Author Archive for: meiling

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 3:16-28.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Kings 3:16-28 (NIV)
16  Now two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
17  One of them said, “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me.
18  The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us.

On verses 16-28:  As proof that God had answered Solomon’s prayer for a wise and discerning heart, here we see Solomon displaying superior wisdom in dealing with a difficult situation where two prostitutes argue over who is the true mother of a newborn baby boy.  Since neither side would budge, Solomon asks for a sword and orders that the child be cut in two.  One of the women cannot bear to see the baby boy cut in two and asks the king to give the baby to the other woman.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 2:28-46.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Kings 2:28-35 (NIV)
28  When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.
29  King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the LORD and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, “Go, strike him down!”

On verses 28-35:  For many years Joab was the ruthless commander of King David’s army.  Joab’s ruthlessness was never more manifest than when he unsuspectingly murdered two high ranking Israelite officials, Abner (in 2 Samuel 3) and Amasa (in 2 Samuel 20:9-10), possibly for fear that they would one day replace him.  Joab also killed Absalom, David’s son, specifically against David’s orders.  Yet for some reason David always spared Joab’s life.  David literally let Joab get away with murder.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 2:13-27.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Kings 2:13-18 (NIV)
13  Now Adonijah, the son of Haggith, went to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. Bathsheba asked him, “Do you come peacefully?” He answered, “Yes, peacefully.”
14  Then he added, “I have something to say to you.” “You may say it,” she replied.
15  “As you know,” he said, “the kingdom was mine. All Israel looked to me as their king. But things changed, and the kingdom has gone to my brother; for it has come to him from the LORD.

n verses 13-18:  Here Adonijah goes to Bathsheba the king’s mother with a request: he asks Bathsheba to convince his son King Solomon to give him Abishag the Shunammite as his wife.  Why?  It’s not because Adonijah was in love with Abishag.  Rather it was a political move.  Remember that Abishag was effectively David’s last concubine.  Abishag lived with David, took care of David, slept in the same bed as David, though she never had sexual relations with David (see 1 Kings 1:3-4).

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Kings 2:1-12.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Kings 2:1-3 (NIV)
1  When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.
2  “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, show yourself a man,
3  and observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in his ways, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moses, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,
 
On verses 1-3:  Here David is on his deathbed.  David’s last words to King Solomon his son are “be courageous, be a man, and obey God’s commands.” (v2-3)  After all the experiences David had accumulated over his lifetime — his unprecedented victories, his heartbreaking losses, and all the lessons he learned from both his successes and his mistakes —