ESOCS Devotional 21 April 2025 – Do the Right Thing No Matter What
MEMORY VERSE: “She said, ‘I have a small favour to ask of you; please do not refuse me.’ ‘What is it, mother?’ he asked. I will not refuse you.” 1 Kings 2:20
TEXT: 1 KINGS 2:19-46
Bathsheba therefore went to King Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her and bowed down to her, and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king’s mother; so she sat at his right hand. 20 Then she said, “I desire one small petition of you; do not refuse me.”
And the king said to her, “Ask it, my mother, for I will not refuse you.”
21 So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as wife.”
22 And King Solomon answered and said to his mother, “Now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also—for he is my older brother—for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” 23 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord, saying, “May God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life! 24 Now therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed me and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has established a house for me, as He promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today!”
25 So King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he struck him down, and he died.
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted.” 27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, that he might fulfill the word of the Lord which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.
28 Then news came to Joab, for Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom. So Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord, and took hold of the horns of the altar. 29 And King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the tabernacle of the Lord; there he is, by the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” 30 So Benaiah went to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him, “Thus says the king, ‘Come out!’ ”
And he said, “No, but I will die here.” And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”
31 Then the king said to him, “Do as he has said, and strike him down and bury him, that you may take away from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood which Joab shed. 32 So the Lord will return his blood on his head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword—Abner the son of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, the commander of the army of Judah—though my father David did not know it. 33 Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his descendants forever. But upon David and his descendants, upon his house and his throne, there shall be peace forever from the Lord.”
34 So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck and killed him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his place over the army, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar.
36 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. 37 For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head.”
38 And Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
39 Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Look, your slaves are in Gath!” 40 So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. 41 And Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back. 42 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and travel anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the Lord and the commandment that I gave you?” 44 The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know, as your heart acknowledges, all the wickedness that you did to my father David; therefore the Lord will return your wickedness on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.”
46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
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King Solomon hosted his mother in his palace and made her sit at his right hand. It is the custom to have the wife of a king sit at his left and the mother sit at the right side. Till date, the position of a wife is the left side of the man where the heart is (1 Kings 2:19).
Bathsheba made a request to King Solomon. Solomon promised that he will grant any request she made (v 20). However, King Solomon refused to grant the request of the mother when she eventually made it because it was not the right thing to do. Abisha was a widow of David whom David never had sex with (1 Kings 1:3-4). Having succeeded his father, Solomon though younger in age was entitled to have that woman as wife. But Adonija having lost his bid to self-impose himself as King wanted to have Abisha. It was taken as rebellion against the will of the king and he paid with his life. The intervention and request of Solomon’s mother did not make Solomon bend the rules. We must learn to go through the right path of life irrespective of where the negative influence is coming from. Stand firm on the right path (1 Kings 2:23-25).
On the bid to circumvent the right way of doing things, people play several games. Some go to the extent of swearing and speaking in the name of God. But make sure you are not in a hurry to change your resolve to do right. Verify the information, pray about it and wait to hear from God. Joab in a bid to run away from guilt (1 Kings 21:5, 6, 28-31) ran to the altar but knowing that it was a scheme to run away, Solomon insisted and had him killed. God does not protect the evil doer. He makes them suffer for their evil. We must not allow hypocrites deceive us. Be firm in right doing.
Again, do not let anyone take you for granted. When people take advantage of relationship and familiarity to push you into wrong doing, you must resist them and go ahead to execute the right. Shemei took pardon and instruction of David and Solomon for granted (1 Kings 2:8, 9, 36-46). But Solomon dealt with him, as he deserved.
In doing right, do not fail to spare those who deserve mercy. Even though they have done wrong, some deserve mercy because of their past records. Solomon spared Abiathar the priest deserving death because he was in charge of the covenant box of God and shared in the troubles David passed through in life. A grateful man is a righteous person.
The benefit of right doing in the midst of persuasion is having God’s attention to bless and protect you (1 Kings 2:45). May God continue to guide our steps in right doing at all times. Amen.
CHALLENGES
- Have you experienced irresistible persuasion to do wrong after resolving to do right?
PRAYER POINT
- Father, give me the strength of heart to be firm in right doing, in Jesus name. Amen.
FURTHER READING:1 Kings 3:1-14; 1 Corinthians 6:13-20; 1 Corinthians 7:1-13
ESOCS Devotional 21 April 2025
