Woodhouse 1 Kings

Power, Politics, and the Hope of the World
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4335-2453-0
Verlag: Crossway
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 800 Seiten

Reihe: Preaching the Word

The book of 1 Kings outlines the rise and fall of ancient Israel through the stories of fourteen kings. It is a book of great victories and devastating failures. In its pages are violence, betrayal, power, and politics. But no matter how great the accomplishments or evil the deeds, none of these kingdoms built by human kings could last. John Woodhouse walks us through this book passage by passage as it reveals how God's purpose for the kings reaches far beyond what they could accomplish in their lifetimes. Their lives are part of a greater story, bearing witness about the King of kings, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world-building and strengthening our faith as we set our eyes on the kingdom that will last forever.

John Woodhouse (DPhil, Victoria University of Manchester) served as principal of Moore Theological College in Sydney, Australia, from 2002 to 2013. He previously worked in pastoral ministry in a suburb of Sydney. He has published articles in various academic journals and is the author of four volumes in Crossway's Preaching the Word commentary series.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Woodhouse, John

Leseproben

2

An Up-and-Coming King: “But It Shall Not Be So among You”

1 Kings 1:5–10

Jesus said:

You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles [nations] lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:42–45)

Who do you think he had in mind when he mentioned the “rulers of the nations”? Perhaps it was the Roman authorities of his day. Or was he (as I suspect) thinking of Old Testament Israel’s desire to have a king “like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5, 20)? He may have had in mind Samuel’s devastating critique of the ways of a king like all the nations: “He will take . . . he will take . . . he will take . . .” (1 Samuel 8:10–18).

Jesus said, “But it shall not be so among you.”

The ways of God’s King are very different from the ways of human politics and power. This is not a lesson that we find easy to learn. Certainly it is very difficult to practice. However, when we see a Christian following Jesus in this regard (seeking not to be served but to serve) we recognize the goodness of it. On the other hand, when we see (as we frequently do) someone behaving like “the rulers of the nations,” we can often see the ugliness of it.

As I write these words the newspapers in my part of the world are full of yet another battle between our political leaders. It is ugly. Power plays, arrogance, selfish ambition, dishonesty, manipulation, suspicion, greed, cynicism, malice, anger, self-righteousness can all be seen (compare Colossians 3:5–11). There is not much compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, trust, love, or forgiveness on display (compare Colossians 3:12, 13).

In Christian circles such conflicts are usually (although not always, I regret to say) more refined. But even among us it is all too easy to think that “church politics” (for want of a better expression) can be conducted along the lines of worldly affairs. It is difficult for those engaged in such things to heed Jesus’ words, “It shall not be so among you.” Those of us who have been involved in the appointment of Christian leaders or the conduct of Christian organizations have probably found ourselves—at least some of the time—playing power games, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, ambitious for ourselves, manipulative, showing partiality or even malice, and being less than openly honest. We may justify ourselves with some kind of end-justifying-means thinking, but the words of Jesus call us to account: “It shall not be so among you.”

One of the outstanding aspects of the story of King David is that his elevation to the throne of Israel was remarkably Christlike. In the story from 1 Samuel 16 through 2 Samuel 5, David’s conduct under severe pressure was exemplary. He did not grasp at power or exalt himself or revile or threaten those who reviled him. He humbly and obediently waited, trusting God (cf. Philippians 2:5–10; 1 Peter 2:23). Many of David’s psalms belong to this story (see, for example, Psalms 3, 34, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63, 142, noting the superscriptions1). In wonderful ways David foreshadowed the greater Son of David who “came not to be served but to serve.”

To appreciate the story of David’s life we need to remember two things. The first is that David’s goodness and greatness were a consequence of the Lord’s kindness toward him. He was the man God had chosen to be his own king (1 Samuel 13:14; 16:1; 2 Samuel 7:21). He was great and good because “the Lord was with him” (see 1 Samuel 3:19; 16:18; 18:12, 14; 2 Samuel 5:10). The second thing to remember is that David himself was a flawed human being, capable of shocking wickedness (see 2 Samuel 11, 12). Only by the kindness of God could he be the Lord’s king (see 2 Samuel 7:14, 15; 12:13; 15:25, 26).

In 1 Kings 1 David had become old. We have seen his frailty and the well-meaning but foolish attempt to rejuvenate the king (1:1–4). The second scene in 1 Kings 1 now takes us out of the old king’s bedchamber to see one of David’s sons, the vigorous, forceful, assertive, confident Adonijah. He was a complete contrast to his father—in more ways than one.

I have suggested that the key to understanding 1 Kings is the historic promise that the Lord had made concerning David’s kingdom:

“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.” (2 Samuel 7:12)

It is no surprise then that the narrative moves from the fading King David in his final days to one of his sons. Could this be the promised son of David?

The Up-And-Coming King? (v. 5)

Adonijah was David’s fourth son (see 2 Samuel 3:2–5). His first, Amnon, had been murdered by his younger half-brother Absalom (2 Samuel 13:23–33). David’s second son, Chileab, probably died at a young age, since nothing is recorded about him after the mention of his birth in 2 Samuel 3:3. Absalom was David’s third son. He was killed in battle as he attempted to overthrow his father and make himself king (2 Samuel 18:9–15). Adonijah therefore was, at the time of 1 Kings 1, David’s oldest surviving son.

These first four of David’s sons (and a couple of others) had been born in the early days of David’s reign, when he ruled over the tribe of Judah from the town of Hebron (see 2 Samuel 2:1–4; 3:5). Each son had a different mother.2 They were therefore half-brothers, which contributed to some of the conflicts that arose between them.3 As Adonijah is reintroduced to the narrative, we are reminded which of David’s wives was his mother: “Now Adonijah the son of Haggith . . .” (v. 5a). We know nothing more about Haggith than that she was one of David’s wives and the mother of Adonijah. It is more than a little likely, however, that there were tensions between Haggith and other wives of David.4

Adonijah has not appeared by name in the story of David’s kingdom since his birth notice in 2 Samuel 3:4. However, he was among “all the king’s sons” who had witnessed Absalom’s murder of Amnon, fled from Absalom in fear for their own lives, and wept with their father at the tragedy (2 Samuel 13:23, 29, 36). He was later among those threatened by Absalom’s coup and saved by Joab’s execution of Absalom (see 2 Samuel 19:5).

Now he was David’s oldest living son, probably about thirty-five years old.5 The principle of primogeniture had not yet been established in Israel, although it was assumed. Saul had expected his eldest son Jonathan to succeed him (1 Samuel 20:31) unless something exceptional happened, which it did. We are not at all surprised at the narrative turning now to David’s oldest surviving son—unless something exceptional happens, which it will.

However, a careful reader of this narrative may have already realized something exceptional about this situation. The promise in 2 Samuel 7:12 spoke of a son who had (at the time of the promise) not yet been born (“who shall come from your body”). That cannot be Adonijah. He had been born in Hebron years before this promise was given to David in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 3:4).

His Thoughts (v. 5a)

The first thing we are told about this son of David is that he “exalted himself” (v. 5a). Already there is dissonance with the promise, “I will raise up your offspring” (2 Samuel 7:12). Furthermore it was the Lord who had “exalted” David and his kingdom (2 Samuel 5:12).6 Adonijah exalted himself.

The Hebrew expression suggests that this was Adonijah’s habitual disposition.7 For some time he had had a very high opinion of himself, and he thought that others should share it. We will shortly see a number of factors that contributed to Adonijah’s self-esteem problem, but it was a problem of his own making: he exalted himself.

These days we hear more about the problem of low...