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Episode 552: In this episode, we dive into a fascinating discussion about the early days of Solomon's reign as king. We recount the events surrounding Adonijah, Solomon's older brother, who attempts to secure power by asking to marry Abishag, a woman from David's harem. We analyze Bathsheba's role in this request and Solomon's swift and decisive response, which ultimately leads to Adonijah's execution. We reflect on the importance of leadership and the consequences of decisions made at the top, noting how Solomon's firm grip on the kingdom was established through these early actions.
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You're listening to the Bible guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. By the way, Uh, I think that everything should have that man's voice, you know, like in a world yes, right, Like I just I love that idea. I think that every preview should have that. Every time we do like a church like trailer of something coming up, I envision I hear in my mind that man promoting our next series. Right, we have a series coming up called what is it? Uh, oh my goodness, what is it called? I don't know. Something about why, oh. My goodness, I can't remember the titleist anyway, that forget that boxed illustration. So this is why, this is, this is why, this is why. Yeah, I picture this guy promoting that. Okay, so let's just right there, you go. Let's move on. So welcome to the Bible, guys. We have a segment at the very beginning that we have not done in a pretty good while, I would say, and this is called stump the pastor. So we get yes and we get these questions from people who actually write in, and sometimes they write in for the purpose of stump the pastor I think, and sometimes they just write in because they're absolutely just curious and they want to know if we would discuss it, which I guess is the same thing. So this one's from Brian d Hi Brian, and Brian says this, what are your thoughts on where slash how demons originated? It is a great question. Yeah, So, first of all, demons. We believe that demons are active in the world. We believe that demons live in the supernatural and the Bible clearly says that there is a super natural world that takes place right now as we're sitting here. There is a there's an unseen battle between angels and demons. Yes, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, the spiritual warfare, right, is how the Bible describe that. Within theology, there are ten twelve, fourteen different like buckets of study, and one of those is angelology. Right, that's one of those things, and it's it's the spiritual realm, really is what that study is all about. So, and that's where you'd also include then the spiritual warfare, demons, all those. Kinds of things. So what do you say, what are your thoughts on where and how demons originated? Well, I'm going to back up two steps and say they came from God because God created angels, and then demons are fallen angels. Okay, that's it. Okay, all right, let's move on. Good, all right, thank you. Thanks a lot. No, No, the So the scripture gives us detail about this, right, so so a little bit, yeah, so it gives us a little that is exactly right. You know. It talks about a third of the angels rebelled against God and the angel that was the most beautiful of all is Lucifer, who So the original sin before Adam and Eve, before earth, you know, mankind, the original sin was pride, right, the original sin was pride by Lucifer, who wanted to usurp God's throne and wanted to take the king kingdom for himself. He rebelled against God. He had literally a third of the angels that followed him, and they were cast away from heaven and they became demons. And the Bible says there was war in heaven. Yes, yes, yes, there was war in heaven. Yes. And now the big question that you and I talked about right before. We only talked about it for one says, but the question is did their appearance change? Did angels appearances change from beautiful beings of light and now that they become demons, maybe their countenance has changed, but have their actual physical appearance changes. Their evidence that they've become these shadowy black things that we see in movies, right, so, you know we see them in shadows or you know, evil beings. You know there's the cartoon devil with the red pitchfork kind of thing. Yeah, certainly he's not, you know, the devil's not run around and red pajamas. No, no cape, twisty mustache like pitchfork. Yeah. So, so to go back to the Lucifer thing first, So the Bible says that Lucifer was the covering cherub over the throne of God. He led all of heaven and worship. His body is a is a musical instrument, and so he was perpetually, always and only in the presence of God. And then he decides, I'm I'm going to rise above God. I'm gonna set my throne above God's throne and his beauty, his his power, his influence over the other angels, whatever, drove this pride thing. So then God cast him out, and one third of all of the angels in heaven believed. I think Lucifer can beat Jehovah. Right, that's you want to know how powerful our enemy is. That's that's pretty significant. A third of the angels. I don't know how many that is, but I think it's a lot. Well, we assume it's millions based. On or billions or whatever. Yeah, but then there's war in heaven. We know Michael the archangel, he's a warrior for God. Right, You've got these others. There's these battles that are mentioned a couple different times, and then they're cast out of heaven into uh, you know, out into creation. And Satan hates God. So Lucifer falls. God begins to refer to him as Satan, the father of lies. But it also says that he's an angel of light. Right, So in the garden, Adam and Eve weren't you know, terrified of him in the form of a serpent. Right, it was just kind of a normal thing. I guess talking to snakes, I don't know. Well, I mean they seem, I mean to be fair, probably saw some pretty magical things. Yeah, yeah, everything seemed normal. When you don't know anything, then I guess everything seems normal. But then it is interesting. Every time a person has an encounter in the Bible with an angel, the angel has to say fear not. But there seems to be a terror of people engaging with demons. Right. There seems to be a difference between like a healthy Bible says was supposed to have the fear of God, fear God's beginning of wisdom. Right, So having a healthy fear of God is different than terror. So something about the demon, the demonic thing is brings eventually hair, but I think he presents himself and and and probably demons present themselves initially is something attractive, not as something repulsive, right, as angels of light? Right, Yeah, so that's a stab at saying like, we don't really know about their physical countenance, but but they're not going to come at you with something to be afraid of, probably. Not at the beginning, yeah right, right, And most of the time, whenever I've talked with like witch doctors or people deep that had been deeply embedded in witchcraft, they'll usually say it begins really gently and beautiful and turns into a nightmare. Yeah, right, and that's always one kid say be careful with ouiji boards, don't don't play with those things. It's it's cute. But that's how the devil does, right. He brings us in with with cute things, pretty things, beautiful things, comfortable things, and eventually flips because he's a father, he's lying from the very beginning, so he flips into this terror and horror. Right, yeah, but we don't have to be afraid. Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world, the Bible says. So, yeah, that's something that's right. Anything else, no, I was just going to actually end with that exact thought. It's so funny you said that greater is he that is in me that is in the world, the Bible says. I was going to say, James says, resist sending yourself therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he's going to flee from you. That's right. It says that you believe in God, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. That's right, right, which means they tremble, they shudder at the name of God. And then it also says that that that if you that if you call out on the name of Jesus, then you can repel or cast out or overcome demons as well, so that even the name of Jesus has power over demons. So I if you are a person who is a very very much a spiritual warfare person, and what I mean by that is there are people that are just fascinated with that, or there are people actually have experience with spiritual warfare. In a negative way. Right have you ever have you ever had anybody ask you to come over and pray over their house because they feel like there's. A demonic presence. So if you know, if you're wondering about that and you feel frightened, just know that nobody, nobody can overcome even the name of Jesus Christ. So as you know, I used to tell my son. Every need will boy out. The Bible says that's right. I used to tell my son, I say turn on the light and then just literally shot out loud in the name of Jesus Christ. I command you to be gone, like leave. So if you ever feel like there's anything dark or demonic that is around you, then just do that, because you know, and that may seem silly to some people who are not necessarily fully bought into spiritual warfare. They say, do you really believe that you really believe that. There's you know, something in your house that you're going to call you know, you're going to call out to something invisible? But if you believe what the Bible says, then absolutely, yeah, yep. It's good. Yep. So essentially angels are I mean, demons are fallen angels. That's right. So God created them as angels. He didn't create them as demons, but sin, the consequence of sin, sin infected them and they became demons. That's right, they're fallen angels. That's right. There you go, all right, very good, good question, Brian Deep and. Their voice went from like something that beautiful, like a song, like a musical instrument, to my name is leg Yeah. I don't know. It starts off beautiful and goes ye give you that. Okay, Well we are now picking up with Solomon, so he's finding his own voice. Yes, at this point, and that's my cheesy transition. Oh, he's finding his own voice. That's right. As the king. Yes, we're working really hard to find cheesy transition realized. Ever since I said that last week I'm trying. You've done every single transition. I'm trying. Man, think what tomorrow, I'll do it on the spot. Okay, you gotta do it all right. So Solomon and takes the throne, and he's finding his voice as the ruler, the leader. He establishes his rule here in First Kings, chapter two says one day at Anaijah, whose mother was Hagath, came to see Bethsheba, Salomon's mother. Have you come with peaceful intentions? She asked him, Yes, he said, Remember he tried to have a coup. Yes, So did you come with peaceful intentions? It's kind of an important question, yes, he said, I come in peace. In fact, I have a favor to ask of you. What is it, she asked, He replied, as you know, the kingdom was rightfully mine. All Israel wanted me to be the next king, but the tables were turned and the kingdom went to my brother instead, for that is the way the Lord wanted it. So now I have just one favor to ask of you. Please don't turn me down. What is it, she asked, He replied, speak to King Solomon on behalf, for I know he'll do anything you request. And ask him to let me marry Abhishak, the girl from Shunham. All right, Bethsheba replied, I will speak to the king for you. So Besheba went to King Solomon to speak on ad and Ij's behalf, and the king rose from his throne to meet her, and he bowed down before her. And when he sat down on his throne again, the king ordered that a throne be brought for his mother, and she sat at his right hand. I have one small request to make of you, he said. I hope you won't turn me down. What is it, My mother, he asked, you know I won't refuse you. Then let your brother Adanijah marry Abishag, the girl from Shunam. She replied, how can you possibly ask me to give Abishag Adanaija. King Solomon demanded, you might as well ask me to give the give him the kingdom. You know that he is my older brother, and that he has Abiathar the priest and Joeab's son of Zariah on his side. Then King Solomon made a vow before the Lord. May God strike me and even kill me. If Adanijah has not sealed his fate with this request, The Lord has confirmed me and placed me on the throne of my father David. He's established my dynasty as he promised. So as surely as the Lord lives, Adanaijah will die this very day. So King Solomon ordered bena Ayah, son of Johiedah, to execute him, and Adenija was put to death. Oh wow. Then the King said to Abiathar, the prince, go back to your home in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not kill you now because you carried the ark of the sovereign Lord for David, my father, and you shared all his hardships. So Solomon deposed Abiathar from his position as priest of the Lord, thereby fulfilling the prophecy the Lord had given at Shiloh concerning the descendants of Eli. Joab had not joined Absalom's earlier rebellion, but he had joined Adenaija's rebellion. So when Joab heard about Adamaij's death, he ran to the sacred ten of the Lord and grabbed on to the horns of the altar. When this was reported to King Solomon, he sent ben a Ayah, son of Johoida, to execute him. Ben Ayah went to the sacred ten of the Lord, and said the Joeb, the King orders you to come out. Joeib answered, no, I will die here. So Beniah returned to the king and told him what Joeb had said. Do as he said. The King replied, kill him there beside the altar and bury him. This will remove the guilt of Joebs senseless murders from me and from my father's family. The Lord will pay him for the murders of two men who were more righteous and better than he, For my father knew nothing about the deaths of Abner, son of Ner, commander of the Army of Israel, and of a Massive, son of Jeth, commander of the army of Judah. May their blood be on Joeab and his descendants forever. And made the Lord grant peace forever to David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne. So Benaiah, son of Johoida, returned to the sacred tent, killed Joab and he was buried at his home in the wilderness. And then the king appointed ben a Ayah to command the army and place of Joeb, and he installed Zaidak the priest to take the place of Abiathar. The King then sent for SHIMIAI and told him build a house here in Jerusalem and live there, but don't step outside the city to go anywhere else. On the day you so much as crossed the kid Run valley, you will surely die, and your blood will be on your own head. Shimiyai replied, your sentence is fair. I'll do whatever my lord, the King commands. So SHIMIAI lived in Jerusalem for a long time, but three years later, two of Shimii's slaves ran away to King Aikish, son of Maka of Gath, and when Shimyai learned where they were, he saddled his donkey and went to Gath to search for them, and when he found them, he brought them back to Jerusalem. Salomon heard that Shimiyai I had left Jerusalem, had gone to Gath and returned, so the King sent for Shemi I demanded, didn't I make you swear by the Lord and mourn you not to go anywhere else so you would surely die? He replied, the sentence is fair. I will do as you say. Then, why haven't you kept your oath to the Lord and obeyed my command. King also said to SHEMII, you certainly remember all the wicked things you did to my father David. May the Lord now bring that evil on your own head. But may I King Solomon receive the Lord's blessings, and may one of David's descendants always sit on this throne in the presence of the Lord. Then at the King's command, ben I, sen of Johidah took SHEMIAI outside and killed him. So the kingdom was now firmly in Solomon's grip. Wow. Well, so everybody misbehaved, everybody stepped out of line just a little bit. And He's like, well, I was going to kill these guys anyway. Yeah, there's consequences to your decisions, right right yep. And so I mean these were the guys on David's list. Yeah, but he was trying to let them know this is on you, It's not on me, that's right, right, as as God's representative on earth here right now. Yeah, my job is to ex acute justice. That's what That's what a leader does, is he he is supposed to firmly and fairly apply justice. He tries to extend mercy to these guys. Shimmy, I man, David specifically, okay, do this for me. Don't let him go to Hell in peace, right, And Salomon goes, listen, just build a house inside the city. Don't leave the city. You're under house arrest the rest of your life. That's what he says. He literally puts it and then shimmy, I breaks the rules, and he goes, Okay, this is not you, this is not me. Right, he goes the gaff, which is a Philistine city, right, right, yeah, yeah. And so. By the way, you know, sometimes if you don't read a story in the Old Testament for a while, sometimes you you'll read it and you go, oh, I remember that, right, Like I didn't think I remember that, but now that I read it, like, I remember that, And that's. A much most of it. Right. Then there are some things you read it and you go, oh, I forgot that right, And that was one of them. At Anja, when I was reading this, I was like, oh, I don't really remember how this plays out. And then you're like blah blah blah blah blah, and you're like, day and he killed him. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm like, wow, I forgot that completely. Wow that was just that was just out of nowhere man. And yeah, but you know it ends the chapter by saying the kingdom was firmly in Solomon's grip. And again, uh, some of these things are just so brutal. But we do have to understand that, you know, back in those ancient days, when you know, even even moving the kingdom forward, I mean, think about David's entire assignment throughout his life was to go conquer your enemies and eliminate those who blasphemed against God. There was so much bloodshed, right, and so this is I mean, all three of these things are honestly sort of like ripple effects from from all of David's reign, Right, all three of them are and uh, and and so including obviously, uh, Solomon's older brother who you know who by the way, he approaches best Sheba and that she agrees. It's love. Love is love. How do you thwart love? Yeah? Right, so he comes and she hears a love story, and she goes, that's sweet. Yeah, I'll go talk to Solomon. Right, Solomon sees it exactly the opposite. Right. Abishag while still a virgin, was part of David's harem, So for for Ada and Niga to come and ask for and to take a woman from David's harem is like grabbing a part of David's kingdom, grabbing a part of his throne power. That's it was a power move, right, So she sees a love story. Solomon goes, that is not what he's doing, right, and so he's like, he's still he still desires our father's kingdom. That's what he wants, and so he wipes him out right. Yeah, yeah, he sees it for what it is. Yeah, there's a note here, by the way, so that's not original with me. I read this. It says that this is not a case. By the way, get yourself a good study Bible, right, because there's great notes to give perspective on stuff. Yeah, and first King's chapter two here in the Life Application Study Bible says this was not a case of thwarted love. Adam Nijah had more a mind than was supposed than his supposed love for Abishag. Although she was still a virgin, Abershagg was considered part of David's harem. Ada Nijah wanted Abshag because possessing the king's harem was equivalent to claiming the throne. Abslom had done the same thing in his rebellion against David. Remember, ye went and took a bunch of women from David's Yep, harem right. And that was also prophesied. Man, that's right. Solomon well understood what Adam Nija was trying to do. He was trying to send this because he comes to beth Sheba says, you know, the people really liked me. A lot of people are saying really wonderful things about me. Yeah. Well, he says to Solomon's mom, Yes, right, and he says, who's the they call it. There's a title for that. There's like the Queen, the queen, yeah, the queen mother, Queen mother. Yeah, And he says, as you know, the kingdom was rightfully mine all Israel wanted me to be the next king, but the table's returned and the kingdom went to my brother instead, and then and for that is the way that the Lord wanted it. So what he's saying is he's saying, as you know, I had the right, everybody wanted it, but apparently I submit to whatever God wants. Right. What a fake humility? Yeah, fake humility, I mean, what a goofy. But you can see how best sheep will go, oh, what a beautiful thing. This king wants this servant girl. I mean that this prince wants a servant girl. That's so sweet. I can see how she could get caught up in the story. And Solomon, being wise, sees through it and realizes it's fake humility, and he's trying to seize a part of my father's kingdom. He's reminding us that the people like him a lot. So what you see in this first chapter here in Solomon's reign is he wipes out all of his potential enemies at the very beginning. He eliminates them, but of their own hand, right right, it's their fault, their fault. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're doing right right, and so so yeah, I mean, Solomon is definitely set up for a great reign. And by the way, whenever you think about handing off leadership, uh this is sort of a stretch a little bit. But like you know, you know, always read a passage and. Say where's the sermon, and you know in the passage, uh, there's a sermon about handing off you know things. Well, now, the things that don't relate obviously are you know, power moves and and murder you know, those things don't relate. But like, for instance, having you seen organizations where uh, all the leader had to do was just use wisdom and if and if you just say, hey, if I do these five things, I'm going to hand off this uh, this company or this organization or this church or whatever it is, I'm going to hand it off well. And and and they seem like very sensible, common sense things, and yet people botch the handoff. And uh, and you know what, we talked about this earlier, but the choices of a leader affect the entire in this case, the entire kingdom, right, So had it been done poorly from the very very top, the kingdom would not have been in Solomon's grip. Things would have been chaotic, and the entire kingdom would have suffered. Right. So this is a clear setup of like, wow, this was a really great handoff that David handloff to Solomon. He gave him words of wisdom, and then Solomon buttons up all those potential enemies. And it seems like at this point, not even knowing what comes next, for a lot of readers, they would say, it seems like this is the best possible handoff that Solomon could be in Yeah. Yeah, well, so yesterday we kind of made fun of the fact that David said, you know, in his last breath, Hey, by the way, I need you to clean up these two messes. Yes, but that what we didn't talk about was the end of the end of the passage we read is said, and so Solomon's reign was firmly established. David wasn't always the best dad. I mean he didn't even ever one time correct at an Iija says right, not one time, right, So he wasn't always the best dad. But with Solomon, he he is here at the end trying to pass on wisdom, trying to help him lead, and all the enemies had been vanquished. There were a couple of enemies on the inside, but all the other enemies have been vanquished. And he gives Solomon instructions, Hey, this is do these, do these couple of things, and you are firmly established. And so it says that his the end of David's life, Solomon's reign was firmly established. Solomon does these things, which sounds to us like murder. It's not murder, it's government execution based on on on trader being you know, being a trader. Both two of these were based on being a trader. Well all three at an ij two that's right, right, he pulled out a coup, and so David is saying, you cannot trust traders. Traders never turn around. You have to execute them. And execution at the hands of the government is ordained by God uh for crime, right for capital crimes. And so he does here as that representative that doesn't give other people permission to go out and execute their enemies. This is a government decision. But from this point on, Solomon has a lot of peace in the rest of his kingdom. It's because David fought the battles and set his son up and he was firmly established. So these things were necessary in order to firmly establish his rule here. But then tomorrow, I think you see the shift in Solomon that sends Solomon into the stratosphere beyond his father's leadership. And it's because of what happens tomorrow. That's great, all right, Well, hey, that's our time, so hopefully we'll see you next time on the Bible Gush