1 Kings 1:1 King David was now very old, and no matter how many blankets covered him, he could not keep warm. 2 So his advisers told him, “Let us find a young virgin to wait on you and look after you, my lord. She will lie in your arms and keep you warm.”
3 So they searched throughout the land of Israel for a beautiful girl, and they found Abishag from Shunem and brought her to the king. 4 The girl was very beautiful, and she looked after the king and took care of him. But the king had no sexual relations with her.
OK, now for the serious stuff! Below we get a glimpse of David's parenting skills. We saw this briefly from before, but here is another revelation. Maybe he had too many kids by too many wives and knew he couldn't keep them all happy, so just decided to ignore everything.
5 About that time David’s son Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, began boasting, “I will make myself king.” So he provided himself with chariots and charioteers and recruited fifty men to run in front of him. 6 Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, “Why are you doing that?”
I Kings goes on to tell us that David got wind of what Adonijah was doing and 'beat him to the punch' to annoint his son Solomon as the next king. When Adonijah found out what had happened he feared for his life, because he knew that Solomon had found out about his plan to be crowned king instead. Solomon called for him told him that if he proved himself to be loyal, not a hair on his head would be touched. Well, some time later, he had a request for King Solomon, and that request was to be allowed to marry Abishag (the beautiful virgin that had kept King David warm). This made Solomon so angry, that he ordered him to be executed. I thought it was because of Solomon's desire for women (which will be brought out later), but the footnote of my Bible says 'claiming a deceased king's harem was equivalent to claiming his kingdom'. I still think it was because Solomon wanted her instead.
This next section gives us two pictures. 1) that Solomon went against what he knew he should do by marrying foreign wives and 2) knowing he was incapable of doing the job he was given, without God's help
1 Kings 3:1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and married one of his daughters. He brought her to live in the City of David until he could finish building his palace and the Temple of the Lord and the wall around the city. 2 At that time the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings at local places of worship, for a temple honoring the name of the Lord had not yet been built.
3 Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense at the local places of worship. 4 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. 5 That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!”
6 Solomon replied, “You showed faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you. And you have continued your faithful love to him today by giving him a son to sit on his throne.
7 “Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. 8 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! 9 Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. 11 So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—12 I will give you what you asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have! 13 And I will also give you what you did not ask for—riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! 14 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”
The thing that confuses me about the above is that God gave him a wise and understanding heart. So if He gave that to him, why does Solomon allow his desire for women to lead him astray? I guess it shows that even though God gives us the ability to know right from wrong, we are still presented with choices, and we can choose to go against what we know deep down is right. I guess it's by making these right choices that God knows He has first place in our lives.
A verse from the Psalms that caught my attention today:
Psalm 37:34 Don't be impatient for the Lord to act!
Travel steadily along his path.
Travel steadily along His path....I got the picture of just plugging away, trusting Him, keeping moving and not stopping along the way.
And then, as we continue to wait upon news as to whether our friend from church is still alive underneath the rubble, this verse caught my eye. I am sure David's wife, Renee, is clinging to God and His word for comfort during this time.
Psalm 119:81 I am worn out waiting for your rescue,
but I have put my hope in your word.
82 My eyes are straining to see your promises come true.
When will you comfort me?
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