We have been studying the spiritual oppression of fear, anxiety, depression, and lust. Today we are going to take a turn and look at a time when there were 2 kings in Israel.
Honestly, there were two different times there claimed to be 2 kings in Israel. Both occurred during the time of King David’s reign. The first was his son Absalom, the one who murdered his brother Amnon after he raped his sister. However, today I want to look at David’s other son Adonijah, who also tried to illegally take the throne.
Who is the Rightful King?
Adonijah was the son who was born right after Absalom. He also didn’t learn from his older brother’s mistake. When Absalom tried to steal the throne, it cost him his life. Still Adonijah felt he had a right to the throne. However, the Lord promised the throne to Solomon, not Adonijah. You can read the whole account in 1 Kings 1, but here are the highlights of the story:
“Now King David was old and advanced in years…
Now Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” And he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
He conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest. And they followed Adonijah and helped him.
But Zadok the priest and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada and Nathan the prophet and Shimei and Rei and David’s mighty men were not with Adonijah.
Adonijah sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fattened cattle by the Serpent’s Stone, which is beside En-rogel, and he invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the royal officials of Judah, but he did not invite Nathan the prophet or Benaiah or the mighty men or Solomon his brother.
Nathan Intervenes
Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it? Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’ Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.”
And the king swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity, as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ even so will I do this day.”
Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!” King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king. And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.”
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so. As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.” So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon. There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”
And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise. Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “What does this uproar in the city mean?” While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came.
Solomon Made King
And Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and bring good news.” Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No, for our lord King David has made Solomon king, and the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And they had him ride on the king’s mule. And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king at Gihon, and they have gone up from there rejoicing, so that the city is in an uproar. This is the noise that you have heard.
Moreover, the king’s servants came to congratulate our lord King David, saying, ‘May your God make the name of Solomon more famous than yours, and make his throne greater than your throne.’ And the king bowed himself on the bed. And the king also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has granted someone to sit on my throne this day, my own eyes seeing it.’”
Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way. And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar. Then it was told Solomon, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’” And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.” So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.””
1 Kings 1:1, 5, 7-14, 29-42, 47-53 ESV
Adonijah made himself look official by gathering a priest, one of David’s trusted mighty men, and his brothers. He had all the “right” people to declare him as king. Adonijah even did the right things by sacrificing the animals. As far as he was concerned he was the rightful king, and no one could take it away.
Did you notice who he didn’t invite to the party? Nathan the prophet, Zadok the priest (I think he was likely the high priest), and of course all the sons of David were invited except the true king, Solomon. Coincidence? I don’t think so!
Adonijah and crew were really good at making it look like he was the rightful king. The thing is it didn’t matter how convinced people were that Adonijah was king, he wasn’t the king. He was the illegitimate king.
Thankfully Nathan and Bathsheba were wise enough to go to King David and have him make Solomon king before he died. Thus the reign of Adonijah lasted only a short time. I hope he enjoyed his short time pretending like he was king.
What Life Might Have Been Like
Can you even imagine what kind of life the Hebrews would have had if Adonijah wasn’t removed from the throne? I can imagine that he would have ruled with an iron fist. He would have made laws that were not in the people’s best interest. The economy would have likely tanked as he would not have had God’s blessing, and he probably would have spent money hand over fist on projects that only benefited him and no one else. I can imagine the enemies of the Hebrews would have had open borders to come in and help destroy the country from the inside out. Adonijah would have set evil men in charge of making laws and seeing that they are followed. Those are just a few of the things I could imagine would have happened if Adonijah had been successful in stealing the throne from Solomon.
When power is illegitimately taken, God will not bless it. How can God bless a nation who has a ruler who stole the power away from who God chose to be in power? It doesn’t matter if it’s a king or president. God can’t bless it. However, when the person, or people who stole the power are removed and the person or people who God picked to rule are given their rightful power, then God can and will bless that nation. This is why prayer is so needed and powerful when it is election time. We need to pray that the schemes of the enemy to steal elections, destroy the economy and people of that nation, and eventually kill the nation altogether, is thwarted.
America is Like Israel?
We in America currently have our own Adonijah. I believe it is clear that the presidency was stolen from President Trump. Until the rightful president is living in the White House, I believe that things will continue to get worse and worse here. I believe God wanted President Trump to lead our great nation for four more years. God’s prophets announced just that long before election night. Since God is the same today as he was yesterday, his desire for President Trump to lead this nation has not changed. Unfortunately God doesn’t always get what he wants. I mean, he wanted us to all live in the Garden of Eden forever, yet that didn’t happen. There are many examples in the Bible where we see God desired one thing, yet the opposite ended up happening. This is the blessing and the curse of free will. We get to choose to say yes or no to what God desires for us and for our nation.
What do we do now? I mean Biden is parading around as president, making presidential decisions, and technically is our current president. Does that mean we just have to wait in worry for the next four years and pray the presidency isn’t stolen a second time? By no means! We need to get on our knees and pray that the demonic hedge of protection around those who are illegitimate is taken down. Prayers for all deceit, lies, and deception to be uncovered are important. We need to pray that God will show us how to pray and how to act. Only God can make things right at this point.
I personally have been praying for our nation a lot! There are some things I’ve seen while in prayer that tells me God is or will be moving in Washington DC. For example, I saw everyone in both the House and Senate on their knees praying and worshipping God. Thus I believe that revival will be coming to our nation’s capital. Brett has also seen some amazing things going on in the spiritual realm over Washington DC. Take heart, God is moving. Only time will reveal exactly what he is going to do. Know this, whatever it is it will be spectacular and perfect. God is never late and never early. His timing is perfect. We need to have patience and endurance to see God move in mighty ways.
Will you join with me in praying for our country? Ask the Holy Spirit how to pray and then pray according to his leading. Prayer changes things, even if the only thing changed is our hearts and minds. Be blessed my friend.
Prayer for our nation:
Lord Jesus, You are the hope of this nation. Let all fear and anxiety and darkness flee at the name of Jesus. In Your Spirit bring freedom, and may freedom continue to ring out in this great nation of Yours.
Show us Your steadfast love, O LORD, and grant us Your salvation through the precious blood of Jesus. Let us as a nation hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people, to His saints; but let us not turn back to foolish ways. Surely Your salvation is near to those who fear You, that glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, You, LORD will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before You and make Your footsteps a way.
May the Church be known for pouring out love and truth.
May the Families of our Great Nation be blessed and fruitful.
May the Arts and Entertainment industries overflow with creativity and goodness.
May the Businesses and the Economy flourish and develop innovative ways of blessing and serving the people.
May the realm of Education teach truth and raise up generations of God-fearing, thoughtful children.
May the Media publish peace, declare good news, and promote accurate information and salvation.
May the Government operate in righteousness and justice.
May these United States of America be a light to the world and a blessing to mankind.
In Jesus’s Name, Amen!
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