Daily Devotional

Now King David was old, advanced in years; and they put covers on him, but he could not get warm. … Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, ‘I will be king’ ” (1 Kings 1:1, 5). 

More than a century after the bloody 30-year feud began between the Hatfield family of West Virginia and the McCoy family of Kentucky, the two sides declared a formal reconciliation in 2003, saying that if they could get past their differences, anyone could. The family of King David was blessed with a sensitive patriarch, a man after God’s own heart, and a very wise and compassionate heir in Solomon. But there were others, including Absalom and Adonijah (both David’s sons with Haggith), who rebelled, tragically. 

Absalom tried to usurp David’s place as ruler, and he paid the ultimate price. God had decreed David’s son Solomon would succeed the aged king and build a temple to the Lord in Jerusalem. But Adonijah, as
did his brother before him, tried to gather popular support to oppose Solomon. His plans would come to naught when David abdicated in favour of Solomon. 

Although no harm came to Adonijah during David’s lifetime, once the king had passed to his rest, things turned ugly. The brother who was denied the throne asked for the hand of David’s last concubine in marriage. In those days, this was a symbol of passing kingly authority to a successor. Solomon saw this for what it was and had Adonijah killed for trying to usurp his rule in Israel. 

This family tragedy—four members of David’s household would die, including the infant first child of David and Bathsheba, as well as Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah—stemmed from David’s sins of adultery and murder, as well as his own words of judgment: “He shall restore fourfold” (2 Samuel 12:6). 

Lord, may I not bring shame upon the family I seek to lead to Christ.