When a powerful, influential, successful leader steps down from the position; the next person who has been chosen will have a time of transition that will challenge all who work alongside him or her. Their leadership must be established quickly so that the former working goal of the organization can be carried on efficiently and successfully.  New leadership will bring new thoughts of how things will be done but the goal is the same.  Wise leaders will not attempt to change the goal; but will surround themselves with people who not only know the goal of the organization but are also loyal and therefore helpful to the new leader who wants the best for the people they serve.

Wise, successful leaders in transition will not begin their time with “throwing the baby out with the bath water,” (discarding something valuable along with other things that are inessential or undesirable), with sweeping changes that confuse and distract people from the goal.  They will instead establish themselves first with the people in community so that the people working for and with them will know they are valuable and appreciated.  Wise leaders are servant leaders who are willing to serve those they lead with help, tools, and even their own hands and feet in service to them.

Wise leaders take time to know who they lead.  Much wisdom and care to know who you lead is important.  Discerning who are goal seekers and who are not makes a difference in the life of a goal-oriented organization.  Once established, over a period of time; changes in how to accomplish the goal are easier to embrace because the people have gotten to know the leader’s heart and mind which helps the people understand why the changes are necessary to continue to accomplish the main goal of their existence.

Wise leaders prepare the way for their successors.  David prepared Soloman to succeed him. David gave final instructions to Solomon that would ensure success. Upon death, the great King David exhorted his son: Obey God, follow him, and be kind to others.  As we read and study God’s story through King Solomon, we will see if Soloman, like David, followed the heart of God—or not. 

The goal:  Love God with all heart, all your mind, and all your soul. Obey His command to love others like He loves us.  What would happen if we gripped the goal?!

1 Kings 2

David’s Charge to Solomon

When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.

² “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, ³ and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go ⁴ and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

⁵ “Now you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding their blood in peacetime as if in battle, and with that blood he stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. ⁶ Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

⁷ “But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.

⁸ “And remember, you have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’ ⁹ But now, do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood.”

¹⁰ Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. ¹¹ He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. ¹² So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

Solomon’s Throne Established

¹³ Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?”

He answered, “Yes, peacefully.” ¹⁴ Then he added, “I have something to say to you.”

“You may say it,” she replied.

¹⁵ “As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the Lord. ¹⁶ Now I have one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.”

“You may make it,” she said.

¹⁷ So he continued, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”

¹⁸ “Very well,” Bathsheba replied, “I will speak to the king for you.”

¹⁹ When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.

²⁰ “I have one small request to make of you,” she said. “Do not refuse me.”

The king replied, “Make it, my mother; I will not refuse you.”

²¹ So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”

²² King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? You might as well request the kingdom for him—after all, he is my older brother—yes, for him and for Abiathar the priest and Joab son of Zeruiah!”

²³ Then King Solomon swore by the Lord: “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if Adonijah does not pay with his life for this request! ²⁴ And now, as surely as the Lord lives—he who has established me securely on the throne of my father David and has founded a dynasty for me as he promised—Adonijah shall be put to death today!” ²⁵ So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.

²⁶ To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.” ²⁷ So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.

²⁸ When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹ King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!”

³⁰ So Benaiah entered the tent of the Lord and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’”

But he answered, “No, I will die here.”

Benaiah reported to the king, “This is how Joab answered me.”

³¹ Then the king commanded Benaiah, “Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my whole family of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed. ³² The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without my father David knowing it he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them—Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army—were better men and more upright than he. ³³ May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord’s peace forever.”

³⁴ So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried at his home out in the country. ³⁵ The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab’s position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.

³⁶ Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else. ³⁷ The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.”

³⁸ Shimei answered the king, “What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.

³⁹ But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maakah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.” ⁴⁰ At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.

⁴¹ When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned, ⁴² the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and warn you, ‘On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die’? At that time you said to me, ‘What you say is good. I will obey.’ ⁴³ Why then did you not keep your oath to the Lord and obey the command I gave you?”

⁴⁴ The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the Lord will repay you for your wrongdoing. ⁴⁵ But King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain secure before the Lord forever.”

⁴⁶ Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and he died.

The kingdom was now established in Solomon’s hands.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Blessed is the person whose heart is right with God, whose conscience is clear and who can look back and say with our Lord, “I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). This is what David desired most for his son, Soloman.

David’s words parallel those of Moses when he commissioned Joshua. First, Moses passionately told Joshua to “be a man” and face his responsibilities with courage and faith (Deuteronomy 31:1–8); then Moses gave the law to the priests and cautioned the people (including Joshua) to know it and obey it. The king was expected to be familiar with the Law and the covenant (Deuteronomy 17:14–20), for in obeying God’s Word he would find His wisdom, strength, and blessing.  This is the goal of anyone called of God as His leader and follower in His Kingdom work!

David reminded Solomon of the promise of God.  David told his son of the special covenant the Lord had made concerning the Davidic dynasty (see 2 Samuel 7:1–17). David warned Solomon that disobeying God’s law would bring chastening and sorrow to himself and the land, (which David knew first hand); but if he obeyed God’s commandments, God would bless him and the people. More importantly, God would see to it that there was always a descendant of David sitting on the throne.

David mentors young Solomon.  David not only remembered dangerous men like Joab and Shimei, but he also remembered helpful men like Barzillai, who had provided him and his people with what they needed when they fled from Absalom (2 Samuel 17:27–29). Remembering those who have served well, honoring them, and holding them in high esteem is appropriate. But we should also be watchful of deceivers and learn from our past mistakes or missteps. Soloman heard David and took his words to heart. When Solomon had Joab killed, he wasn’t simply acting in revenge in the place of his father David. Solomon explained that the death of Joab took away the stain of the innocent blood that Joab, a rogue warrior, had shed when he had killed Abner and Amasa—two loyal leaders. 

In the best of situations, when the former leader blesses and mentors the next leader, the transition can still be tedious and challenging.  But, as we all learn, the leader who seeks God’s wisdom (being) and does what God requires of us (doing) God will lead the leader to shepherd God’s people well.  This is called success in God’s Kingdom.  And what does God require of all of us? “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8. Love God. Love each other as I have commanded you. –Jesus

Lord,

Thank you for helping us find ourselves in your stories of love, mercy, and grace.  Some seek you are blessed; those who do not will not succeed in the end. We need your wisdom.

Thank you for telling the messes made by your people make along with your mercy given. “All have sinned and fall short of your glorious living” and I am one of them. Thank you for showing me your mercy in my messes that served later to declare your goodness, love, mercy, and grace by your forgiveness. What a mighty and glorious God we love and serve!  There is truly no one like you!  Lead me. Guide my walk with you again today.

In Jesus Name, Amen