1 Kings: Seek First His Kingdom

1:1-30, 9:4-5, 11:11 (Pastor Heo)

Adonijah Sets Himself Up as King

1 When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. 2 So his servants said to him, “Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.” 3 Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her.

5 Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. 6 (His father had never interfered with him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.) 7 Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. 8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and Rei and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah. 9 Adonijah then sacrificed sheep, cattle and fattened calves at the Stone of Zoheleth near En Rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah who were royal officials, 10 but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the special guard or his brother Solomon. 11 Then Nathan asked Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah, the son of Haggith, has become king without our lord David’s knowing it? 12 Now then, let me advise you how you can save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. 13 Go in to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to me your servant: “Surely Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ 14 While you are still there talking to the king, I will come in and confirm what you have said.” 15 So Bathsheba went to see the aged king in his room, where Abishag the Shunammite was attending him. 16 Bathsheba bowed low and knelt before the king. “What is it you want?” the king asked. 17 She said to him, “My lord, you yourself swore to me your servant by the LORD your God: ‘Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne.’ 18 But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know about it. 19 He has sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep, and has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited Solomon your servant. 20 My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to learn from you who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. 21 Otherwise, as soon as my lord the king is laid to rest with his fathers, I and my son Solomon will be treated as criminals.” 22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived. 23 And they told the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” So he went before the king and bowed with his face to the ground. 24 Nathan said, “Have you, my lord the king, declared that Adonijah shall be king after you, and that he will sit on your throne? 25 Today he has gone down and sacrificed great numbers of cattle, fattened calves, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army and Abiathar the priest. Right now they are eating and drinking with him and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 But me your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and your servant Solomon he did not invite. 27 Is this something my lord the king has done without letting his servants know who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”

David Makes Solomon King

1:28-53pp — 1Ch 29:21-25

28 Then King David said, “Call in Bathsheba.” So she came into the king’s presence and stood before him. 29 The king then took an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, 30 I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.”

…

9:4 “As for you, if you walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’

…

11:11 So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.

Second part “I will most certainly tear the kingdom away and give it to one of your subordinates” = Jeroboam.

1 Kings = story of kings

• 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings = as one series relate the whole history of Israel’s monarchy.
• From Samuel – to its fall under the Babylonians.

1. 1 Samuel = Samuel’s story – birth to death + 1st king Saul – anointment to death + David’s story – anointment to before enthronement
2. 2 Samuel = David’s enthronement to just before the end of his reign – his death
3. 1 Kings = after David – Solomon

These two 1 Kings, 2 Kings = ONE book in the Hebrew Bible.

The division of this ONE book was introduced in the Greek translation – Septusion and Latin Bulgate.

1 Kings = 22 chapters covers 130 years

Divide them into exact halves.

11 chps = half 1 / 11 chps = half 2

First half = Solomon

Under his leadership, Israel rose to the peak of its glory and size. Solomon’s great accomplishments including building the temple (7 years) brought his worldwide glory and fame (and the Queen of Sheba also visited him).

Yet, in his older years, his many wives turned his heart from God.

With a divided heart, he leaves behind a divided kingdom (unified originally under David after 12 years?)

Growing indifference to God, His Word, prophets, and precepts:

Part ONE: 1-11 – Solomon (united kingdom) for 40 years

Chp 1: David is about to die. One of his son’s Adonijah tries to usurp the throne for himself. David is so old he has little authority/power (he was yesterday’s man). Adonijah was the FOURTH son of David, but 1st son Amnon was killed by son Absolom (3rd). Kiliam was 2nd son – assumed to die as a child. Absolom was killed by Joab (general of David’s army).

So “technically” Adonijah IS the “rightful heir” (he’s also handsome – and was never rebuked by David). Also, Joab and one priest support him to be king.

At that time, Bathsheba told David, and Nathan the prophet ran the coronation of Solomon (at age 18).

• At first, he was very humble, obedient, and faithful. He showed his great love for God by keeping all the commands of God. He offered 1,000 offerings to God after becoming king. God was very happy with him, so appeared to him in a dream and said, “What do you want?”
• Solomon, humbly, “I’m just a child. I don’t have wisdom. Give me wisdom to govern wisely.”
• God, “Good boy. You didn’t ask for money or fame or power or health. So because of this, I’ll give you all these things as well.”

Chp 10: 23-25 “King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. 24 The whole world sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God put in his heart. 25 Year after year, everyone who came to him brought a gift…”

God to Solomon – there will never be (before, now, after) anyone like you in wisdom and understanding. He was a great philosopher, scientist, walking dictionary, encyclopedia, architect, judge.

As judge

1. One day, two women came to him and said “We live in the same house. We both have a baby. One night, this woman rolled over her baby and killed it. At night, she took my baby from me and put her dead baby with me.”
2. “No, living is mine! Dead is yours!” They argued like this before Solomon and there were no eye-witnesses.
3. “OK, bring me a sword. Cut this baby in half and give to each their half.”
4. One woman said, “No, no!”
5. Another said, “Sure.”
6. Solomon “Give this baby to the first woman, she is the real mother.”

This is ONE case in how wise Solomon was in his discernment.

At the time of Solomon, the size if Israel’s land became the largest it ever was. Chp 4:21 “And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the river (Euphrates) to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border (river) of Egypt. These countries brought Solomon tribute and were his subjects all his life.”

So, in Solomon, the promise God gave to Abram (Genesis 15:18) and all his descendants was fulfilled.

• Gen 15:18 “On that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘I will give your descendants the land from this river to the great river.’”
• 1 Kings 4:21 is the fulfillment of the promise (covenant) of Genesis 15:18.

From a theocratic perspective, Solomon’s greatest achievement is the construction of the temple and placing the Ark of the Covenant in that building. (It took 7 years) – He then offered a magnificent Prayer of Dedication of the Temple (1 Kings).

He spread his hands toward heaven “Oh Lord, God, there is no God in heaven above, nor in the earth below like you. Even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this building I have build?”

Because of this, he continued to grow in his health, wealth, and power. He is a man who was ALMOST perfect (i.e. NOT perfect).

His ONE weakness: he loved too many women.

• Chp 1-10 = Wonderful, powerful, success story of Solomon
• Chp 11 = the Failure of Solomon

He married so many women from other countries (Moab, Edon, Sidon, Hittite, Palestine, Egypt, etc). Yet, the Bible (God) commanded strongly – “Do NOT marry with other people because they will lead you into idolatry.”

He had 700 wives (princesses) + 300 concubines. Not-hallelujah~

Because of this sin (God warned several times before this – because each wife brought her own god and they eventually turned him away from worshiping God to worshiping gods….) God said, “I WILL most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.” (1 Kings 11:11)

Part TWO (happy? probably not…)

Chp 12-22: Divided kingdom under multiple leadership (Israel + Judah)

His son Rehoboam became king after Solomon died – but the people of the north came and asked him to make their tax/labor burden light (make life easier). “My father made it hard, I’ll make it HARDER…”

• (Advice from old advisors of his father, they said, “Give their request” – but his FRIENDS said “No way, man – make it harder.”)
• He said, “My little finger will be thicker than my father’s waist. He beat you with whips, I’ll beat you with HUGE whips.” They rebelled.

1. Southern kingdom = Judah + Benjamin tribes (called Judah kingdom).
2. Northern kingdom = 10 tribes (called Israel).

• South Israel = Judah
• North Israel = Israel

After this division, until the end of 1 Kings, 13 more kings appeared (and some only ruled a few months).

South kingdom = 5 kings

1. Rehoboam
2. Ahizah
3. Asah
4. …
5. …

North kingdom = 8 kings

1. Jehoram
2. Jeroboam
3. …
4. …
5. …
6. …
7. …
8. Ahab (married Jezebel) – Elijah’s story here

• From the southern kingdom, ALL kings were from David’s dynasty.
• From the northern kingdom, all kings were from different kingdoms.

1. Northern = plagued by apostasy
2. Southern = plagued by idolatry

Almost all northern kings were bad, only 2-3 southern kings were good.

Worst king? AHAB by far.

Jeroboam (1st northern king) was evil and established a new, false style or worship.

Yet, Ahab did MORE evil than all the preceding kings. And he married Jezebel (who brought Baal) and they began worshiping Baal and established his temple on the hill.

During this terrible time, one of the most powerful prophets rose – Elijah.

Elijah

• God said, “Rise and present yourself to Ahab.”
• Ahab “You are the worst trouble-maker in Israel.”
• Elijah “Not me, it’s you. Let’s see whose god is more powerful.”
• “Good. Let’s meet at Mt. Carmel and bring all the prophets of Baal (400) + all the prophets of Asherah (400) to the mountain.”
• Elijah “I’m the only prophet left of the TRUE God.”

In this “spiritual game” it was 850+ vs. 1

• “Let us call down fire from heaven to burn the offering of bulls.” Each “team” had their own bull.
• “If Jehovah is God, worship him. If Baal is God, worship him. You pray and I’ll pray. You are many, you do first.”

ALL the prophets prayed and even cut themselves when he didn’t answer. They danced and screamed and Elijah teased them “Maybe your god is sleeping, or perhaps he’s busy. Pray louder! Is he off on a journey?” They got louder and louder and cut their own bodies. Until the middle of the afternoon.

Underdog:

Elijah put 12 stones under his offering and poured water by the bucketful over his offering. He made a trench around the altar and kept pouring water until the trench was filled and EVERYTHING was soaked. He prayed a POWERFUL prayer (“God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove you are God and bring all people to you now”) and IMMEDIATELY… FIRE!! so strong came down from heaven, it burned up the offering, the wood, ALL the water, and scorched the earth.

WOAH~~

All the people threw themselves on the ground and Elijah said, “Seize the prophets!” and they took them to the river and killed ALL of them.

At the darkest time of Israel’s kingdom, God was there, with Elijah.

Lessons:

1. Solomon = “peaceful” – he is a type of Christ in MANY ways – peace, rest, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, honor, glory

1. Matthew 12:42 Jesus said, “One greater than Solomon is here” (pointing at himself) – yes, he is MUCH greater than Solomon
2. Colossians 2:3 “In Jesus Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (He is all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful).
3. Eph 2:14 “Jesus himself is our peace who has made two ONE – who has destroyed all barriers, all philosophies, all fighting, all hindrance.” (Solomon made one into two)
4. Therefore, only Jesus can say “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”

Solomon’s yoke was hard. Solomon’s burden was heavy.

Jesus yoke is easy. Jesus’ burden is light. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give as this world gives.”

2. Solomon was wise, but CHANGED

Jesus NEVER changes – he is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Here is a POINT to learn from Solomon:

Seriously: What is your #1 prayer request? What is your priority #1?

Today’s title = “Seek first HIS kingdom” not “Seek first YOUR kingdom”

Solomon (originally) asked for what God wanted him to ask for. Therefore, God granted what he asked AND what he didn’t ask.

Matthew 6:33 “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and ALL these things will be given to you as well.”

The background = “Do not worry about your lives, what you will eat, or what you will wear. God clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the air. Even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. Are you not much more valuable?”

Matthew 6:33 “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and ALL these things will be given to you as well.”

3. ELIJAH = a crucial, important lesson

He is more like John the Baptist than Jesus Christ, but his prophetic ministry and work reflect the work of Christ.

During Ahab’s time, this was the WORST, most sinful time in Israel’s history, yet, Elijah made it clear very publicly that “there is only ONE God.”

1. To be a good Christian (are you Christian?) – we must be humble, kind, generous, meek, open-minded, open-hearts, responsible.
2. To be TRUE Christian, we must be CLEAR in our attitude in the matter of salvation. Acts 4 “There is no other name found under heaven by which we must be saved.”

Jesus “I’m the WAY, the TRUTH, the LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

We are living in adulterous and wicked times – a confused, frustrated generation. So, we must be very CLEAR in our attitudes in terms of salvation. It can be gained ONLY in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion:

Only Jesus, exclusively Jesus, finally Jesus.

Let’s pray.