1 Kings 2:13-46

13 Now Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, "¹Do you come peacefully?" And he said, "Peacefully."

14 Then he said, "I have something to say to you." And she said, "Speak."

15 So he said, "You know that ²the kingdom was mine and ³that all Israel expected * me to be king; ⁴however, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, ⁵for it was his from the LORD.

16 "Now I am making one request of you; do not refuse me." And she said to him, "Speak."

17 Then he said, "Please speak to Solomon the king, for he will not refuse you, that he may give me ⁶Abishag the Shunammite as a wife."

18 Bathsheba said, "Very well; I will speak to the king for you."

Adonijah Executed

19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king arose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat on his throne; then he ⁷had a throne set for the king's mother, and ⁸she sat on his right.

20 Then she said, "I am making one small request of you; ⁹do not refuse me." And the king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will not refuse you."

21 So she said, "¹⁰Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as a wife."

22 King Solomon answered and said to his mother, "And why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? ¹¹Ask for him also the kingdom -¹²for he is my older brother -even for him, for ¹³Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah!"

23 Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "May God do so to me and more also, if Adonijah has ¹⁴not spoken this word against his own life.

24 "Now therefore, as the LORD lives, who has established me and set me on the throne of David my father and ¹⁵who has made me a house as He promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death today."

25 So King Solomon ¹⁶sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him so that he died.

26 Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, "¹⁷Go to Anathoth to your own field, ¹⁸for you deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because ¹⁹you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and because ²⁰you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted."

27 So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, in order to fulfill ²¹the word of the LORD, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Joab Executed

28 Now the news came to Joab, ²²for Joab had followed * Adonijah, ²³although he had not followed * Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and ²⁴took hold of the horns of the altar.

29 It was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD, and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon ²⁵sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, "²⁶Go, fall upon him."

30 So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, "Thus the king has said, 'Come out.' " But he said, "No, for I will die here." And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, "Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me."

31 The king said to him, "²⁷Do as he has spoken and fall upon him and bury him, ²⁸that you may remove from me and from my father's house the blood which Joab shed without cause.

32 "²⁹The LORD will return his blood on his own head, ³⁰because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he and killed them with the sword, while my father David did not know it: ³¹Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and ³²Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

33 "³³So shall their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but to David and his descendants and his house and his throne, may there be peace from the LORD forever *."

34 Then ³⁴Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and put him to death, and he was buried at his own house ³⁵in the wilderness.

35 ³⁶The king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in his place, and the king appointed ³⁷Zadok the priest ³⁸in the place of Abiathar.

Shimei Executed

36 Now the king sent and called for ³⁹Shimei and said to him, "Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place.

37 "For on the day you go out and ⁴⁰cross over the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely die; ⁴¹your blood shall be on your own head."

38 Shimei then said to the king, "The word is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

39 But it came about at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away ⁴²to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."

40 Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to look for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

41 It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.

42 So the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the LORD and solemnly warn you, saying, 'You will know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall surely die '? And you said to me, 'The word which I have heard is good.'

43 "Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the command which I have laid on you?"

44 The king also said to Shimei, "⁴³You know all the evil which you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore ⁴⁴the LORD shall return your evil on your own head.

45 "But King Solomon shall be blessed, and ⁴⁵the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever *."

46 ⁴⁶So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died. ⁴⁷Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.

Read Chapter Compare

1 Kings 2:13-46 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KING 2

This chapter gives an account of the charge David gave to his son Solomon, a little before his death, to walk in the ways of the Lord, 1Ki 2:1-4; and of some instructions delivered to him concerning some particular persons he should either show favour to, or execute justice on, 1Ki 2:5-9; and the next account in it is concerning his death and burial, and the years of his reign, 1Ki 2:10,11; after which it relates an address of Bathsheba to Solomon in favour of Adonijah, which was refused, and the issue of it was his death, 1Ki 2:12-25; and the deposition of Abiathar from the priesthood, 1Ki 2:26,27; and the putting of Joab to death for his treason and murders, 1Ki 2:28-34; in whose post Benaiah was put, as Zadok was in the place of Abiathar, 1Ki 2:35; and lastly the confinement of Shimei in Jerusalem, who had cursed David, 1Ki 2:36-38; who upon transgressing the orders given him was put to death, 1Ki 2:39-46.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 47

1. 1 Samuel 16:4
2. 2 Samuel 3:3, 4; 1 Kings 2:22
3. 1 Kings 1:5-25
4. 1 Kings 1:38-50
5. 1 Chronicles 22:9, 10; 1 Chronicles 28:5-7
6. 1 Kings 1:3, 4
7. 1 Kings 15:13
8. Psalms 45:9
9. 1 Kings 2:16
10. 1 Kings 1:3, 4
11. 2 Samuel 12:8
12. 1 Kings 1:6; 1 Kings 2:15; 1 Chronicles 3:2, 5
13. 1 Kings 1:7
14. Ruth 1:17
15. 2 Samuel 7:11, 13; 1 Chronicles 22:10
16. 2 Samuel 8:18
17. Joshua 21:18; Jeremiah 1:1
18. 1 Samuel 26:16
19. 1 Samuel 23:6; 2 Samuel 15:24-29
20. 1 Samuel 22:20-23; 1 Samuel 23:8, 9
21. 1 Samuel 2:27-36
22. 1 Kings 1:7
23. 2 Samuel 17:25; 2 Samuel 18:2
24. 1 Kings 1:50
25. 1 Kings 2:25
26. Exodus 21:14
27. Exodus 21:14
28. Numbers 35:33; Deuteronomy 19:13; Deuteronomy 21:8, 9
29. Genesis 9:6; Judges 9:24, 57; Psalms 7:16
30. 2 Chronicles 21:13, 14
31. 2 Samuel 3:27
32. 2 Samuel 20:9, 10
33. 2 Samuel 3:29
34. 1 Kings 2:25
35. Joshua 15:61; Matthew 3:1
36. 1 Kings 4:4
37. 1 Chronicles 6:53; 1 Chronicles 24:3; 1 Chronicles 29:22
38. 1 Kings 2:27
39. 2 Samuel 16:5; 1 Kings 2:8
40. 2 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 23:6; John 18:1
41. Joshua 2:19; 2 Samuel 1:16; Ezekiel 18:13
42. 1 Samuel 27:2
43. 2 Samuel 16:5-13
44. 1 Samuel 25:39; 2 Kin 11:1, 12-16; Psalms 7:16
45. 2 Samuel 7:13; Proverbs 25:5
46. 1 Kings 2:25, 34
47. 1 Kings 2:12; 2 Chronicles 1:1

Footnotes 13

[a]. Lit "set their faces on me"
[b]. Lit "turn away my face"
[c]. Lit "turn away your face"
[d]. Lit "turn away my face"
[e]. Lit "turn away your face"
[f]. Lit "soul"
[g]. Lit "are a man of death"
[h]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD
[i]. Lit "seed"
[j]. Lit "seed"
[k]. Or "wadi"
[l]. Lit "commanded"
[m]. Lit "your heart acknowledges"