By Herbert E. Douglass
A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for June 29–July 5, 2002, on 1 Kings 1
Anyone wanting a plot for a world-class novel should look no further than 1 King 1. It doesn’t take much imagination to see what a Hollywood producer could make out of this chapter.
King David is old, physically decrepit, and surrounded by intrigue. His trusted friends have joined the opposition, and his own son is plotting a palace coup even before his father has died!
Instead of waiting until his father’s death, fearful of his younger brother’s claim to the throne, Adonijah and his counselors planned a covert move that the nation most probably would have accepted. Adonijah was smart enough to enlist the support of Joab, general of the army, and of Abiathar, the priest. The army and the church—exactly what any South American politician would want secured! Besides, Adonijah was TV glamour: "a very good-looking man" (1 Kings 1:6).
Why wasn’t Adonijah David’s choice to succeed him’ He was everything that would captivate the multitudes—except that he was a spoiled kid! And this was his father’s fault, probably more than his own: "His father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, ’Why have you done so’’" (v. 6). Amazing how the sins of the father come back to haunt the parent!
An unbridled young man with the trappings of royalty soon became a loose cannon. Arrogantly, he declared, "I will be king." Passion overran principle. He knew that God had endorsed his younger brother, Solomon, to be king. But he knew that he could find sympathizers for his own kingship among the nation’s leaders, those who had guilt to bear and a wish to even matters with David.
But what he did not count on was a few tested leaders who had maintained their integrity. Greedy, power-hungry, and talented people have difficulty believing that integrity can be strong as granite. Adonijah, Joab, and Abiathar did not count on the sagacity of Nathan, Zadok, and Beniah (three leaders who were left out of the palace coup). Nor the sharp thinking of Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Their strategy in engaging tired David is a masterpiece, their timing is impeccable, and David’s old, tested mind could still think straight and fast. Not a move was too much or too little.
Imagine, outsmarting the army and the church and installing one’s successor even before one’s death! David was a worthy king, in most respects. He showed us how to sing in tough times and how to trust the Lord when all seemed lost on many occasions. Yet, his moral backbone seemed to have been broken in nurturing his own children to develop their own stamina and towering trust in God.
Not a great way to end a long life, his own home and kingdom unraveling—but when clear thinking was needed, David stepped up to the plate and saved the game. Something terribly messy had been nipped because integrity and honor prevailed.
What a lesson for contemporaries, as men and women jockey for position in the church, in business ownership, and in the nation! Integrity is a rare commodity; personal grasping is the rule of the day. Fellow conspirators are pulled into the vortex of shady politics and left to twist in the wind.
It’s all in that first chapter of First Kings.
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