2 Samuel 20:23-26, 1 Kings 1-2:9, 2 Samuel 23:1-7, 1 Kings 2:10-3:28

Joab was commander of the army of Israel, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada was commander of the Kerethites and Pelethites. Adoram was in charge of forced labor, Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahilud, was recorder, and Sheva was scribe; Zadok and Abiathar were priests, and Ira the Jairite was also a priest to David.

*

King David was old and covered with blankets, but he could not get warm. His courtiers said to him, "Let us find a young girl for you, my lord and king, to keep you company and care for you. Let her sleep in your arms, and you will be warm again."

They searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl, and they chose Abishag from the city of Shunem. They brought her to the king. She was truly beautiful. She cared for the king and served him, but the king did not have relations with her.

*

Meanwhile, Adonijah, a son of David and Haggith, set his sights on becoming king. He acquired chariots and horses and hired an escort of fifty men. His father never bothered him with questions about his activities. He was next in line after his half-brother Absalom and, like him, was very handsome. He secured the support of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, and the priest Abiathar, but the priest Zadok, Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and the prophet Nathan did not support Adonijah, nor did Shimei, Rei, and David's heroes.

Adonijah held a sacrifice near the Stone of the Serpent, at the Spring of Rogel, where he slaughtered fattened sheep, goats, and cattle. He invited all his brothers, the king's sons, and all the men of Judah who were serving the king. But he did not invite the prophet Nathan, Benaiah, David's mighty men, or his brother Solomon.

Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, "Have you heard? Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has proclaimed himself king without our lord David's knowledge. Let me give you some advice: save your life and that of your son Solomon! Go to King David and say to him, 'Did you not swear to me, my lord and king, that my son Solomon would be king after you and sit on your throne? Why then has Adonijah become king?' While you are talking to the king, I will come in and support your words.'

Bathsheba entered the room where the old king was being cared for by Abishag of Shunem. She knelt before the king and bowed low, and he asked her what she wanted.

"My lord," she replied, "you swore to me by the LORD your God, 'Your son Solomon shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne.' But now, without your knowledge, Adonijah has been proclaimed king. He has held a sacrificial feast and slaughtered a bull and many fattened sheep and goats. He has invited all the king's sons, as well as the priest Abiathar and the commander Joab, but not your servant Solomon. Now, my lord and king, the eyes of all Israel are on you. They want to hear from you who will sit on your throne after you. Otherwise, my son Solomon and I will be accused of treason after your death."

While Bathsheba was speaking to the king, the prophet Nathan arrived. The king was announced: "Nathan the prophet!"

Nathan approached the king, bowed deeply, and asked, "My lord and king, did you command, 'Adonijah shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne'? For today Adonijah has gone to the Spring of Rogel to hold a sacrificial feast. He has slaughtered a bull and a large number of fattened sheep and goats. He has invited all the king's sons, as well as the commanders and the priest Abiathar. Now they are all eating and drinking with him, and they are shouting, 'Long live King Adonijah!' But he has not invited me, your servant, nor the priest Zadok, nor Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon. If this is your doing, my lord and king, why did you not tell me who would sit on your throne after you?"

King David spoke and commanded, "Bring Bathsheba here."

Bathsheba came to the king and stood before him, and the king swore, "As the LORD lives, who has delivered me from trouble, today I will do to you what I swore to you before the LORD, the God of Israel: Your son Solomon shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place."

Bathsheba knelt down, bowed low, and said, “May my lord King David live forever.”

Then King David commanded, "Bring in the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada."

They came to the king, and he said, "Gather my courtiers, put my son Solomon on my own mule, and escort him to the Gihon Spring. There, the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan shall anoint him king of Israel. Then blow the ram's horn and proclaim, 'Long live King Solomon!' Then return to the city with him. When he arrives here, he will sit on my throne and be king in my place. I appoint him as ruler over Israel and Judah.'

Benaiah answered the king, "So be it! May the LORD, the God of my lord and king, confirm your words. May the LORD be with Solomon , as He has been with my lord and king, and may He make his throne even more powerful than the throne of my lord, King David."

The priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, along with the Kerethites and Pelethites, accompanied Solomon, who was riding King David's mule, to the Gihon Spring. The priest Zadok took the horn of oil from the sanctuary and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the ram's horn, and everyone shouted, "Long live King Solomon!" The whole crowd followed him back to the palace. They blew their pipes and shouted so loudly that the earth shook.

Adonijah and all his guests had just finished eating when this commotion reached them. When Joab recognized the sound of the ram's horn, he asked, "Why is there such noise coming from the city?"

He had not yet finished speaking when Jonathan, the son of the priest Abiathar, arrived. Adonijah said, "Come here, I can trust you, so you must be bringing good news."

But Jonathan replied, "On the contrary! Our lord, King David, has proclaimed Solomon king. He has sent the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan with him, as well as Benaiah with the Kerethites and Pelethites. They have put him on the king's mule, and at the Gihon Spring, Zadok and Nathan have anointed him king. Then they returned to the palace with shouts of joy, and now the whole city is buzzing with joy; that is the noise you hear. Moreover, Solomon has taken his place on the king's throne. Court officials came to congratulate our lord, King David, saying, 'May your God make Solomon's name even greater than yours and his throne even more powerful than yours. At this, the king bowed low on his bed. He also said, "Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, that I myself have lived to see Him give me a successor to the throne."

Adonijah's guests were terrified. They all got up and hurried home. Adonijah was also afraid of Solomon. He went to the sanctuary and grabbed the horns of the altar.

Solomon was told that Adonijah, fearing the king, had clung to the horns of the altar, saying, "Let King Solomon first swear to me that he will not put me to death."

And Solomon said, "If he behaves properly, not a hair of his head will be touched, but if he commits a misdeed, he will die."

King Solomon had him brought down from the altar. Adonijah appeared before King Solomon and knelt before him, and Solomon said to him, "You may go."

Psalm 72 For Solomon.

O God, give your laws to the king,

your justice to the king's son.

May he rule your people with justice,

your poor people according to justice and law.

May the mountains bring peace to the people

and the hills justice.

May he do justice to the weak,

offer salvation to the poor,

and crush the oppressor.

May he live as long as the sun exists,

as long as the moon shines,

from generation to generation.

May he be like rain falling on barren fields,

like showers that saturate the earth.

May the righteous flourish in his days,

and peace prevail throughout the world until the moon no longer exists.

May he reign from sea to sea,

from the Great River to the ends of the earth.

Let the desert dwellers bow before him,

his enemies lick the dust from his feet.

The kings of Tarshish and the coastal lands,

let them bring him gifts.

The kings of Sheba and Seba,

let them also pay tribute to him.

Let all kings bow down before him,

all nations serve him.

He will deliver the poor who cry out for help,

those who are weak and have no helper.

He takes pity on the defenseless and the poor,

and saves the lives of the poor.

He will deliver them from oppression and violence,

their blood is precious in his sight.

Long live the king! They will give him gold from Sheba,

pray for him without ceasing,

and bless him day after day.

There will be an abundance of corn in the land,

even on the tops of the mountains.

Ripe ears of corn will wave like the forests of Lebanon.

From his city prosperity will spring forth

like young green on the earth.

His name will endure forever, his name

will live on as long as the sun shines.

Thanks to him, people will call themselves blessed,

and all nations will call him blessed.

Praise be to God, the LORD,

the God of Israel.

He alone performs wonders.

Praise his glorious name forever.

May his glory fill the whole earth.

Amen, amen.

Here end the prayers of David, son of Jesse.

*

When David felt his end approaching, he instructed his son Solomon: "I must now depart, as everyone does. Be strong and show yourself to be a man. Keep your obligations to the LORD your God: obey Him and observe His decrees, commandments, laws, and regulations, as laid down in the laws of Moses. Then you will succeed in everything you do and undertake, and the LORD will fulfill his promise to me: If your sons keep the right path and remain devoted to me with all their heart and soul, one of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.

And there is something else: you know what Joab, the son of Zeruiah, did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel's army, Abner, the son of Ner, and Amasa, the son of Jether. He killed them. He shed blood in peacetime as if it were wartime, and thus stained his soldier's honor with blood. Let your wisdom guide you, and do not grant him a peaceful death in his old age.

But treat the sons of Barzillai of Gilead well. Take them into your court, for they came to my aid when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom.

Then there is Simi, the son of Gera, from Bachurim. He hurled the most terrible curses at me when I was on my way to Mahanaim. Later, he came to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD that I would not put him to death. But you must not let him go unpunished . You are a wise man, so you know what to do: let him die a violent death in his old age.

*

These are the last words of David:

Thus says David, the son of Jesse,

thus he speaks, exalted to high power,

the anointed of the God of Jacob,

the beloved singer of Israel:

“The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me,

his words are on my tongue.

The God of Israel has spoken,

the Rock of Israel has said to me:

"He who rules over men in righteousness,

rules in deep reverence for God.

He is like the radiant morning sun

that rises after the rains in a cloudless sky

and with its warmth causes the young green to sprout."

So, with God's help, is my royal house,

for He has made an everlasting covenant with me,

carefully drawn up and unbreakable.

I can rely on His help,

He lets what is dear to me flourish.

But the worthless, they are like thorn bushes,

uprooted by the wind,

and cannot be touched with bare hands.

Whoever wants to clear them away

takes a stick with an iron tip in hand

to throw them into the fire and burn them on the spot.”

David died and was buried in the City of David. He had been king of Israel for forty years: seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. Solomon succeeded his father David and ruled with a firm hand.

One day, Adonijah, the son of Haggith, approached Bathsheba, Solomon's mother. "Can I receive you with confidence?" she asked.

"Don't worry," he replied, "I just want to ask you something."

"Go ahead," said Bathsheba.

Then Adonijah said, "You know that the kingship was mine; all Israel expected me to become king. But the LORD decided otherwise, and the kingship passed to my brother. Now I have a request to make of you; please do not refuse me."

"Go on," said Bathsheba. "Will you ask King Solomon to give me the hand of Abishag of Shunem? He will not refuse you."

"Very well," said Bathsheba, "I will plead your case before the king."

Bathsheba went to the king to speak to him about Adonijah. The king rose, came to meet her, and knelt before her. Then he sat down again and had a second throne brought for the queen mother. She sat at his right hand and said, "I have a small request to make of you. Please do not refuse me."

The king replied, "Ask, mother, I will not refuse you."

Bathsheba asked, "Can your brother Adonijah have the hand of Abishag of Shunem?"

King Solomon answered his mother, "Why are you asking for Adonijah to marry Abishag? You might as well claim the kingship for him! After all, he is older than I am. If you plead for him, you are also pleading for Abiathar and Joab!"

Then the king swore by the LORD: "May God do to me whatever He wants if Adonijah does not pay for this request with his life! As surely as the LORD lives, who appointed me and placed me on the throne of my father David and established my royal house as He promised, Adonijah will die today!"

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was charged by King Solomon with the task of putting Adonijah to death.

The king said to the priest Abiathar, "Go back to Anathoth, to your fields. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death this time, because you carried the ark of God, the LORD, before my father David and shared all his hardships."

Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood, thus fulfilling what the LORD had said in Shiloh about Eli and his family.

When Joab heard this, he fled to the sanctuary of the LORD and grabbed the horns of the altar. He had sided with Adonijah, even though he had not supported Absalom.

Solomon was told that Joab had taken refuge in the sanctuary of the LORD and had clung to the altar. Solomon ordered Benaiah to kill him. Benaiah went to the sanctuary of the LORD and said to Joab, "The king says, 'Come out!'"

"No!" Joab replied. "Here I will die."

Benaiah reported this refusal to the king: "Joab says, 'Here I will die.'"

Then the king said, "Do as he says: kill him and bury him. By killing him, you will purify me and my royal house from the innocent blood he has shed. The LORD will make him pay with his life for killing two men who were better and more righteous than he was. Without my father David's knowledge, he killed them: Abner, son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa, son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. May their blood be avenged on Joab and all his descendants; may the LORD grant that the descendants and the royal house of David may continue in peace.

Benaiah returned to Joab and put him to death. He was buried in his family tomb in the desert.

In Joab's place, Benaiah son of Jehoiada was appointed commander of the army by the king, and Zadok the priest was appointed to replace Abiathar.

Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, "You may build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but you must not leave the city to go anywhere else. As soon as you leave the city and cross the Kidron Valley, you will surely die. You will be responsible for your own death."

Shimei replied, "It is well, my lord and king, I will do as you say," and he remained in Jerusalem.

But after three years, two of his slaves ran away to Achish, the son of Maacah, the king of Gath. When Shimei heard where his slaves were, he saddled his donkey and went to Gath to fetch them from Achish and bring them back to Jerusalem.

When King Solomon heard that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, he summoned him and said, "Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you that you would surely die if you left the city to go anywhere else? And did you not reply, 'I have heard, it is well'? Why did you not keep the oath you swore to the LORD and obey my command?' And the king continued, 'You know very well what you did to my father David. The LORD will repay you for your wickedness, but I, King Solomon, am blessed, and David's throne will never be shaken before the LORD.'

The king ordered Benaiah to put Shimei to death.

Thus Solomon firmly established his power.

By marrying the daughter of Pharaoh, Solomon became the son-in-law of the king of Egypt. He let her live in the City of David until he had finished building his palace, the temple of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.

*

Because no temple had yet been built for the name of the LORD, the people continued to offer their sacrifices at the high places. Solomon himself showed his love for the LORD by doing what his father David had commanded him, but he also offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places.

Once, the king went to Gibeon, the most important place of sacrifice in the land, to offer sacrifices. He offered a thousand animals as burnt offerings on the altar there. That night, the LORD appeared to him in a dream. "Ask for whatever you want," God said, "and I will give it to you."

Solomon replied, "You have always been kind to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and always honest and sincere toward you. You have shown him great favor by giving him a son who now sits on his throne. You, LORD my God, have appointed me as king to succeed my father David. But I am still young and inexperienced. I am now faced with the task of leading your chosen people, a people so numerous that they cannot be counted. Grant your servant a discerning mind, so that I may govern your people and distinguish between good and evil. For how else could I judge this immense people of yours?"

The Lord was pleased that Solomon asked for this, and He said to him, "Because you have asked for this—not for long life or great wealth or the death of your enemies, but for the ability to listen and to distinguish between right and wrong—I will grant your request. I will give you such wisdom and discernment that you will surpass all who came before you and all who come after you. I will also give you what you did not ask for: such wealth and fame that no other king will equal you during your lifetime. And if you obey Me and keep My statutes and commandments, as your father David did, I will give you a long life.’

When Solomon awoke, he realized he had been dreaming. Upon his return to Jerusalem, he went to the ark of the covenant with the Lord, where he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He invited all his courtiers to the feast.

*

Shortly thereafter, two prostitutes asked to speak to the king. The first woman said, "Allow me, sir, this woman and I live in the same house. In that house, I gave birth to a son in her presence. Three days later, she also gave birth to a son. We were there together; there was no one else in the house, just the two of us. But her child died during the night because she had lain on it. Then she got up in the middle of the night and took my child from me while I was asleep. She took my child in her arms and put her dead child in my arms. When I wanted to feed my child the next morning, I noticed that it was dead. But when I looked closely, I saw that it was not the child I had given birth to."

"That's not true!" said the other woman. "The living child is mine and the dead one is yours."

"Not true!" said the first. "The dead one is yours and the living one is mine."

So they each pleaded their case before the king. The king spoke and said, "One says, 'My child is alive and yours is dead,' and the other says, 'No! The dead child is yours and the living one is mine.'" And he commanded, "Bring me a sword."

A sword was brought to him, and then he said, "Cut the living child in two and give each of them half."

The real mother of the living child could not bear the thought of anything happening to her child and cried out, "No, sir, I beg you, give the child to her, but please do not kill it!"

The other said, "If I don't get it, you won't get it either. Cut it in two!"

But the king made the following ruling: "It shall not be killed. Give the living child to her, for she is the mother."

When the Israelites heard the king's verdict, they were greatly impressed by him, for they understood that he had administered justice with divine wisdom.

*

Psalm 103 By David.

Praise the Lord, my soul,

and my heart, his holy name.

Praise the LORD, my soul,

and do not forget any of his benefits.

He forgives all your sins,

He heals all your diseases,

He redeems your life from the pit,

He crowns you with faithfulness and love,

He showers you with beauty and happiness,

your youth is renewed like an eagle's.

The LORD does what is just,

He provides justice to the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel.

The LORD is loving and gracious,

He remains patient and His faithfulness is great.

He does not quarrel forever,

his anger does not last forever.

He does not punish us according to our sins,

He does not repay us according to our faults.

As the heavens are high above the earth,

so His faithfulness extends over those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has He removed our sins from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD cares for those who fear Him.

For He knows what we are made of,

He does not forget that we are dust.

Man—his days are like grass,

he is like a flower that blooms in the field

and disappears as soon as the wind scorches it;

the place where he stood no longer knows him.

But the LORD is faithful to those who fear Him,

from everlasting to everlasting.

He does justice to the children and grandchildren

who keeps his covenant

and lives according to his commandments.

The LORD has established his throne in heaven,

and as king He rules over all.

Praise the LORD, you who are his messengers,

mighty heroes who do what He says,

obedient to the word He speaks.

Praise the LORD, heavenly powers,

servants who do what pleases Him.

Praise the LORD, you who are his creatures,

praise Him throughout His kingdom.

Praise the LORD, my soul.