Solomon: Israel’s Wisest King (7): David’s Final Commands to Solomon (I Kings 2:1-12) by Rev. Angus Stewart
I. Manliness and Obedience
II. Prosperity and Perpetuity
III. Executions and Kindness
Psalm singing: 103:1-7; 148:7-14; 90:8-12; 1:1-6
Scripture reading: I Kings 2:1-12
Matthew Henry on I Kings 2:1-11: “The authority of a dying father is much, but nothing to that of a living God. There are great trusts which we are charged with by the Lord our God—let us keep them carefully, as those that must give account; and excellent statutes, which we must be ruled by—let us also keep them.”
C. F. Keil on I Kings 2:5: “David ought to have punished these two crimes [by Joab]; but when Abner was murdered, he felt himself too weak to visit a man like Joab with the punishment he deserved, as he had only just been anointed king, and consequently he did nothing more than invoke divine retribution upon his head (II Sam. 3:29). And when Amasa was slain, the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba had crippled the power of David too much, for him to visit the deed with the punishment that was due. But as king of the nation of God, it was not right for him to allow such crimes to pass unpunished.”