Word soon reached Solomon that Adonijah had seized the horns of the altar in fear, and that he was pleading, “Let King Solomon swear today that he will not kill me!” Solomon replied, “If he proves himself to be loyal, not a hair on his head will be touched. But if he makes trouble, he will die.” So King Solomon summoned Adonijah, and they brought him down from the altar. He came and bowed respectfully before King Solomon, who dismissed him, saying, “Go on home.”
1 Kings 1:51-53

Dear God, yeah, you just know this isn’t going to end well. I wonder if Solomon would have had a different response to Adonijah if he, Solomon, had already asked you for wisdom. This conversation and the executions that are to follow feel like they are being made by human wisdom and not your wisdom.

Remembering back to the description of Adonijah at the beginning of this book as being spoiled and undisciplined, I also wonder what the relationships between David’s children were like. We know the oldest four died. I think it was Daniel’s death that is unexplained, but Absolom killed Amnon (for raping Tamar, David’s daughter), Joab killed Absolom for trying to overthrow David, and Solomon will ultimately kill Adonijah. So much for being born as a son (or daughter) of the king.

The pursuit of power and money can be so fruitless. A friend of my dad’s died recently. His whole life was about the pursuit of money and power, and he hurt so many people along the way that he died completely alone, abandoned by his family and friends. What did it get him to gain the whole world but lose his soul?

Father, in the ways that I interact with those with money and power, make me an instrument of your peace. Help me to carry your message to them. And in the ways that my heart and mind try to accumulate wealth and power, even on my small level, help me to recognize it and bring it under your authority. If you want me to give everything away, so be it. I only want to be able to look back and be at peace with the decisions I made, and I know that peace can only be found in you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen