Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 2-3.

When Solomon was crowned at David’s orders, he allowed his brother Adonijah, who had attempted to take the throne without their father’s blessing, to live with the agreement that he would retire to his estates and allow Solomon to rule.  Solomon also allowed Joab and Abiathar to keep their titles: Joab as commander of the army, and Abiathar as priest (possibly High Priest).  However, Adonijah would not settle for that and attempted to set himself up to challenge Solomon’s rule by marrying the last of David’s concubines.  Solomon was not fooled and ordered Adonijah executed.  In addition, Solomon appears to believe that Joab and Abiathar played a role in Adonijah’s ploy.  So, he ordered Joab executed and forced Abiathar into retirement, turning all of his priestly duties over to Zadok.  Or, perhaps Solomon was just taking advantage of Adonijah’s plot to eliminate threats to his authority, because immediately following this he called Shimei to the palace and ordered him to never leave Jerusalem again, on pain of death.  Shimei’s response to Solomon’s command seems to suggest that he had been using his position and connections to undermine Solomon’s authority .  I would guess that Shimei was not seeking to overthrow Solomon’s rule, merely to have a powerbase with which Solomon would have to negotiate.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.