← All Chapters The Book of 1 Kings · Chapter 2

1 Kings 2: A Father's Charge, a Throne Secured

David charges Solomon to walk faithfully and settle old accounts, then dies; Solomon removes his rivals and his kingdom is firmly established.

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1 Kings 2 (WEB)

1 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;

3 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, and wherever you turn yourself.

4 That Yahweh may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ he said, ‘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.

6 Do therefore according to your wisdom, and don’t let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.

7 But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at your table; for so they came to 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.’

9 Now 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.”

10 David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

11 The days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

12 Solomon sat on the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established.

13 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. She said, “Do you come peaceably?” He said, “Peaceably.

14 He said moreover, I have something to tell you.” She said, “Say on.”

15 He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned around, and has become my brother’s; for it was his from Yahweh.

16 Now I ask one petition of you. Don’t deny me.” She said to him, “Say on.”

17 He said, “Please speak to Solomon the king (for he will not tell you ‘no’), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite as wife.”

18 Bathsheba said, “Alright. I will speak for you to the king.”

19 Bathsheba 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.

20 Then she said, “I ask one small petition of you; don’t deny me.” The king said to her, “Ask on, my mother; for I will not deny you.”

21 She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”

22 King 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.”

23 Then 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.

24 Now 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, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day.”

25 King Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell on him, so that he died.

26 To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields; for you are worthy of 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.”

27 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Yahweh, that he might fulfill Yahweh’s word, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

28 The news came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he didn’t turn after Absalom. Joab fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

29 It was told king Solomon, “Joab has fled to the Tent of Yahweh, and behold, he is by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, fall on him.”

30 Benaiah came to the Tent of Yahweh, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come out!’” He said, “No; but I will die here.” Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”

31 The king said to him, “Do as he has said, and fall on him, and bury him; that you may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father’s house.

32 Yahweh 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, and my father David didn’t know it: Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah.

33 So shall their blood return on the head of Joab, and on the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from Yahweh.”

34 Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

35 The 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.

36 The king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and don’t go out from there anywhere.

37 For 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.”

38 Shimei 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.

39 At the end of three years, two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. They told Shimei, saying, “Behold, your servants are in Gath.”

40 Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish, to seek 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 come again.

42 The 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 out, and walk abroad any where, you shall surely die?’ You said to me, ‘The saying that I have heard is good.’

43 Why then have you not kept the oath of Yahweh, and the commandment that I have instructed you with?”

44 The 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 shall return your wickedness on your own head.

45 But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Yahweh forever.”

46 So 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.

Summary

As his death draws near, David charges Solomon to be strong and to keep the instruction of Yahweh—to walk in his ways and keep his statutes—so that he may prosper and so that God's promise of an enduring throne might stand. He then gives Solomon practical counsel about old accounts: justice for Joab's treacherous bloodshed, kindness to the sons of Barzillai, and judgment on Shimei who had cursed him. David then dies after reigning forty years and is buried in the city of David, and Solomon's kingdom begins to take shape. Adonijah, through Bathsheba, requests Abishag as wife, a move Solomon reads as a fresh bid for the throne, and Adonijah is put to death. Abiathar the priest is banished to his fields, fulfilling the word against the house of Eli, and Joab, fleeing to the altar, is struck down for the innocent blood he had shed. Finally Shimei, confined to Jerusalem on pain of death, breaks his bounds after three years and is executed. The chapter closes with the refrain that “the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon,” a peace built on justice and on the faithfulness of God to his word.

Main Characters

  • David — Israel's dying king who charges his son to keep God's law and to deal justly with unfinished matters of blood and loyalty before passing the throne to Solomon.
  • Solomon — The new king who acts to secure his reign, executing Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei, and banishing Abiathar, so that his kingdom is firmly established.
  • Joab — David's longtime commander, guilty of shedding innocent blood in peacetime, who flees to the altar but is brought to justice under Solomon.
  • Shimei — The Benjamite who had cursed David, confined to Jerusalem under oath, who forfeits his life when he breaks the king's command.

Key Verse

1 Kings 2:3 (WEB)

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, and wherever you turn yourself.

Lessons Learned

  • True strength for a leader is found in keeping the instruction of the Lord, not merely in holding power.
  • Faithful obedience to God's word is tied to his covenant promise to establish an enduring throne.
  • Justice eventually overtakes long-delayed wrongs; bloodshed and treachery are not forgotten before God.
  • A kingdom is established not by raw force alone but as God keeps his word to David's house.
  • Walk in God's ways above all. David's first charge is to “keep the instruction of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways” (1 Kings 2:3, WEB). Faithfulness to God's word is the foundation of every other duty.
  • God's promise rests on covenant faithfulness. The throne stands if David's children “walk before me in truth with all their heart” (1 Kings 2:4, WEB). Obedience and promise are woven together.
  • Justice answers innocent blood. Solomon will not let Joab's “blood of war in peace” go unanswered (1 Kings 2:5, WEB). God's order requires that bloodguilt be addressed.
  • God keeps his word in establishing the king. After judgment is done, “the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon” (1 Kings 2:46, WEB). The stability of the throne flows from God's faithfulness, not chance.
  1. What does David place first in his charge to Solomon, and why does that ordering matter?
  2. How are obedience and God's promise connected in verses 3-4?
  3. Why does Solomon treat Adonijah's request for Abishag as a threat?
  4. What do the judgments on Joab and Shimei reveal about God's concern for justice and for kept oaths?
  5. David urges Solomon to “be strong… and show yourself a man” (2:2) by walking in God's ways. Where do you need that kind of strength to obey God right now?
  1. David's opening words are not about politics but devotion: keep God's instruction and walk in his ways (2:2-3). By putting faithfulness first, he teaches that a ruler's true security and prosperity flow from obedience to the Lord, not from clever maneuvering.
  2. David ties the promise to a condition: if his descendants take heed to walk before God in truth, there will not fail a man on the throne (2:4). The covenant is sure in God's faithfulness, yet it summons each generation to wholehearted obedience.
  3. Asking for the former king's attendant was, in that culture, a way of claiming the throne itself. Solomon sees that Adonijah's request is another grasp at the kingdom (2:22), and so acts to remove the ongoing threat to the realm God had given him.
  4. Joab is held accountable for innocent blood shed in peace, and Shimei for breaking the oath that confined him (2:31-33, 42-44). Together they show that God does not overlook treachery or forsworn promises; justice may be delayed, but it is not denied.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Invite members to name a place where obedience feels costly or daunting, and to draw courage from God's promise to be with the faithful. As leader, keep the focus on strength that comes from leaning on the Lord, not self-reliance.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.