Law of Moses — 2 Kings 2:1-35

David knew his time was gone. He held one last audience with his heir, Solomon. The first word of advice was that Solomon should be a better man. David was subtly confessing that he had allowed too many things to slip, failing to take vigorous action to preserve shalom in his kingdom. We will see no lack of men in authority too eager to shed blood for some pretense of justice, but good men will always hesitate. David had hesitated too long and too often.

And the best way to be strong was to faithfully execute the the Covenant of Moses. The resulting blessings would ensure that God’s promise to David would stand, and that his dynasty would remain on the throne. That promise rested on the faithfulness of his successors, so David did all he could to fire Solomon’s own passion for obedience to the Word.

The first bequest was an order to execute David’s cousin Joab. David’s war minister had murdered two men who sought to serve in David’s court. It is rightly described as fighting an unjustified war against allies. There was blood guilt that must be paid to assure peace with God.

David asked Solomon to show special favor to the clan of Barzillai of Gilead, for being a faithful supporter during Absalom’s revolt, when no one else seemed to care. He also declared a warrant against Shimei, but left it to Solomon’s own wisdom how to handle it. Then David died and Solomon was confirmed as king. Further, Solomon took steps to ensure his position was never in doubt.

But Adonijah wasn’t ready to give up on his ambition to usurp the throne. It seems he thought it would be easier to engage in court intrigue by currying the Queen Mother’s favor. While the text says nothing about Bathsheba’s attitude, it certainly seems she already knew how this would turn out. However, she played along because she wanted her son to know what was happening behind the scenes.

So when she came to see him, Solomon set a new precedent. This custom was kept for a long time after: The Queen Mother was placed on a second throne in the royal court. This formally recognized her authority as ruler over the palace and all its internal affairs. Solomon was signaling that she had unquestioned authority in the royal household and domestic matters.

Recall that Abishag was the nurse brought in to serve David until his death. While she remained a virgin, she was properly part of David’s harem. Solomon inherited that harem. His mother was now the manager over that, as well, but she was pretending to play along with Adonijah’s folly in asking Solomon for Abishag’s hand on his behalf.

Solomon’s response is rightfully sarcastic. “Why don’t you save time and request my throne on his behalf?” This was precisely what Adonijah was aiming at, and marrying any woman regarded as a royal concubine to the preceding king was symbolic of claiming the throne. To Solomon it showed that Adonijah was preparing yet more intrigue and politicking, trying to finagle his way onto the throne. And while she was at it, maybe she could request mercy for Joab and Abiathar? Her authority didn’t reach that far.

So Solomon responded with an oath, that he should suffer severely at God’s hand if he didn’t execute divine justice on these men. First, he sent Benaiah, chief of the Royal Bodyguard with a decree to execute Adonijah immediately. For Abiathar, out of respect for his service to God, he was allowed to live, but forcibly retired from the priesthood. The text notes this was the final fulfillment of the curse on Eli, who was High Priest when Samuel entered the Lord’s service, and had embarrassed the Lord by failing to rein in his two sons’ corrupt behavior. A prophet warned Eli that his heirs would die early and be replaced by another priestly dynasty. Deposing Abiathar removed him from the curse.

Side note: There is some dispute about whether Abiathar was High Priest. Since there was no Temple, only a tabernacle pitched over the Ark in the courtyard of David’s citadel, it’s doubtful anyone actually claimed that office during the interim between the Tabernacle in Shiloh and Solomon’s Temple. He’s not mentioned as such in the text. However, Abiathar would have been the High Priest if there was one. Upon his forced retirement, with no male heirs, the role passed to Zadok, whose family never failed to produce a valid heir to the High Priesthood until the Temple was destroyed by Rome.

The case of Joab was not so simple. As soon as Joab heard what happened to his other co-conspirators, he ran to the tabernacle at the citadel and held onto the horns on the altar. After some back and forth, Solomon declared that he could die there at the altar, since his blood was demanded by God Himself.

Benaiah was promoted to commander of the army and Zadok was promoted to the senior priesthood position.