1 Kings 1-2: Generational Curses Broken, Early Stages of Solomon's Heart Revealed, and King David's Last Wishes

As I was reading 1 Kings, I couldn't even get past the first two chapters after being so in awe with God. This is maybe my 2nd or 3rd time reading 1 Kings however, there were certain themes I never saw before. In the first chapter, we are brought to David's deathbed, we know he is soon about to die and has some sort of illness that causes him to be cold all the time? Is he anemic? I have no idea we just know that this causes him to get a young woman, Abishag, to nurse him until he dies. They don't have sex, actually the Bible specifies she had no sexual relations at all, her sole purpose was to care for him and lay next to him, a human blanket almost (haha). Why couldn't his many wives do this? I have no idea! But back to the point...while this is all happening, David's son Adonijah is already conspiring against his sick dad's back telling everyone he is the new king! 

He basically is taking matters into his own hands to ensure that he is the new king and that the rest of the country knows it ! He even plans a banquet and is successful in getting other priests to conspire with him. You see in any other situation this would have not been a problem. He was the next son alive, remember Amnon, and Absalom were both dead so he was the next one left! However, David did say Solomon would be the next king! And when the Lord says something, that is what goes! 

After everything is handled and Nathan the prophet and Zadok the priest anoint Solomon as king at a separate shindig ceremony, order is back. We see the first sign of Solomon's just and fair heart. He immediately grants Adojinah mercy and allows him to live as long as he doesn't cause trouble. If the roles were reversed, as soon as Adojinah would be anointed king, Bathsheeba and Solomon would both be killed. Solomon would be the wisest of most kings and to see the attributes early on are beautiful. We can see his heart and why he would later on ask God for wisdom. After Solomon is anointed King, we see other major topics! 

David's last wishes were quite peculiar. Of all things why did he name those things such as Joab, which was fair, Barzillai, Shimei, and basically to kill? Well it all reveals itself! 

When it came to Abithiar the priest, he was a descendant of Eli, after Solomon removed him from his priesthood, it fulfilled the prophecy of the Lord (1 Kings 2: 27). Nonetheless he deserved it, he tried to go over King David's head and basically support a coup! None of Eli's descendants would be priests anymore! Next, we saw generational curses be removed! 

When it came to Joab, he didn't support Absalom's coup but he did support Adonijah's! When he heard he was killed (1 Kings 2:5-7), he fled to the altar's horns! His punishment would help reverse the curse that would have been placed on David's family because Joab killed two of David's commanders out of cold blood. When Adonijah refused to live and said he wanted to die basically, Solomon broke the generational tie that would form! That's so crazy! 

We often have the ability to break generational curses placed on our family due to the choices/mistakes our ancestors have made. However sometimes they were curses that were waiting to happen that was not your family's fault but under their leadership!