Daily Devotional for Tuesday, February 20

The Counterplot by Nathan

“Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon,” 1 Kings 1:12.

Have you ever felt like you just cannot catch a break? Trials keep coming and you feel like you can barely deal with one problem before another one surfaces. David was still feeling the earthly weight of his sin, but he remained steadfast in serving the Lord.

While it was always the plan to make Solomon king, more than likely David had not declared this publicly to protect Solomon from his brothers. There is a hint that Adonijah already knew this because he did not invite David’s most loyal guard, prophets or Solomon to his coronation party. David’s oldest and third-born sons had been killed, and there is no further mention of his second son, Daniel (Chileab), which means he likely died sometime during his childhood. This means Adonijah was the eldest living son of David and, traditionally, the heir of the king. Nathan, the prophet, wanted to make sure there would be no dispute after David’s death about who would rule as king in his stead because God had already chosen Solomon to be the one to reign and build the Temple. In the practice of having two witnesses, and because David probably was not seeing many people during his sickness, Nathan devised a plan to evoke urgency in David to name his successor instead of waiting until he died. He sent Bath-sheba first to deliver the news of Adonijah’s plan to take over the throne. While she was still delivering the news, Nathan himself called on David to tell him what was happening. Nathan posed a question to David instead of giving him orders. He asked David if he had chosen Adonijah without telling him. This allowed David to make the decision as the king to announce his successor.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY
David was faithful to God until the end of his days. He followed God’s command and made Solomon king instead of his older sons. May we be faithful all our days and be steadfast in following the commands of God.

Ashley Ridings