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Today’s reading tells the stories of the beginning of the ministry of Elisha, the successor of Elijah. But before we look at the application, let’s look at a few helps…

• Sons of the prophets — From as early as the times of Saul prophets often gathered together (1 Sam. 10:5) for mutual uplift, the collection of prophecies, perhaps doing some teaching, and possibly even the gathering and writing of sacred history. In the reading today, Elijah seemed to have been their leader and Elisha succeeds him.
• Double portion — This is a reference to inheritance law, in which the firstborn son received a double portion of an inheritance (and the leadership of the family). When Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, he is asking for the firstborn son’s portion and the leadership of the sons of the prophets that it implied.
• Tearing one’s clothing — This was and still is a common way for middle eastern peoples to demonstrate grief. When Elisha torn his garment into two pieces he was demonstrating extreme grief.

 Success with a successor — Elijah’s work had been so heavy that it had worn him down completely. God was gracious in carrying him on to glory by the fiery chariot, per Elijah’s own request. But Elijah’s work was not finished and he needed a successor. Elisha requested this honor and responsibility and God granted it to him. God’s work goes on and it continues on so much better, when we’ve trained and equipped others to serve as we have. The apostle Paul had a protege, Timothy, who traveled with him, suffered with him, and evangelized with him. It is then to Timothy that Paul writes at the close of Paul’s life, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2, NAS95. Who have you trained to do what you do in Christ?

Don’t mock the servant of the Lord — Sometimes the story of 2 Kings 2:23ff is thought rather cruel punishment for a little disrespect, but disrespect for God’s servant (especially in the very pro-pagan atmosphere of this era) was disrespect for God Himself. It’s difficult to respect the message, if you disrespect the messenger. This is not to say that kidding around with the preacher or the elders is forbidden, nor is it to say that one may not disagree with a leader, but it is to say that serious disrespect is taken seriously by God.

No fellowship with evil — It’s just a one-liner, but it says a lot: “Elisha said, ‘As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look at you nor see you.’” 2 Kings 3:14, NAS95. Paul teaches us to be careful of our associations:

“Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. “AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, NAS95.

This is not to say — I’m saying that a lot today — that we can’t have any association at all with sinful people, because might need to flee to the desert. It is to say, however, that we need to be careful who our close associates are, the people we are close friends with, the people who will influence us in our lives. And especially if our association with someone sinful lends the sinful person an air of goodness, refuse it — this was the case in the story of Elisha and King Jehoram. Elisha didn’t want to lend any spiritual credibility to an idolator.

Purpose of miracles — Elisha performed a number of miracles in the next several verses: provision of oil to sell for a widow, promises and predicts a son for the Shunammite, woman, raising the dead son, fixing the poisonous stew, and feeding a multitude. It was not for the purpose of showing everyone how “cool” Elisha was, but rather to give credibility to what he said — the major point of every miraculous sign. It’s never just about compassion (even though that is there) or power (although that’s obvious) or about defeating an enemy — it’s more about the true source of the revelation that comes with them. People won’t obey unless they understand that it is really God who has said it. That’s why the miracles of the Bible are important and why those who want to “debunk” the miracles are so destructive. If the biblical miracles are just so much legend and myth, the authority of the Bible itself is seriously undermined, it ceases to be a word from God and becomes just another well-written ancient text. But if the miracles are witnessed and verifiable and authentic, then the Bible is the very word of God and must be taken very seriously.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

The stories about Ahab, Elijah, and the northern kingdom of Israel provides lots of interesting food for thought. As always there’s far more here than I have time or space to comment on, but if you’ve got some lessons out of these readings that I might have missed you’re welcome to point them out in your comments. But for now let’s dive right on in and think about these great stories today.

Get busy and get better — We left Elijah going from a great high to a great low. He had managed to prove the LORD to be the only God and eliminate hundreds of pagan prophets from Israel all with one fell swoop. It looked like everything was finally — finally — going right after all his years of struggling against Baal and Ashteroth worship. But then Jezebel threatened his life and suddenly things were at their lowest ebb for Elijah. He ran; he crossed over to Judah (Beersheba) and then headed for Horeb, Mt. Sinai (which, by the way, is likely in Arabia, Jabal al Lawz). Elijah was in despair, he was ready to give up, he was asking to simply die. But instead of allowing Elijah to wallow in despair, God gave Elijah something to do. Here’s a principle for elevating our spirits — action, doing something meaningful. When we’re down, the last thing we want to do is to do something — in reality it is the most important thing we can do. Get busy and get better.

Can God be localized? — It was a common thought in the ancient world that the gods were localized to particular nations or regions or even terrain. When the Arameans, led by Ben-hadad, were defeated by Ahab and Israel, servants of Ben-hadad pressed the king for another campaign against Israel. They reasoned that Israel’s God was a God of the mountains, and if they attacked in the plains, they could win. In other words, God could be contained, localized. We might chuckle at such a thought, but there are still versions and traces of this thought in our own times. For example, cursing in a church or in front of the preacher is mostly unthinkable, but get away from the church or the preacher and the curses and vulgar language begins to fly fluently again, as if God can’t hear us or see what we’re doing now. But, of course, God does hear and see; and God’s arm is certainly long enough to punish each and every evil doer.

Is compassion always called for? — God gave a rout of a victory to Ahab over the Aramens. Israel’s victory was so great that the powerful king Ben-hadad was cornered and captured. But instead of killing this enemy of God, Ahab accepted cities and a covenant from Ben-hadad. Perhaps Ahab thought that diplomacy, peaceful coexistence, and tolerance was the more appropriate approach. But he was wrong. God was displeased and sent a prophet with a parable-like prophecy of punishment to Ahab. This isn’t said to recommend or sanction revenge, unforgiveness, bitterness, or hatred. It is not to say that compassion and mercy aren’t really important toward others (it’s what the Lord has done for us). It is to say, however, that those in positions of leadership that opt for “compassion” and tolerance within the family, the church, etc. are not doing anyone a favor. The Arameans came back at Israel again and again

What a turn around! — Ahab was a bad king. The Scriptures says, “Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him. He acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the LORD cast out before the sons of Israel.” 1 Kings 21:25, 26, NAS95. And yet when Ahab heard the words of Elijah about God’s plans to bring down him and his whole family, he did repent! This ought to give hope and encouragement to anyone who has lived a sinful life. So often those who would like to turn toward God are put off by a misperception that Christianity, forgiveness, hope, and Heaven is only for the good, not for them. How wrong!! Even God, who saw Ahab’s heart, seems to have been impressed.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Today we start the exciting stories of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. But before I launch off into a few thoughts about applications, I thought a little clarification could be useful. There’ve been a few “regime changes” in the northern kingdom that look like this:

• Jeroboam I: Led secession of Israel.
• — Nadab: Son of Jeroboam I.
• Baasha: Overthrew Nadab.
• — Elah: Son of Baasha.
• Zimri: Overthrew Elah.
• Omri: Overthrew Zimri.
• — Ahab: Son of Omri; husband of Jezebel

Hope —Things in Israel were religiously bad and by the time that Ahab takes the throne, they were really bad. If God Himself was only counting 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal out of a nation of a few million, idolatry must have been everywhere. Even archaeology has confirmed this with the discovery of so many Ashteroth figurines from that era that some archaeologists have wondered whether the worship of the LORD had been totally eclipsed by Baal and Ashteroth worship. But God was able to turn even this around in time — sadly only after the exile to Assyria and Babylon, but it got turned around. This ought to give us hope for our times; as bad as things are around us, God and His Word and His people can still turn things around. So, folks we’ve our work cut out for us.

Discouragement can defeat us just when we might be the most effective — And speaking of our work being cut out for us, we, like Elijah can get discouraged at just the wrong time. What happened is understandable; Elijah made so a powerful a point on Mt. Carmel that the witnesses killed all the prophets of Baal and Ashteroth. Elijah had to be on top of the world, perhaps thinking that he had in one stroke changed the tide. And to put an exclamation point on the fire coming down from heaven on Elijah’s altar, Elijah then prays for rain for the land — and it happens. But then Jezebel makes her threat, and all the fight drains right out of Elijah right on the cusp of making significant headway. After fighting paganism for decades maybe he just lost all hope. Maybe the thing to remember here is that with God there’s always hope. “The covenant love of the LORD never ceases, His mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness! The LORD is my portion says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him.” (Lam. 3:22-24).

Who was the real troubler? — Ahab’s remark, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” is so typical of a world eyeball deep in denial and blame shifting. It’s not the sins, the foolishness, the dysfunction, the lusts, the hatreds, the selfishness, or the corruption that the problem. It’s God, it’s those goody-two-shoes Christians, it’s religion that’s been the problem all along — “Imagine”. It’s God that kicked mankind out of Eden! It’s God that separated them from the tree of life. It’s all those rules. Sounds suspiciously like an adolescent in trouble on report card day— if it weren’t for those stupid tests and the homework and the fact that my teachers don’t like me, I’d have done alright. Listen, God is always right, period. When we sin, we are responsible for messing things up for ourselves and others; we become the troublers of our own and others’ lives. Let’s own our own troublesome ways and change them. How much better would it have been for Ahab to have said, “I repent”? How much better would it for us and others, if we’d just repent, change, instead dodging responsibility. Yes, I know that life is often complex and we are often provoked into sin, but we are still responsible and need to do better.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

As we enter into the era of the divided kingdom, it will be important to pay attention to some key phrases, in order to keep the stories straight in your mind. The biblical writer in 2 Kings is telling the stories of both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. To some folks Israel and Judah are almost synonymous, but you will need to notice not just a king’s name but what kingdom he rules, because sometimes the kings had similar or exactly the same names. Don’t let that tempt you to give up the quest to read through the whole Bible. Some people make two column lists to keep things straight, one list for the kings of Israel and one list for the kings of Judah.

You’re going to like the stuff you’re going to be reading here. You might even be surprised at how much applies directly to modern issues. And we begin with Jeroboam, king of Israel.

“But I really like it”; Stubbornness and the disciple — You’ll remember from yesterday’s reading Jeroboam had changed the patterns of the worship of the LORD, “which he had devised in his own heart” (12:33).  At the beginning of chapter 13 Jeroboam is (apparently) initiating the altar set before the calf-like representation of the LORD in Bethel. But as Jeroboam is about to offer incense a prophet (“man of God”) from Judah cries out a disturbing and dark prophecy against the altar (and by extension, the whole bundle of the “sins of Jeroboam”).

“…O altar, altar, thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.…This is the sign which the LORD has spoken, ‘Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out.’” 1 Kings 13:2, 3, NAS95.

Jeroboam shouted an order to seize the prophet, gesturing with his hand; but his hand (arm) became paralyzed (withered) immediately. At the same time the altar itself split open and the ashes poured out! What the prophet had said had not been his private interpretation or opinion; it was the truth, verified by the sign. God was not pleased, and was intending to punish and dishonor those who participated in such worship. Jeroboam seems at first to “get it”, asks for healing, and even offers to reward the prophet (a customary financial consideration for prophets you respected). But oddly enough, Jeroboam stubborn heart led him to continue doing what God was calling displeasing. Do people do this today? “Oh, I know what the Bible says, but I think…” And by the way, this could apply just as easily to personal morality, personal relationships, discipleship, involvement in good works, and doctrine as it does to a pattern of worship.

When gullibility could be a sin — Then there’s the “sub-story” about the prophet who uttered the dark prophecy about the altar at Bethel, the “man of God”. The LORD had specifically told him that he should go to Bethel, proclaim the prophecy, and return home immediately, without eating or drinking anything, by a different road. But when an older prophet caught up with him and lied to him about how God had changed His mind, the “man of God” believed him, returned to Bethel, ate and drank — and while returning home was killed by a lion for punishment. Why didn’t he check with God first? Why would he just assume that the old prophet was telling the truth and that God had really changed His mind? Sometimes, rarely, God does change His mind; for example, about destroying Israel in the wilderness (Ex. 32:14) and in the change of covenants (see Hebrews 8:13). But it is rare. So, before we assume that God has made some changes in His commands, shouldn’t we have the strongest possible proof? Sadly, good folks even today are often taken in by the same scam as this “man of God” by never checking with the Lord. “Well, that’s the way things used to be in the Bible and in Christianity, but this is the 21st century and things have changed!” Looks like to me, gullibility might be a good way to get eaten by a lion (see 1 Peter 5:8).

Real leadership — Well, because of Jeroboam’s stubborn heart, God replaces Jeroboam’s dynasty (family of rulers) with Baasha’s family. And meanwhile, Rehoboam, king of Judah, has not been obedient either. Idolatry and male cult prostitutes were allowed, and as punishment God allowed Shishak of Egypt to plunder Judah’s treasure of Solomon’s gold. But David’s dynasty was allowed to continue and Ahijah, Asa, and Jehoshaphat followed Rehoboam on the throne. Each new king was either rewarded or punished by God according to, not his popularity or economic policies or executive skills, but his faithfulness. How do we judge our own leaders — political and religious? Is good leadership about popularity, clever politics, diplomacy, international relations, prosperity, military victory, larger buildings, or technological advancement? Or is it about morality, character, wisdom, and trust in God? Of course, it would be great to have both; but as a modern democracy we often settle for the first set of criteria, seldom seriously considering the second.

Wholly devoted — How much devotion is enough? It’s a pity, but sometimes we try to enter to Heaven or gain God’s blessings on the discount plan. Asa’s specific problem, according to Scripture, was “He walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, like the heart of his father David.” 1 Kings 15:3, NAS95. In other words, Asa was trying a little bit of this and little bit of that, hoping to hedge his “bets” in the religious world (a common religious strategy among pagan kings), hoping that he was offering to God enough worship and sacrifice that God would bless him and the kingdom of Judah. The problem is that the LORD won’t settle for partial devotion. Where do your devotions lay?

Tell me what YOU think.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

A few helps:

• Sheba (as in “Queen of”) — a kingdom on the southern Arabian penisula, roughly equivalent to modern day Yemen (though probably smaller). It’s location made trade with the riches nations in the world easy. The Queen of Sheba’s trip to visit Solomon probably had commercial motives, having heard of Israel’s wealth.
• Ophir — mentioned twice earlier in the Bible: once as a patriarch of a nation in Gen. 10:29, and then as a source of fine gold in 1 Kings 9:28. Ophir’s specific location remains unknown, but the best guesses are that it may be southern Arabia on the coast of the Red Sea or a city in the middle of what is now the Arabian Desert. This second theory about the location of Ophir comes from a Biblical Archaeology Review article (that I’m having a hard time putting my hands on at the present).
• Shekel — about .025 pounds or 15 grams
• Mina — about 1.25 pounds
• Tarshish — often considered a reference to Spain (since it is located near Gibraltar) or some city in Spain. Recently there has been speculation that Tarshish may be the fabled Atlantis.
• Chemosh and Molech — gods of the Moab and Ammon respectively who sometimes required the burning of children in sacrifice. Milcom is often identified as another pronunciation of Molech.
• Ashtoreth — goddess fertility, sex, and war of the Sidonians; sometimes known as Astarte; she is also the goddess of the moon. She is not to be confused with Asherah, a different goddess.

How blessed — The Queen of Sheba said, “How blessed are your men, how blessed are these your servants who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom.” 1 Kings 10:8, NAS95. How much more blessed are we Christians who stand before our Lord (Solomon’s antitype) continually and hear His wisdom — which surpasses even Solomon’s! But the operative words are “stand before” (to read His word) and “hear” (as in listen, really listen) to His wisdom.

The danger of mixed religious marriage — When it comes to matters of the heart we are often rather closed-minded and a little brain-dead. Our hormones and the natural and normal sexual attraction kick in, and suddenly our truth-o-meter, danger-o-meter, and “is-this-a-good-idea?”-o-meter go non-functional. Fortunately, one of the criteria that God gives us about a good marriage is that it needs to be to someone who’s a faithful worshipper of the one true God — a faithful Israelite in the Old Testament and and faithful Christian in the New Testament. Why? Solomon demonstrates in tragic detail that who you marry will have an influence on you. In Solomon we see someone with great power, wisdom, and spiritual strength, who marries a number of women who were worshippers of other gods. In a matter of a few years, a king who had the prospects of being truly great finished his life for the worse — being the specific reason for the divided kingdom (not really his son Rehoboam, who is commonly credited for making a stupid political move). Be careful who you marry. A wise teacher of mine counseled a class full of potential preachers to be sure to “marry up, spiritually”.

This will certainly mean that you’ll want to date strong Christians, too, since in our culture you marry someone that you date. Don’t make the mistake of falling in love with someone who’s not a Christian and then having to make the heart-rending decision to break things off, because they don’t want to follow Jesus. If you are interested in dating someone who is not a Christian, start the relationship off — yes, start the relationship with this — talking about the Lord.

The real reason for the divided kingdom — As I mentioned earlier, it was really Solomon’s fault for the division of the kingdom, not Rehoboam. No matter how much of a super-star you might be, you don’t get “a pass” with God on worship, loyalty, faithfulness, etc.

Just a few minor tweaks — Jeroboam, the new king of the northern kingdom of Israel, was fearful for his new kingdom. “What if, at the next major festival, the people of the two kingdoms reconcile? They’ll kill me, and make Rehoboam, of the house of David and Solomon, their king!” So, Jeroboam made a few changes in the worship of the one true God to make sure that Israel stayed divided. Some of them were calculated to keep Israel from Judah and some were to make the “new and improved” religion more attractive. Please note in this text that worship continued to be aimed at the same God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and David. The differences were in details:

• idolatry was added — golden calves were made to represent the true God (see v. 28)
• the place of worship was changed — instead of Jerusalem, you could now conveniently worship at either Dan in the north or Bethel in the south. “It is too much for you to go to Jerusalem” (v. 28, 29)
• he made houses (shrines complete with altars) on high places — although worship on high places were forbidden (Deut. 12:5).
• appointment of priests from among any tribe — it was no longer required that the worship was to be lead or conducted by the Levites
• the “Day of Atonement” and “Feast of Booths” was shifted from the 7th month to the 8th month

These changes became known later in the Old Testament as the infamous “sins of Jeroboam” (e.g., 1 Kings 13:34, 14:16; 15:30; 15:34; 16:2; 16:19; 16:26; 16:31; 21:22; and more). We should take note, shouldn’t we? God isn’t pleased with changing his patterns. Jeroboam and other kings of Israel were deposed by the Lord, because of these sins. Can we change God’s pattern in the New Testament and expect God to be pleased?  God is most pleased, when we stick with His pattern — no tweaks necessary or welcome, minor or otherwise.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

Solomon’s story is truly an example of what can happen, when the LORD is blessing us. Today’s reading continues with Solomon’s meteoric rise in power, wisdom, and riches.

In short order Solomon has organized his government and exercised wide control over neighboring nations from the west bank of the Euphrates down to the border of Egypt. God had certainly fulfilled His promises: to Abraham (4:20), to David (2 Sam. 7), and to Solomon (3:10ff). Solomon and his reign was the pinnacle of Israel’s prosperity and righteousness; the perfect type to Jesus Christ’s antitype.

And like Solomon who built the Temple, Jesus built the greater and lasting Temple of God, the church. The Temple of Solomon was a fabulous structure. It was constructed of costly stones, costly panels of cedar, and overlaid with gold. It was second to none in beauty and grandeur, suitable for the one and only true and living God.

And when Jesus built His church (“in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,” Ephesians 2:21, NAS95.) it likewise is second to none, perfect, needing no improvements by men.

As a reflection, I went to a funeral today. It was in a Catholic Church. The church was old, but it was really quite beautiful with coffered ceiling, lots of beautiful stained glass, and well-done architecture overall. From a material perspective it was a beautiful “church”. People like to build beautiful churches, because they want to offer to God their best. But the Bible never refers to the church as a building, the church is always God’s people. So the really important question is not how beautiful your building is, but how beautiful your church is to God? And what would God see as real beauty?

Faithfulness to His commands and teachings? Compelled by genuine love and commitment to Him? A real love for each other? Godliness? Compassion for the poor, the weak, and the helpless? Light in a dark world? Purity in the midst of corruption? Holiness? Full of good works? Courageous? Ready and willing to share the Gospel? A people who really know Him and His word?

The gold is great to human eye, the stained glass may sparkle, the architecture may impress men; but they aren’t what the Lord is looking for. Let’s offer to God our true best, which isn’t marble and artwork and baroque finish work. Our true best is harder to deliver, because our true best isn’t material, it is our best discipleship.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

David, in our reading today, is at the end of his life and reign, but that doesn’t mean that the excitement is over. The transition from David to the next king turns out to have a few bumps.

As David grows older, his health declines, including difficulty even staying warm. His staff’s solution was a beautiful new wife, who would serve him as a nurse. You might wonder at first why this relatively insignificant detail, taking up only 4 verses, was included in the biblical text; but it does become a key fact by the end of chapter 2.

Adonijah wants to be king, and as in many other arenas of life, he who gets there first wins. Adonijah appears to have known that David’s official selection of a successor to the throne was Solomon; so knowing that David is nearing death, He has to move preemptively to gain the throne. He consulted with Joab (David’s general) and Abiathar (one of the priests acting as high priest) and put together a coronation feast at En-Rogel (just a few hundred yards southeast of the city of David). And to try to make it look official, he invited David’s other sons (with the exception of Solomon) and the leaders of Judah.

This came to the attention of Nathan the prophet who quickly consulted with Bathsheba, Zadok, and David. David quickly orders a separate coronation ceremony that is made to look much more official:

“The king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel, and blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ “Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne and be king in my place; for I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and Judah.”” 1 Kings 1:33-35, NAS95.

When Adonijah’s guests heard that David had officially appointed Solomon king, they scattered like cockroaches, when the light is turned on — they understood that attending Adonijah’s shin-dig could easily be seen as treason. Adonijah, realizing that he had lost his bid for the throne, ran to grad hold of the horns of the altar, a traditional way to ask for clemency, which Solomon granted — until Adonijah’s next false move.

Isn’t there a lesson here? Everybody wants to be top dog, but if everybody IS top dog, society and civilization devolves into chaos and anarchy. Usurping authority is not approved by God, whether it is in Adonijah’s case, a children-over-parents case, a wife-over-a-husband case, or a religious leader exceeding his proper limits of authority. Sometimes humility and learning how to follow and obey is where our real duty and the right thing for us lies.

Moving further into the reading today, we don’t know how long Solomon served as king before David finally died, but it was long enough for David to assess the situation and give his son, the king, some sage advice about what was going to be necessary to establish his rule as king. David, quite rightly began with having the right character: “Be strong, show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the LORD.” Many of us might have skipped directly to the politics of things, but David had gained a lot of wisdom of 40 years as king. Don’t neglect the spiritual matters; they are the real guardians of success — if only we’d do it now….

But he also pointed out to Solomon the political necessities to establish himself as king — i.e., effectively cleaning house of those with grudges, divided loyalties, and tendency to be loose cannons. Cleaning house is not easy and usually not pleasant, but it is important — in the world of politics and even in the midst of God’s modern people, the church.

But cleaning house didn’t just drop out of the clear blue sky; Adonijah’s subtle play for the throne, “just” asking for Abishag as a wife, triggered a need for Solomon to definitively put down the treason. As I noted in the story of Absalom and David’s concubines, to have sex with a king’s wife was to claim his throne, and that’s why Solomon’s response to Bathsheba’s naive request to give Abishag to Adonijah was so seemingly abrupt — essentially, “And why not just give him my throne?” This was Adonijah’s attempt to trick a young and inexperienced king our of his throne. It failed miserably and set off a series of events that firmly established Solomon as undisputed king of Israel. By the time the house cleaning was over, Joab had been executed, Abiathar had been fired as high priest and banished from Jerusalem, Shimei son of Gera had been executed, and loyal supporters of put in places of power and support.

The issue of Solomon at Gibeon’s high place — Humans being social beings are often greatly susceptible to popular influence — not that we should be, but it’s the way we’re built. King Saul stopped short of complete obedience, because of popular opinion; and even Solomon was influenced by the popular belief that offering sacrifices just anywhere would be fine, as long as they were offered to the LORD. So, he offered sacrifices to the LORD at Gibeon (recognized widely as “the great high place”). We’ve noted before that the Bible really does tell its stories “fair and balanced”, and this is yet one more example of it.

During the sacrificial ceremonies (he offered 1000 offerings!) Solomon had a dream from the LORD. In this dream God offered to give Solomon anything he wanted — wealth, power, long life, the life of his enemies — and Solomon chose wisdom. God was pleased with this choice and gave him what he asked for and all the rest, too.

We shouldn’t take this gift from God as being tacit approval of his sacrifices — it is specified as a sin in Deut. 12:5ff and Lev. 17:3,5 and is one of the reasons given for Israel’s and Judah’s later exile. An interesting affirmation that Solomon knew this in his heart of hearts is the fact that after this great gift, Solomon returned directly to Jerusalem, where the Tabernacle and the authorized altar of the Lord was located, and made an offering to the LORD there. This clearly demonstrates that Solomon perceived that he needed to repent of his previous sacrifice — that what he had done, popular or not, wasn’t pleasing to the LORD. This has application to popular modern worship, too. Worship is not about polls, not about what everybody else is doing, not about what we think is good or beautiful. Worship is about what pleases the LORD.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

With today’s reading we finish the book of 2 Samuel, and 95% of David’s life. The writer of 2 Samuel gives us here, at the end of the book and toward the close of what is known about David’s life, an inspiring summary of the man after God’s own heart. David certainly had his weaknesses — adultery, deceit, murder, violence, a surprising permissiveness toward his own household, and sometimes an even a greater faith in politics and military might than in God — but his heart still belonged to the Lord. His failings, as serious as they were, weren’t typical of his life; rather they were the exceptions. And that should give courage to all us Christian strugglers.

Chapter 22 is essentially Psalm 18 — a beautiful psalm that expresses David’s great faith and love for God. It is, in fact, the basis of a song that you are likely to sing in worship or a youth group devotional, “I will call upon the Lord”. Part of its beauty is its background and context in David’s life, at the pinnacle of his reign, before his sin with Bathsheba. David had seen more than just a little struggle in his life — not only on the battlefield, but as an outlaw, as a new king with a rival, as the leader of a rising regional power, and more. But through them all, David had overcome by relying on God and doing what was right.

Now, of course, it must be realized that righteousness is no guarantor of protection (witness: Job), however, righteousness, being the wisdom of God, quite naturally has good and positive outcomes for those who obey. And there is no better way to please the One who has the power to protect, to deliver, to rescue, and to reward than to be obedient from the heart out of love. This is David’s praise to God and wise counsel to all of us. There is no praise as elegant in God’s eyes as obedience offered in love. Conversely, there is no praise as empty, there is no proclamation of love as hollow as that offered by the disobedient.

In chapter 23 the focus switches to David’s mighty men. There are some great mini-stories here, not the least of which is the relatively famous story of the water his loyal men fetched for him from Bethlehem as a gift. Sometimes readers have difficulty understanding why David would pour it out on the ground and refuse to drink it. From our perspective it looks a little like ingratitude to a virtual herculean task. But actually, this was a high compliment to both his men and to God. The water brought to David at such great risk was considered by David to be too precious by far to be consumed in a gulp. By giving it to God in a libation offering, David expressed to his men how very, very much he appreciated what they had done and in what high esteem he held their gift — only the very best was good enough for the LORD. And David was expressing to God how much he loved Him — offering to the LORD something so highly esteemed and rare. What have you offered to the LORD lately?

Finally, David “stumps his toe” one more time in his faith. That was what was wrong with the census; it was a failure of faith in God. 35 to 40 years before this David would have been saying,

“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. “This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”” 1 Samuel 17:45-47, NAS95.

For this unfaithfulness, God (to make a long story short) sent a plague on David’s kingdom, which would among other things make David’s previous census meaningless. In a desperate attempt to stop the plague that was ravaging his people, David (on advice from Gad, the prophet) sought to buy the threshing floor of Araunah, just to the north of the City of David (the older part of Jerusalem) to build an altar and offer a sacrifice. When Araunah found out why David wanted to buy the threshing floor, he was “all in” and wanted to give David the threshing floor, the oxen, and threshing sledges to perform this offering. But David, showing his older and truer spiritual sensibilities, refused:

“…“No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” 2 Samuel 24:24, NAS95.

David would only offer to the LORD what cost him something. There’s no “re-gifting” for David, when it came to the LORD. There was nothing second-hand or second-best or discounted for God — God deserved the best, the most precious.

And by the way, part of the reason that this story is told is because the offering was effective and this was the place where the plague stopped. Therefore, it became the place for the Temple of Solomon, the hill just to the north of old Jerusalem. Which is also the traditional spot of Moriah, the place where Abraham offered Isaac.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.