David’s last words to Solomon come in two parts that sit uneasily together: keep the law of Moses with all your heart, and settle these old scores — Joab, Shimei. David dies; Solomon buries him; and then, one by one, the loose ends are cut. Adonijah asks for the wrong wife and is executed. Joab is killed clinging to the altar. Shimei crosses a line he was told never to cross. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
A study in 1 Kings 2 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 9 min read
Be Thou Strong Therefore, And Shew Thyself A Man
“I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest… That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel.”
1 Kings 2:2-4
The heart of David’s charge is not politics but obedience — walk in God’s ways, keep the law “written in the law of Moses,” and the promise to the house of David holds. David had learned the value of the nobler virtues the hard way, and the one thing he most wanted his son to be was “a strong, good man.”
“With tender earnestness David entreated Solomon to be manly and noble, to show mercy and loving-kindness to his subjects, and in all his dealings with the nations of earth to honor and glorify the name of God and to make manifest the beauty of holiness.”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 26
Then Sat Solomon Upon The Throne Of David
“So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David… Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly.”
1 Kings 2:10-12
David dies at seventy, after forty years. The man who began as a boy with a sling and ends as a king in a bed had, for all his falls, kept coming back to God. Solomon inherits a united, secure kingdom, the borders wide and the enemies quiet. Everything is in place. What he does with it is the rest of the book.
Joab Fled Unto The Tabernacle Of The LORD
“And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar… Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the LORD. So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him.”
1 Kings 2:28-34
Joab had murdered Abner and Amasa — two generals, both under a flag of peace — and David never had the strength to touch him (2 Samuel 3:39). He runs to the altar as Adonijah had, but the altar is asylum for the manslayer, not the murderer (Exodus 21:14), and he will not come out. Solomon has him killed where he clings. It is grim, and it is the law finally catching up with a man who had outrun it for a lifetime. Abiathar the priest, who had backed Adonijah, is spared but stripped of the priesthood — fulfilling the old word against the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:31-35).
The Kingdom Was Established In The Hand Of Solomon
“The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the LORD shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head… So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”
1 Kings 2:44-46
Shimei, who had cursed David in his flight, was given one rule: stay in Jerusalem, never cross the Kidron. Three years later he crosses it to chase two runaway slaves, and Solomon holds him to the terms. The chapter is a hard read — a throne secured by a run of executions. But the refrain, twice, is that the aim was not vengeance but stability: “the kingdom was established.” The question the rest of 1 Kings asks is whether Solomon will use that established kingdom for God or for himself.
