April 7

I Kings 1; I Chronicles 22:9-10

God chose Solomon to be David’s successor, and He told David that he would be a “man of peace and rest” and that Solomon would “build a house for His Name”. We do not know why at this point, when David is “old and well advanced in years”, the people have not been told that Solomon will be the next king.

Adonijah tries to manipulate the choice by naming himself king. David had to stand firm and honor God’s choice. It would have been easy to just go back on his word and let Adonijah take the throne, but David did what was right in God’s eyes. It surely was an uncomfortable situation for David to go against Adonijah and to name Solomon as the next king. Adonijah’s celebration dinner ended in humiliation as he was deserted by all of those who joined him in his manipulation.

And, Solomon, in a time when kings frequently killed family rivals to the throne, showed incredible mercy by allowing Adonijah to live as long as he did not do evil.