done when we meditate on Scripture. David knew that, he baked it into Psalm 1, that he would meditate on the law of the Lord. Paul upholds it when he tells Timothy to meditate on the Scriptures.

It's not that Eastern meditation where they're trying to remember something, they keep saying um, the mantra is not that stuff, it's just giving mental attention, thinking it through. Verse 35, the king put Benaniah, the son of Jehoiada, in the place over the army, and the king put Zadok, the priest, in the place of Abiathah, so Zadok's family will retain that position. Verse 36, then the king sent and called to Shemaiah, and said to him, build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere, because he's not harmless. Shemaiah is an insurgent, his heart is against Solomon, Solomon is taking non-lethal steps to marginalize Shemaiah.

He's saying to him, you know who you are, and I know who you are. You know you're a threat to me, and I know you're a threat to me, so let's do this. Rather than you stay out in the tribe of Benjamin and try to gain some tribal support, and spread through Israel, and cause an insurrection, rather than do that, why don't you stay in Jerusalem where I can keep an eye on you? And as long as you do that, you'll be okay.

Sort of your city of refuge. Evidently, Shemaiah has no objection, he knows it's right. What's he going to say?

Oh, not me. Solomon, you know, just clobbered that, now you're lying to the king, verse 37, for it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die, your blood shall be on your own head. Verse 38, and Shemaiah said to the king, the saying is good, as my lord the king has said, so your servant will do. So Shemaiah dwelt in Jerusalem many days. I mean, guys like this, you think that, you know, they know what right is, they know what's best for the kingdom.

Maybe they have a few drinks or something, and all of a sudden now, they're saying things they should never say, and they're saying it to other people, and then it's stirring up trouble, and then when they're sober even, it starts flaring up more and more until finally, there's the attempt to do something wrong. And this is the human nature that Solomon was faced with, and so are we, verse 38, Shemaiah said to the king, the saying is good, verse 39. Now it happened at the end of three years that two slaves of Shemaiah ran away to Achish, the son of Maacah, king of Gath, and they told Shemaiah, saying, look, your slaves are in Gath. It kind of, ooh, your servants have gone, what are you going to do now?

I don't think it was that, but kind of make a caricature of it. Even his servants didn't care for him. They'd leave and go to the Philistines, verse 40. So Shemaiah saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves, and Shemaiah went and brought his slaves from Gath, and of course, the spy network knows this and is going to tell Solomon. This Achish here is either the son or the grandson of the king Achish that David was made friends with, when David was going, when he feigned in sanity and he drooled all over, then he came back and he was going to line up with the Philistines against Saul and they chased him away.

So this is where Shemaiah fled to retrieve his servants. He was the kind of guy that Shemaiah just did not respect agreements or rules. An oath was only good to him as long as he wanted it to be good. There are people like this. He just felt he was the exception. He was justified in doing this. They're my slaves. Yeah, but that's not the oath.

That's not the agreement. When you pass that brook, you're going to die, and his yerbuts are going to get him killed. He felt he was justified. If he was justified, he could break the law, push the limits of the law. People like this. They just push the law, and we applaud when finally they get busted. Like, man, I was hoping somebody would do something to that guy.

People like him, pushing the limits always. I had a mentor from my teens to my early 20s, and he used to say contracts exist because of the people's will to fail, and he was right. I mean, that's why you draw up a contract.

Well, we're going to have to hold you to this, and even then, then you just find yourself a good lawyer, right, and he can undo it magically. The Bible is clear in Isaiah 11. When the Lord comes to judge, he's not going to judge like a man. You won't be able to say, we are but. There will be none of that. He'll know everything, and he'll flash it up before you. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess. Some will do it with great joy.

That will be us, and others will do it unto condemnation. Verse 41, and Solomon was told that Shemaiah had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back, and see, there's the spy network. Then the king sent and called for Shemaiah and said to him, and the son again pronounced his name Shemaiah. It's just hard to pronounce all these Hebrew names in these formal ways, and you know what I'm talking about because you're reading it, and he said to him, did I not make you swear by Yahweh and warn you, saying, no for certain, that on the day you go and travel anywhere you shall surely die?

And you said to me, the word I have heard is good. Again, he didn't want this insurgent off the grid for a moment. How does he know that's all he did?

What if he doesn't deal with this? He's going to just do it again. Solomon is justified in what he does. Verse 43, why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the commandment that I gave you? Then the king said to Shemaiah, you know as your heart acknowledges all the wickedness that you did to my father, therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your head.

In other words, we all know you're a creep. You're just the kind of guy that throws rocks at David when he's down, and if it weren't for Abishai, which everybody would have known by now, you'd have been dead a long time ago. David comes back from defeating Absalom. You meet him with a thousand men as if to say, okay, David, I was wrong. Please don't hurt me. I'm on your side now.

You can trust me. And of course, what's David going to do? Just, nope, we're going to kill you. I mean, they just, they were not like that. The wicked kings were. We'll get to some of those as we go through the books of kings, and we're going to get to a lot of them. We're going to get sick of hearing about them. That's going to be happening.

Give us a psalm. You know the saying, rules are meant to be broken. Yeah, well, there are consequences to that. He broke the oath with the wrong person, and he suffered it. And this isn't legalism. This is law. This is a king ruling his kingdom and dealing with insurgents, and it's all correct.

It's all right. But we Christians, we read this, we learn about, you know, what took place, and we have to process it through grace. That doesn't mean give passes and excuses and forgive everybody for what they do no matter what. That's antinomianism.

That is lawlessness. It's learning the balance of the two. And for that, we need discernment, and God has promised to give us discernment, and he gives it to us. Be careful we don't read too much into things. You know, we're sometimes so hungry for a miracle, we just mess it up.

Not a miracle if you've got to push it up the hill. So, like, anyway, verse 45, But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever. So, purges the kingdoms. Verse 46, So the king commanded Benaniah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. And thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. Well, those two runaway slaves are having a good day.

Delighted. The guy was, man, he was terrible. There's nothing, again, Shemaiah is the kind of guy, the only thing admirable remotely about him was when he said, okay, it's a good deal, King, you're right, I'll stay in Jerusalem. That's it. The Bible is loaded with characters that we are relieved to see lead this life. It is just loaded.

They're all over the place. Like, man, I'm glad that guy is gone. I mean, who was sad at Goliath being killed? Like, aw, man, I wanted to see him do some damage.

It's not a video game. Close with this verse. James 3, But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable and gentle. And Solomon is exhibiting this, and next chapter we're going to read about God giving him extra doses of wisdom.

It's a very good chapter, which will later add to the heartbreak that Solomon messes it all up. 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.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 1 Kings has had a lasting imprint on your life. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast, too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just visit crossreferenceradio.com and follow the links under radio. Again, that's crossreferenceradio.com. Our time with you today is about up, but we hope you'll tune in next time to continue studying the word of God. Join us again as Pastor Rick covers more in the book of 1 Kings on Cross-Reference Radio.