In 1 and 2 Kings we are considering lessons in faith: we move from the end of David’s life and the transition to Solomon and subsequent monarchs.
We could almost entitle these books: Will God Keep His Promise? Because even from the first chapter of the first book the great threat is the possibility (that is what is put before us) of the promise of God not being fulfilled, not being kept. And Solomon not succeeding David, his father, as king.
It was through Solomon that the line for the Messiah runs. The son promised to David, through whom will eventually come the great Descendant, the coming Messiah. The one through whom all the nations of the world would be blessed, as God promised to Abraham. But now there is a plot to usurp Solomon, for him to be executed, and for the vain, boastful, spoilt Adonijah to become king.
So the tension from the beginning of 1 Kings is: can the promise be fulfilled? Even in this seemingly impossible situation, with the failing of a dying, almost insensible old man as king, courtiers panicking, the danger of an armed coup, and the real possibility of things going radically wrong?
But 1 and 2 Kings are all about lessons in faith. Earthly so-called wisdom – resorting in desperation to the ungodly customs of the time – sees everyone trying to take matters into their own hands, to revive the king (who is seemingly not in his senses) using unwise methods. It is not the court of David at its best.
But God is sovereign. What He says will come to pass. And it does – in His time. Solomon does become king; the rebellion is overthrown and order is restored. There are so many lessons from the reign of Solomon and the following kings for us today.
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