1 Kings 2 · WEB
David's Final Charge and Solomon Secures His Kingdom
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Now the days of David drew near that he should die; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying,
2"I am going the way of all the earth. You be strong therefore, and show yourself a man;
3and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn yourself.
4That Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, 'If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.'
5"Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his sash that was about his waist, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
6Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don't let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
7But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for so they helped me when I fled from Absalom your brother.
8"Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.'
9Now therefore don't hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you shall bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood."
10David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
11The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years he reigned in Hebron, and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem.
12Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.
13Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably."
14He said moreover, "I have something to tell you." She said, "Say on."
15He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign; however the kingdom turned around and became my brother's; for it was his from Yahweh.
16Now I make one request of you; don't deny me." She said to him, "Say on."
17He said, "Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you 'no'), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife."
18Bathsheba said, "Very well. I will speak for you to the king."
19Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king's mother; and she sat on his right hand.
20Then she said, "I make one small request of you; don't deny me." He said to her, "Make your request, my mother; for I will not deny you."
21She said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife."
22King Solomon answered his mother, "Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is my elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah."
23Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, "God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life.
24Now therefore as Yahweh lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today."
25King Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.
26To Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you deserve death; but I will not at this time put you to death, because you bore the ark of the Lord Yahweh before David my father, and because you were afflicted in all in which my father was afflicted."
27So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, to fulfill the word of Yahweh which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he had not turned after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of Yahweh and caught hold of the horns of the altar.
29King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, fall on him."
30Benaiah came to the Tent of Yahweh and said to him, "The king says, 'Come out!'" He said, "No; for I will die here." Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Joab said thus and thus."
31The king said to him, "Do as he has said and fall on him and bury him, that you may take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me and from my father's house.
32Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, my father David not knowing it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.
33So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his offspring forever; but for David, and for his offspring, and for his house, and for his throne, there shall be peace forever from Yahweh."
34So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell on him and killed him; and he was buried at his own house in the wilderness.
35The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army; and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.
36The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and don't go away from there anywhere.
37For on the day you go out and pass over the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall surely die. Your blood shall be on your own head."
38Shimei said to the king, "The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39But it happened at the end of three years that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."
40Shimei arose and saddled his donkey and went to Gath to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.
41Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back.
42The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, "Didn't I adjure you by Yahweh and warn you, saying, 'Know for certain that on the day you go away anywhere, you shall surely die?' You said to me, 'The saying is good. I have heard it.'
43Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh and the commandment that I have charged you with?"
44The king said moreover to Shimei, "You know all the wickedness which your heart is privy to, that you did to David my father. Therefore Yahweh will return your wickedness on your own head.
45But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever."
46So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and fell on him, so that he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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Summary
David delivers his final charge to Solomon, urging him to walk faithfully in God's law as the condition for a lasting dynasty. After David's death, Solomon consolidates his kingdom by dealing with those who posed ongoing threats: Adonijah is executed for seeking Abishag (a political power play), Abiathar is exiled fulfilling a prophecy, Joab is killed for his past murders, and Shimei is executed for breaking the terms of his parole. The kingdom is now firmly established in Solomon's hand.
Themes
- Covenant faithfulness as the foundation of lasting rule
- Justice delayed is not justice denied — past sins catching up
- The fulfillment of earlier prophetic judgments (house of Eli)
- The importance of a father's godly legacy
Key verses
- 1 Kgs 2:2-3 — “Be strong therefore, and show yourself a man; and keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do.”
- 1 Kgs 2:4 — “If your children are careful of their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.”
- 1 Kgs 2:46 — “The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.”
Context & background
David's final words echo the Deuteronomic covenant (Deuteronomy 17:18-20), placing the king under the law of Moses. David is buried in the "City of David," the original Jebusite fortress on the southeastern hill of Jerusalem (modern Jerusalem, Israel). Anathoth, where Abiathar was exiled, is modern Anata, a village northeast of Jerusalem in the West Bank — a fitting fulfillment of 1 Samuel 2:31-36, where a man of God prophesied judgment on the house of Eli. Gath, where Shimei's servants fled, was a Philistine city in the Shephelah region of modern Israel.
Cross-references
- 1 Sam 2:31-36 — The prophecy against Eli's house, fulfilled by Abiathar's removal
- 2 Sam 3:27-30 — Joab's murder of Abner, the crime David now calls Solomon to avenge
- Acts 13:36 — Paul notes that David "served God's purpose in his own generation"
- Deut 17:18-20 — The law of the king, which David instructs Solomon to follow
- Ps 132:11-12 — God's conditional promise to David's dynasty