Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Plotting Against the Lord

Reflections on 1 Kings 1:5-10

Israel still had a hankering for a king like the nations, one who would conquer the nations and provide them with pomp and pageantry. David's sons Absalom and Adonijah wanted to be such a king.

AMBITION. Like Absalom, Adonijah was handsome and ambitious. Being the oldest living son, he promoted himself by sending chariots, horses, and fifty men to run ahead of him. Then he secured the support of David's army commander, Joab, and one of the priests, Abiathar, who had been a companion of David from the time Saul killed the priests in Nob (1 Samuel 22:20). Finally, he invited many of the royal family and leading men to a sacrifice at En Rogel, a well not far southeast of Jerusalem, where he proclaimed himself king.

DEFIANCE. Adonijah knew that his father planned to make Solomon king after him, but he defied his father's wishes. He did not invite Solomon or any of David's inner circle including Zadok the priest, Benaiah the commander of David's personal bodyguard, and Nathan the prophet. No doubt Adonijah did not want them to know what he planned before it was done. Once he had been proclaimed king, he apparently felt quite sure that the doting and aging king neither would nor could remove him from the throne.

What Adonijah did not realize is that he wasn't plotting against his father but against the Lord. Because God had chosen Solomon to be the next king, no plan would successfully displace him.
There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.
-- Proverbs 21:30

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