1 KINGS 1-3 SOLOMON BEGINS TO REIGN2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Kings 1-3 Solomon Begins To Reign

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Here again in 2 Samuel chapter 21, we'll be going through 1 Kings chapter 3, which was our reading today.

And as we look at the book of 2 Samuel, we're looking at a book that, well, we don't exactly know the author because it was a compilation of several authors recording the historical events over a large period of time. In fact, the time period is from about 1010 B.C. to 970 B.C., looking at, focusing on the reign of David.

And we've been watching David ascend to the throne. We've been watching his reign and some of the highlights and even the low points of his reign. Now this evening, we're going to be concluding the reign of David and moving on to his son Solomon.

The way that looks on the timeline, here you have it. It's there. It's after the time of Judges, then the time of the kingdom began. And it began with King Saul. Now David. We're finishing up David. And like I said, we're heading into the reign of Solomon. As far as the geography, as we're looking at this, King Saul, his reign,

These borders are there here on the left-hand side, and you can see the land that he had in the land of Israel. It was significantly less than God had given to the tribes of Israel, but there was enemies around them, and they were not obedient to God, and so they lost much territory, even though they had conquered it under Joshua's leadership.

Well, under King David, we've seen that kingdom expand and it even extends beyond what we're seeing on the map here. We'll get to see that under the reign of Solomon in a few chapters. But he defeats many of the enemies that are around Israel. It expands the borders and takes back the land that God had given to the nation of Israel.

Well, that brings us to 2 Samuel chapter 21 this evening. Verse 3 is the key verse. It says, Therefore David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement that you may bless the inheritance of the Lord?

Here in verses 1 through 9, we have David making atonement for Saul's sins against the Gibeonites. And the way that this takes place, we see right in the beginning of the chapter, there's a famine in the land. And the famine is, well, it's three years into it when David recognizes this is not something normal. This is something that God wants to get our attention. And so he inquires of the Lord and God explains,

King Saul, David's predecessor, had attacked the Gibeonites and put them to death when

Well, it was breaking a covenant that they had made. Now, as we look at David inquiring of the Lord regarding this famine, first of all, we see a really great example for us. As, you know, things are drying up, as things are getting difficult, David recognizes he needs to go to the Lord and ask for some insight regarding the situation. Now, what God declares is there was an incident regarding Saul attacking the Gibeonites.

The Gibeonites, if you remember back to Joshua chapter 9, they were a people who were in the land that God had given to Israel. And God had told the people of Israel, don't make any covenants with the people in the land. That you're to drive them out completely. But

But the Gibeonites were pretty clever. And so they came to Joshua with moldy bread, with worn out clothes and sandals and said, oh man, when we left, this bread was fresh. And our clothes were brand new. Our shoes were brand new. And now look, it's all worn out. And our bread is old and moldy. And we come from such a long distance. But really, they were just around the block.

And so they tricked Joshua and they said, hey, let's make a covenant with us, Leo. Let's agree that we won't harm one another. We've heard about, you know, the great God that you serve. And so Joshua doesn't inquire of the Lord and he just makes the covenant with the people that they would not bring harm to them.

Well, they find out, of course, just after that, that the Gibeonites are right there in the land right next to them. And yet they hold to that vow, they hold to that covenant, and they do not drive them out because they had made that promise to them. Now what we're reading about here in 2 Samuel chapter 21, this is 400 years later.

But God is declaring here that covenant that Joshua made, it still stands and it's still binding. And because Saul violated that by attacking and killing the Gibeonites, well, that's the reason that God has allowed this famine to happen.

And so God is holding the nation of Israel to that covenant that Joshua made 400 years earlier. I really liked what David Guzik had to say about this. He said,

So 400 years later, God's holding them to the covenant. If God has that high of a standard, then we can be confident. His covenants with us, his promises to us, he will be faithful to them. He is faithful to fulfill his promises. And so as a result of this covenant being broken by Israel, this famine has come upon the land.

We need to recognize and understand that sometimes famine, drought, weariness, you know, difficulty in our lives is because God wants to bring correction or perhaps because he wants us to make something right, to bring forth retribution. Now it is a mistake to then jump to the conclusion that all famine or all difficulty, all trials and hurt and heartache must result from sin.

That's, you can't jump to that conclusion. That's not what the Bible teaches. It's not what God is declaring here. So it's a mistake to think that all difficulty is the result of, you know, some sin and God's trying to judge you for it. Instead,

Sometimes it is, but sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's just the result of sin existing in the world. It's not that God's trying to pay you back for something or because there's some personal sin in your life, but just because we live in this world that is affected by sin.

So it's a mistake to then declare that all famine must result from sin. But it's also a mistake to not ask God if the famine that you experience is about something that he wants from you. Maybe he wants to get your attention like here with David. It was the third year and David realizes there's something more going on here. God, what is it? What is it that you are wanting to speak to us?

And as we encounter famine, as we encounter difficulty and hardship in our lives, this is a great example for us. We need to inquire of the Lord and say, God, here's the situation that I'm in. Is there something that you want to speak to me through this? And is that what you want to accomplish through this difficulty?

Well, David finds out about the issue. God gives him the instruction. And so he meets with the Gibeonites. He says, what will satisfy you? What will allow you to bless the nation of Israel once again? And they declare, you know, we're not going to try to take a person for a person and wipe out as many people. Just give us seven men of Saul's family and we'll put those to death. And then it'll be paid for. It'll be satisfied.

And so David agrees. They hang seven of Saul's family and the debt is paid. In verses 10 through 14, now you have David burying Saul and Jonathan's bones along with those seven from Saul's family that were killed. And so they're buried in Zila. And then in verses 15 through 22, there's some more battles that take place. We've seen a lot of battles under David's reign, but David's

they're continuing on and so verses 15 through 22 record specifically the giants that were defeated in the midst of those battles against the philistines and so there was four philistine giants ishbi benob and saf and then another two people who are not named it's goliath's brother and then a man with six fingers and six toes and so those giants are defeated by david's army

Here we have the Gibeonites and Gibeon is there located on the map. It's pretty close to Jerusalem. And again, this is where Joshua came to and realized, hey, you guys aren't from far away like you said. You guys are just right here in our midst. And so they recognized that they were their neighbors. And so it was those people there in Gibeon that were needing retribution. Well, as we go on now into chapter 22, verse 1 is the key verse.

It says,

Here in verses 1 through 51, we have this song that is recorded by David. Now, this song is virtually identical to Psalm chapter 18. And so it's probably the same song and perhaps it's included here because maybe it was one of David's favorite songs. We're not exactly sure. It doesn't declare to us why this particular psalm is recorded here.

But it's David's song of deliverance. And how he's crying out to God for deliverance. And rejoicing as God has brought that deliverance to him. Through the different things that he's experienced in his life. And the different enemies that have come against him. It began with Saul.

You might remember Saul antagonized David greatly and he pursued him and sought to kill him many times. But there was many other enemies that also came against David and God delivered him and so he's rejoicing in this song. David was a musician. He was as a young boy out in the fields watching the sheep and writing songs of praise and worship to God.

We have, of course, in our Bibles, the book of Psalms, which has 150 chapters or 150 songs. 73 of those are directly declared to be written by David. And so, at least...

or just about half of the book of Psalms is written by David. He was constantly writing songs, constantly worshiping and praising God. And so this is a sample of one of those songs, perhaps maybe his favorite song or the song that he was holding on to as he drew near to the end of his life. And we'll see his life drawing to an end in the next couple of chapters. Well, that brings us to chapter 23.

Verse 1 is the key verse. It says, Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David, the son of Jesse. Thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel.

So here in verses 1 through 7, we have the last words of David. Now, there's some discussion about whether or not this is the last words, like what he uttered on his deathbed, or more likely, this is kind of his last psalm, or the last song that he put together together.

And this was his kind of final psalm here recorded in verses 1 through 7. And so this psalm with his last words, he's recognizing God and the importance of God. He says in verse 2, the spirit of the Lord spoke by me and his word was on my tongue. And so David here is declaring that these things that he writes are not just his own writings, but the Holy Spirit spoke through him.

And that, of course, is consistent with what the Bible teaches, that the Holy Spirit...

and spoke through these men of God to record for us the scriptures that we have today. And so we have, you know, Paul declaring that all scripture is God breathed. It was breathed through from the Lord by the Holy Spirit through these men of God. Peter tells us that holy men of God were carried along by the Holy Spirit to bring forth words of prophecy and record for us the scriptures. And so we have, you know,

And so we could go looking at that on and on. But David here is declaring it's the Holy Spirit who spoke by him. And we definitely see great words from David that are, it's clear he was anointed by and led by the Holy Spirit. We also see incredible prophecies. Psalm chapter 22 is one of those examples where you get to see the graphic description of crucifixion and Jesus dying on the cross and

Hundreds of years before crucifixion was ever invented. And Psalm 22 written by David was clearly spoken forth by the Holy Spirit through David. And so we can definitely agree and testify the Spirit of the Lord spoke by David. Well then in verses 8 through 39 you have the recording there, the listing of David's mighty men.

These are men who stood by David throughout his years. We know that some of them, probably many of them, were with David when he was out in the wilderness fleeing for his life from Saul. When they were joined together,

When he was at the cave of Adullam and the 400, you know, remember the disgruntled, the discontent, the people in debt, when they came to David, from that there arose these mighty men, these men who accomplished great things in battle. And as David was a man of war and involved in many battles, he had these men around him who stood by him, who, you know, followed him, who defended all

who fought valiantly against giants and accomplished all kinds of great things. And so these are the mighty men of David and some great examples there of courage and bravery and faithfulness to David and to the Lord in chapter 23. Well, that brings us now to chapter 24.

Verse 1 is the key verse. It says, Here in chapter 24, we have the census of David.

Here, David issues the command in verses 1 through 9. He tells Joab, go number the people. Find out how many soldiers we have in the land of Israel.

This command we'll see here in this passage is, well, it's troubling to the nation. It's troubling to Joab and it is troubling to God because this command ends up resulting in judgment. It was sinful, this command that David gives to Joab to number the people of Israel. Now, whenever you get to chapter 24 of 2 Samuel, there's always the difficulty, well,

Who inspired David? Whose idea was it to number the people? Because here it seems to indicate that God numbered, or God was doing it. In verse 1 of 24, it says, The anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go number Israel and Judah.

And so sometimes that can be a little bit of a difficulty. How could God tell David and move David to do something that is wrong, something that he should not have done?

We need to also take into account though the rest of the scriptures because this same account is recorded for us in 1 Chronicles. And in 1 Chronicles chapter 21 it tells us that Satan moved David to number Israel. And so you have one here saying that God moved David to number Israel and then 1 Chronicles 21 tells us that Satan moved David to number Israel. So

These seem to be contradictory. Which one is it? Did Satan move David or did God move David? Well, here's the way that I understand it. And you can, you know, argue with me about it later if you want, or you can talk to George. He knows how it really happened. But the way I understand it is, it says here that the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

Israel was, throughout its history, needing correction. They were turning away from God and God would bring correction. They would turn back to God. And that was a constant pattern. We got to see it throughout the book of Judges. We'll see it throughout the Kings as well.

And so the indication here is that there was a need for Israel to experience judgment. That there was rebellion, that there was sin, that there were things going on that God needed to bring correction to the nation. And so in order to accomplish this correction, I would suggest that God stepped back. He removed his protection and allowed the enemy, Satan, to come.

and tempt David or lead David to number the people so that then the judgment could come and that Israel could experience the judgment that was necessary. And so Satan tempted David who responded by numbering the people and then God brought forth the judgment upon the nation that was necessary for their rebellion and their turning against God.

Now, this can be a little bit difficult for us to comprehend though. But what you need to remember is that God knows everything. And God is holy and just. And he does not do things that are unfair. And so when we encounter something that seems like, well, that's not really fair. That's not really right. We need to take a moment and remember that.

That God is infinite. He is holy. He is far above us. And when we can't understand it, we have to default to believing him at his word. He knows everything and we really do not know what that is like. We really have no clue what it's like to know everything. But he does. He knows everything. Past, present and future. He has everything.

Well, he's on the throne. He has all power, all authority, all might. And so he is able to accomplish things even through Satan, even through the enemy, even through difficulty. He is able to accomplish his purposes. And so...

As we look at this, we kind of maybe wrestle with the wording a little bit. But the bottom line, we sit back and we remember God's on the throne. And he's allowing these things to take place to accomplish his purposes. And so David goes forth and numbers the people. Now, in Exodus chapter 30, it tells us in verse 12...

The instruction is when you take a census of the people, that you're to give a ransom, that you're to give basically a small donation or payment to the Lord so that a plague does not come upon the people. That God is making it very clear, you're not just allowed to go and do a census whenever you feel like it.

That you're only to do a census when God instructs you to do a census. Because God's declaration from the very beginning was that Israel was God's people. Israel was not David's people. They weren't really his to number. He didn't have the authority to do that.

It was only God. And so in obeying God, if God had commanded a census, well that would be a different story. But to take it upon himself to say, alright, how many soldiers do I have, is indicating an issue in David's heart. And this is very clear in verse 10 when it says, And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. And so,

David recognized and realized my heart was wrong. What I did was wrong. And so he is convicted now as he recognizes, he confesses. It says, David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of your servant for I have done very foolishly. And so he says, Lord, I realize what I did. I'm sorry. Please forgive me.

And of course, God does forgive. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. But it's interesting and it's important to remember that forgiveness does not remove all consequences. We're going to see some consequences as a result of this sin. Forgiveness is about access. When God forgives you, it means that you have access to God once again.

And so because we believe in Jesus Christ, as we confess our sin and he's faithful and just to forgive us, we have full access to God. Even if you've just blown it, even if you've just rebelled against God, God gives you access to himself by faith in Jesus Christ because of what he accomplished for us. Forgiveness is about access.

But that does not mean that we don't experience any consequences or repercussions for sin. So you can sin against God and then you can repent, you can confess it, and you have access to God. But that doesn't mean that you won't have any results from that sin. You still might have to go to jail if what you did was illegal. You still might

Have some serious loss. There still might be some great, great consequences to sin. But you still have God through the midst of that. You can still have access to him and have the relationship with him because forgiveness is about access. And so David here is forgiven, but here's the consequences. In verse 10 through 14, the prophet Gad is sent to David and he tells David to choose which judgment he will receive.

My parents never did this, but growing up I had some friends and their parents would make them choose their own punishment. It was kind of like the worst thing ever because, you know, it's like if they choose too little, then they know that they'll get in more trouble. And so the only way to play it safe was to choose something that was a little bit more serious or severe because then your parents wouldn't get you in more trouble. And so, you know, then the kids are wrestling with, well, what punishment do I deserve? Well, here's David now. He has to choose his judgment.

The choices are seven years of famine or flee from your enemies for three months or to experience a plague for three days. And I love David's choice because the way he chooses, he doesn't actually indicate which one. He says, I want to be in the hands of the Lord. I don't want to be in the hands of my enemies. I don't want to be, you know, in somebody else's hands. God is gracious and merciful.

And so I'm going to let myself fall into the hands of the Lord. And so that was David choosing the plague for three days. And we have there the plague that comes upon Israel then in verses 15 through 17. And as a result of this plague, 70,000 people of Israel, it says from Dan to Beersheba, that's from the far north to the far south, 70,000 people are killed or die during this plague.

Now, that might seem quite harsh. Again, 70,000 people, that's not a small number of people to die as a result of this sin. But I would take you back to verse 1 where it says, The anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. That this was appropriate, in other words. That this was exactly what was necessary. And I would remind you today that God's judgments are always exact measurements.

You can look at this. You can see this in verse 16. Check it out. It says, And when the angel stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction and said to the angel who is destroying the people, It is enough. Now restrain your hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite.

So the angel of the Lord is carrying out this judgment, carrying out this plague. And he's now at Jerusalem. And his sword is out. He's ready to strike. But God withholds him. And he says, it is enough. Restrain your hand. Restrain your hand.

We see, this is not the only example, we see it all throughout the scriptures, that God brings just enough judgment to accomplish what he's seeking to accomplish. If he's seeking to bring someone to repentance, he brings just enough. He doesn't bring extra judgment. He doesn't get a kick out of it. He's not, you know, looking for excuses to judge people.

But when it's necessary, he'll bring judgment. And he'll bring just enough. Just the exact amount. God always uses exact measurements when he brings forth judgment. And so this plague is brought forth with an exact measurement. He stops there in Jerusalem at the site of, well, Arunah, the Jebusite. He's threshing wheat there on his land.

And there's the angel of the Lord. And I love, it doesn't record it here in Samuel. It records it in Chronicles though. We'll see it in a few weeks or a few months. It says that he's there threshing wheat. And there's the angel of the Lord. And his sons flee. And he sees the angel of the Lord. And he just keeps on threshing wheat. You know, this is a cool guy, Arunah the Jebusite. And so he's there threshing wheat. The angel's there threshing.

God withholds him. He says, restrain your hand. And then God tells Gad the prophet, go tell David, sacrifice there, make an offering there, and then that will be it. It will be over. And so David goes to him in verse 18 through 25.

He purchases from Arunah the land and his equipment there. He makes an altar and he makes a sacrifice to the Lord and it is taken care of at that point.

Verse 24 here in chapter 24 is a real famous verse because David says to Arunah, when Arunah says, hey, I just want to give you, I'll give you the property, I'll give you everything that you need. And David says there in verse 24, no, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing. And we see there the principle that worship of God is

sacrificial, that it costs something. And if we're going to worship God, it's going to be costly. It's going to cost us, whether that be time, sweat, energy, finances, whatever it might be, it's going to cost us. As we commit to walk with God, to worship Him and serve Him, it's going to be costly.

Well, here we have an illustration that gives you the growth of Jerusalem. On the top there, you see it says Zion and there's these walls. That's Jerusalem when David takes it. When David, you know, sets up camp there and begins to reign from Jerusalem. It was much smaller than Jerusalem was later on in Israel's history.

In the time of Solomon, Jerusalem is expanded. And so you can see it continues on up there to include Mount Moriah.

Now Mount Moriah is where this all takes place here in chapter 24. Where Arunah the Jebusite is there threshing wheat. It's on Mount Moriah. And so David goes up to Mount Moriah. And there he offers the sacrifice. And the angel of the Lord is stopped from continuing the plague. And so Mount Moriah now will become the site where the temple will be built.

And so we'll see in the chapters this week as Solomon begins to reign and build the temple, it's all being built on Mount Moriah, the same location where David offered this sacrifice to the Lord. What's amazing about that is if you rewind back to Genesis chapter 22...

This is the same mountain, Mount Moriah, where Abraham was about to offer his son Isaac to the Lord. Remember, the Lord held him back and said, no, don't do it. Here's a ram instead. And we have that famous word from Abraham that God will provide himself as the lamb.

which of course is fulfilled in Jesus. Well, that example there of a father sacrificing his son on Mount Moriah with Abraham in Genesis 22, of course is fulfilled later on when Jesus, the son, is sacrificed on our behalf. Again, it's all happening here on Mount Moriah. And so Jerusalem now is expanded to include Mount Moriah

And I really enjoyed what Warren Wiersbe had to say regarding this. He says, it's amazing grace. Solomon built the temple on the property that David purchased for his altar. Solomon was the son of Bathsheba. What an amazing grace that God could take David's two great sins and build a temple out of them.

You remember David's sin with Bathsheba and the great sin that was there. But then resulting from that, the second son, the first son that was resulting from their adulterous affair, that son died. But to comfort Bathsheba, God brings forth another son named Solomon who is going to now reign and build the temple. And so...

David's great sin with Bathsheba brought forth Solomon, who's going to build the temple. And now his sin in numbering the people brings him to this location here, Mount Moriah, where the temple will be built. And so through these two notorious sins of David...

God is going to bring forth the temple and bring people back to worship. And once again we see those things which Satan means for evil, God can accomplish great things through the midst of it by demonstrating incredible grace and mercy towards us. Well that concludes 2 Samuel and now we move into 1 Kings.

1 Kings, like Samuel, we don't know the exact author because it's a compilation of different records. And many believe that Jewish tradition says that Jeremiah is the one who wrote these things and put it all together in one volume. We don't know that for sure, but we do have this as the historical record. It covers the time period from about 972 B.C. to 863 B.C., and we'll look a little bit more about what that means.

And the theme or what we're looking at in 1 Kings is the kings of Israel and Judah. We'll see, not this week, the following week, that Israel will now be divided into two nations. After Solomon, the kingdom is going to be split up. And so we're going to begin to follow now both the northern kingdom called Israel and the southern kingdom called Judah.

Now as we look at these historical books, as we go through them, I know it can be a little bit confusing of what books contain what things and there's some repetition and how does that work. Here's a quick look at the kingdom books to help you understand.

1st and 2nd Samuel are consecutive. 2nd Samuel begins where 1st Samuel left off. And that continues on to 1st Kings. So 1st Kings continues where 2nd Samuel left off. It's all consecutive history that's being recorded all the way to the end of 2nd Kings. So 1st Samuel through 2nd Kings is just one long chronology, one long history of the kingdom of Israel.

1st and 2nd Chronicles, which we'll get to, it's just a couple books away now, they go back and overlap and cover some of the same history that we're reading through in 2nd Samuel, 1st Kings, and 2nd Kings. So 2nd Samuel and 1st Chronicles cover roughly the same time period. And so as we look at 1st Chronicles, we'll be reviewing what we just finished reading in 2nd Samuel.

And then 2 Chronicles covers the same time period of both 1 and 2 Kings. And so it can be a little bit confusing, but this is why. It's one continuous timeline, and then 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles go back and cover that same time period from a slightly different perspective. So in 1 and 2 Samuel, we see these notable people, Eli, Samuel, Saul, and David.

We've seen them. We conclude that now as we head into 1st and 2nd Kings. We're going to be looking at Solomon. We're going to see the kingdom divided. And then we're going to see the history of the nation of Israel until the end. Until both the northern and the southern kingdoms are conquered by foreign lands.

Now what's interesting about 1st and 2nd Kings is they keep a record of both the kings of the northern kingdom and the kings of the southern kingdom. And so we'll see the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 1st and 2nd Chronicles, however, covers the same time period.

You get to see the kingdom divided. It goes all the way to the end when the kingdom is conquered, but it's only following the line of Judah. And so it's just focusing on the southern kingdom and those kings. It's not keeping a record of both nations.

And so we're going to get a little bit into that in the next couple of weeks where we'll see the jumping back and forth from northern to southern, northern to southern. King Jehoshaphat, King Asa, you know, one's one place, one's the other place. We're going to get to see that and sort through that. And then we'll come back through 1 Chronicles and just focus on the kings of Judah.

Well, what that looks like on the timeline here, we're again advancing through the chronology. So we're picking up where we left off, beginning with the reign of Solomon.

Continuing on, you see the kingdom divided there is the red line from top to bottom. And so then it'll be broken apart in two and will follow the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah and the kings that reigned during that time. And so first and second kings, or first kings rather, will cover that time period. And then second kings will take us all the way to the end when Babylon conquers the nation of Judah.

Our geography changes a little bit in 1 Kings. Here we have the kingdom of Solomon on the left. Now on the right here you have the divided kingdom. So that's what we're coming towards. That's going to happen this next week.

We'll see that in chapter 11 or 12. But here is zoomed in. There the divided kingdom is zoomed in. You can see the salt sea, the dead sea at the bottom there. On the left hand side it's a lot smaller. And so Solomon's kingdom was flourishing.

And a lot of this was due to what David did in his battles and how he expanded the borders of the nation of Israel. And then Solomon inherited all of what David did and maintained the peace throughout his reign. But afterwards, then when the kingdom is divided, they lose a lot of territory because a lot of this is their territory by tribute.

In other words, there were other people. It wasn't just the nation of Israel, like in that northern area there where you see Hamath and Tadmor and Tifsa. You know, there's other nations there, other peoples there. But they were conquered and they were paying tribute to Solomon throughout his reign.

But when Solomon dies and now the kingdom is divided, the people in the north and the people around Israel realize, hey, you're not strong enough to reign over us anymore. And so they take back their freedom. And so the borders are shrunk once again to what we see here in the divided kingdom. And so we're going to get to see that unfold in the next few chapters as we continue reading over the next couple of weeks. Well, that brings us to 1 Kings chapter 1.

Verse 39 is the key verse. It says, Here in 1 Kings chapter 1, we have a lot of things happening. First of all, in verses 1 through 4,

We have a woman named Abishag who now is brought in to care for David. David at this point is about 70 years old. He's weak. He's frail. And so essentially what they prescribe is a full-time nurse for him. And so this nurse Abishag now cares for David. She's his full-time nurse and cares for him so that he is able to continue on.

Then in verses 5 through 10, we have Adonijah exalting himself. Adonijah is the fourth son of David. We'll talk about that in just a moment. And he decides, you know what? I'm going to take on the kingdom. I'm going to set myself up as king. And so he says...

Well, he appoints for himself chariots and men to run before him. And, you know, much like we saw Absalom do last week. And he announces himself to be king. He includes Joab, the commander of the army, and Abiathar, the priest. And they join with him to proclaim him to be king.

Then in verses 11 through 27, Bathsheba, David's wife, and Nathan the prophet bring this matter before David and say, hey, did you know, David, is this what you wanted? That Adonijah has set himself up as king?

And of course David says no. God has already declared Solomon is to be king. And so verses 28 through 40, Solomon now is made king and he is pronounced to be the one who reigns in the nation of Israel.

In verses 41 through 53, we have the account of Solomon sparing Adonijah. As Solomon is announced king and Adonijah hears about it, he realizes, oh no, I'm in trouble. One of the customs of that day, if you were ascending to the throne, you would wipe out all people who might have some reasonable claim to the throne.

And so, you know, if you ascended to the throne, it would be common to kill everybody else who might also be able to claim the throne. This wasn't something that God instructed, but it was the practice that people were engaging in. And so Adonijah realizes, well, I tried already to exalt myself as king, but now Solomon is king. Surely he's going to put me to death. And so he begs for mercy. He cries out for mercy.

And Solomon spares him and gives him mercy for this time. Now God had declared already that Solomon was to reign, that he was to be king before Solomon was even born. And we'll see that when we get to 1 Chronicles chapter 22 verses 9 and 10. God tells David ahead of time, you're going to have a son. He's going to be named Solomon. And that's the one who's going to reign and build the house of the Lord.

But in the meantime, Adonijah tries to exalt himself. So here's a list of David's sons. Now, primarily, we're just concerned about the first few. Amnon, his firstborn, was killed, remember, because he raped his sister, who is the sister of Absalom. And so Absalom killed Amnon. We saw that back in 2 Samuel.

Chile, we don't know anything about. He's never mentioned, but he's kind of left out of the picture. And then Absalom, the third born. So if you're following the order, the first born would normally take the throne. But if the first born is dead, then it would be the second born. The second born is not included. We don't know why. Perhaps he's already dead. But now Absalom then tries to take the throne.

But he's killed in battle because he doesn't take the throne the way that God desires. He usurps and steals away the throne. And of course Joab kills him. We saw that last week. So then the next in line would be Adonijah because he's the fourth born. It would be the normal practice for him to receive the throne.

But God overrides this again even before Solomon is born and says Solomon is going to be the one who will reign. And so the kingdom is now passed on to Solomon. All right here we have 1 Kings chapter 2. The key verse is verse 46. It says, So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and he went out and struck him down and he died. Thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Here in verses 1 through 9, we have David charging Solomon. He's giving him kind of that pep talk before taking the throne. All right, Solomon, here's what you got to do. Be a man. Walk in God's ways. Here's these people. You know what to do with them. Take care of them. He's giving him some instructions to get him started as king.

I really like verse 3 here as David is speaking to Solomon. He says, And so here David says, keep the word of God and there's a blessing that's promised here.

Now it's interesting how we got to see that on Sunday as we looked at Jesus and he announced that the most blessed life is

is given to those who hear the word of God and then put it into practice. And so that's essentially the same message that David gives to Solomon. Listen, obey the commandments of God, and God will bless you. And so he charges Solomon to keep the word of God.

Well then verses 10 through 12 we have the death of David. It concludes his 40 year reign. He reigned 7 years in Hebron and then 33 years in Jerusalem for a total of 40 years that he reigned in Israel. Then in verses 13 through 25 we have Adonijah executed. Now Adonijah is executed at this point because he's still scheming and trying to take the throne.

So he tried to announce himself king and be king that way and that didn't work. So now he tries through another attempt and that is through marriage. He says to Bathsheba, oh please, you know, talk to your son and have him let me marry Abishag, this nurse who is taking care of David towards the end of his life.

And so through that, he was trying to build himself the ability again to have a rightful claim to the throne. Because again, marrying the concubine of the king would be another way that people would show that they were the rightful heir, that they were the king to be. And so Solomon recognizes the scheme in this plot. And so when it's brought before him, then he gives the command and Adonijah is executed.

In verses 26 and 27 we have Abiathar removed from being priest.

He had joined with Adonijah in the attempt to crown Adonijah. Again, God had clearly declared already that Solomon was to be king. And so he is going against the word of God and joining with Adonijah. And so he is removed as a result for this rebellion. And so he's sent home to Anathoth where he has some land and he's no longer the priest. Then verse 28 through 35, we have Joab saying,

The commander of the army, he's executed because again, he joined with Adonijah.

in this revolt, in this rebellion to try to make Adonijah king instead of Solomon. And then verse 36 through 46, you have Shimei who's executed. Now Shimei, remember he was the one when David was ran out of Jerusalem by Absalom. Shimei was the one who is cursing him, throwing stones at David, kicking up dust and, you know, making all this fuss and coming against David with all of these curses.

Well, David gives him mercy when he comes back into Jerusalem. And Solomon also gives him mercy. And he says, okay, you did all this evil, but here's the deal. Stay in Jerusalem, kind of like house arrest. Stay here. But if you leave Jerusalem, it's interesting, he gave him a border of the Brook Kidron.

And that was the same place where Shimei had met David and began to curse him. And so he says, look, if you go back to that place, if you cross over that line,

Well, then you are deserving of death. And Shimei agreed. He said, yes, that's right. I'm okay with that. And so he's basically placed on house arrest. He's to dwell and live there in Jerusalem. Well, he violates that. He goes and chases after some servants. And so when he comes back to Jerusalem, then Solomon has him executed.

All right, Adonijah, these got out of order, I apologize. He exalted himself there in En-Rogel, which is just south of Jerusalem. That was in the...

In the chapter we just saw. And then here Abiathar is removed as priest. And so he goes home to Anathoth. He has that land there. It's not far from Jerusalem. Remember the priests and the Levites. They were given land throughout the nation of Jerusalem. And so they would be there. And then they would go to Jerusalem to serve when it was their time. But now he's going to be in Anathoth permanently. Which is where he has land.

shimmy i hear he's in jerusalem he's told to stay there but he goes to gath uh to go fetch his servants and when he comes back then he is executed and so that's what that looks like all right that brings us to chapter three our final chapter for the evening verse nine is the key verse it says therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people

that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this great people of yours? Here in verses 1 through 15, we have a real famous portion of scripture where Solomon asks God for wisdom. God appears to him in Gibeon, where Solomon is at, and he says, tell me what you want. Whatever you ask for, I'll give it to you. And so Solomon says this,

I need understanding. I need wisdom. I've got a big job and I'm just a kid is essentially what he says.

And so he asked God for wisdom and God answers that request and he gives him wisdom so that there is none like him before him and none like him after him because of the wisdom that he has. And as a sample of that in verses 16 through 28, we have a sample of his wise judgment as these two women come before Solomon. They both had a son, a

like right around the same time. But they woke up one morning and one son was dead. And so now they're fighting over which one was which, whose son was the one that was living and whose son was the one that was dead. And so Solomon, of course, you know, he gives the command to bring the sword and cut it in two and give half to each mom. And the mom that cries out and says, no, no, no, go ahead, give him to her. Don't kill him.

Then Solomon says, that's his mom. That's the one who really cares. The other woman, you could tell she's a little bit bitter. She's like, yeah, that's right. Kill him. You know, we'll both be childless. And so it was clear that it was not her son. So that's given as a sample of some of the wisdom that Solomon has. Of course, we have the whole book of Proverbs as well to give us more samples of the wisdom that Solomon has. Now, all of this took place.

as far as his request anyways, for wisdom at Gibeon. And Gibeon was the same place we just talked about a little bit ago with the Gibeonites. It was there in Gibeon where the tabernacle was set up. Remember the children of Israel had the tabernacle that they carried with them all throughout the wilderness and then into the promised land, into the nation of Israel.

The tabernacle was where God met with his people there in the Ark of the Covenant and everything was there. Well, the Ark of the Covenant itself had been removed from the tabernacle and David had brought it to Jerusalem. But the rest of the tabernacle, including the altar, was there in Gibeon. And so Solomon is there saying,

Because that's where the tabernacle is. That's where the altar is. And so he's offering sacrifices to God there in Gibeon. Now that's going to be moved to Jerusalem as Solomon builds the temple. And that's where it's going to be the center of worship. But in the meantime, it was appropriate for Solomon to go to Gibeon because that's where the tabernacle was. And so God appears to him, gives him the choice, and he chooses, well, he chooses wisdom.

Now as we wrap up this evening, our time together, I would ask you a question I'm sure you've asked yourself. What would you choose? If God came to you tonight and he said, what do you want? I'll give it to you. What would you choose? We might choose a variety of things, right? I mean, what's the limit and the extent of your imagination? Again, it's something we need to consider because...

It's really not a hypothetical question. You really do get to choose. In our case, of course, it's not that we can say, okay, God, you know, give me all the money in the world. And, you know, God could do that. I doubt that he's going to. I doubt that's his, you know, plan or purpose for you.

But as Solomon had the choice and he chose wisdom, the question for you is, will you choose wisdom? And it's not a hypothetical question as if, you know, if God gave you the choice, you know, would you choose wisdom? God is giving you the choice. The question is, do you choose wisdom or foolishness? You have a choice to be wise or not.

It's not something where you were born with a great brain and so you're so intelligent and you just can't help it. Wisdom is from God. And the amount of wisdom you have, well, it's your choice. You get to choose whether you are wise or not. Did you know that? You get to choose. How do you choose? Well, there's a couple ways. First of all, Proverbs 9, verse 10 says,

Tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you want to be wise, here's where to start. Here's the starting line. Fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. Honor Him. The Proverbs also tell us that the fear of the Lord is to hate evil.

So to begin the path of wisdom, to begin to be wise, what you need to do first is to turn from sin, to hate evil, to depart from iniquity. And that's all throughout the Proverbs. We'll get to see that. Turning from sin is the beginning of wisdom. But then we also see in Psalm 119.99,

The psalmist says, I have more understanding than all my teachers for your testimonies are my meditation. Solomon asked for wisdom. The psalmist says, I have wisdom. I have understanding more even than my teachers because I meditate on your testimonies.

The choice of whether or not you will be wise begins with, will you turn from sin? Will you repent from sin? Will you stop practicing sin? Will you fear the Lord? But then it continues with, will you spend time with God in His Word? And your wisdom is directly proportional to the amount of time that you spend with God in His Word.

This is a choice that you have. And it's not a one-time choice. We'll see at the end of Solomon's reign, he turns away from God. He's the wisest man in the world, but he becomes a fool. Because although he chose wisdom here in chapter 3, he quits choosing wisdom later on in his life. And there is a need, there's a necessity for you, not just to choose wisdom at one point,

or even tonight, but to keep on choosing wisdom. It's kind of like, you know, if you were going to set sail and you're headed towards the destination. And so you're all happy because you're going to get there. You know, you set sail, you leave the dock. But in order to get there, you have to keep on deciding to go there. You can't just leave the dock and then just let it happen however it happens.

Or let's say you're going to go to Disneyland tomorrow. So you get in the car and you get on the road. You got to keep going in that direction. You got to keep steering. You got to keep pressing the pedal. You got to make your car get there. It's a constant choice. It's a decision the whole way. You can't just recline your chair and say, wake me up when we get there. Not if you're the one driving. You have to constantly make that choice. Now you can be all happy. We leave the house. We're going to Disneyland. Yay! Yay!

But you're not going to get there if you don't keep making that choice. That's the same as wisdom. You can make that choice today and you can say, alright, this is going to be amazing. God's going to do such a great work. I'm turning from sin. I'm going to walk with Him. I'm going to spend time in His Word. I'm going to have wisdom. But that destination is arrived at as you continue to make that choice. And so I want to encourage you and challenge you today.

To choose wisdom. If you're practicing sin, you're a fool. You're a fool. Don't be a fool. Fear the Lord. Depart from iniquity. Repent of sin. If you're not spending time in the Word of God, if you're not spending time with God in His Word, reading devotionally, reading through the Scriptures, you're not choosing to continue on in wisdom.

And it's like you're out at sea and you're just kind of coasting. You're just going wherever the wind and the waters take you. That's foolish. You need to choose daily, constantly. Keep on choosing wisdom. Fear the Lord and read His Word. And then, what Jesus said, what we studied on Sunday, you will experience the most blessed life. The best life you could ever imagine. The best life that God has planned for you.

you will experience as you turn from sin, read the word, and then of course put it into practice. Let's pray. God, I pray for each heart here. I pray that you would help us to choose wisdom, to choose wisely. Lord, that it would not just be relying upon a decision we made many years ago or at one point sometime in the past. But Lord, we'd realize the need to continue to choose to not live in sin.

to turn from those things, to repent of them, and confess them. And you forgive us and give us full access to you. And God, may we take advantage of that and spend time with you in your word. Lord, that you would impart to us wisdom through your word and by your spirit. I pray, God, that you would help us to keep on choosing and to not live foolishly. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.