{"id":34435,"date":"2025-01-28T22:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-2_13-27-copy\/"},"modified":"2025-01-22T21:29:59","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T04:29:59","slug":"1-kings-2_28-46","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/1-kings-2_28-46\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI can get away with it.\u201d Oh no, you can\u2019t"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p>1 Kings\u00a0 2:28-46 \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1+Kings+2%3A28-46&amp;version=NIV\">(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-34437 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/250129.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/250129.jpg 600w, https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/250129-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 2:28-46.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s go!<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>1 Kings 2:28-35 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and took hold of the horns of the altar.<br \/>\n<sup>29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, &#8220;Go, strike him down!&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Benaiah entered the tent of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and said to Joab, &#8220;The king says, &#8216;Come out!'&#8221; But he answered, &#8220;No, I will die here.&#8221; Benaiah reported to the king, &#8220;This is how Joab answered me.&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king commanded Benaiah, &#8220;Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my father&#8217;s house of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed.<br \/>\n<sup>32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The\u00a0LORD\u00a0will repay him for the blood he shed, because without the knowledge of my father David he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them&#8211;Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel&#8217;s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah&#8217;s army&#8211;were better men and more upright than he.<br \/>\n<sup>33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the\u00a0LORD&#8217;s peace forever.&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried on his own land in the desert.<br \/>\n<sup>35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab&#8217;s position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses\u00a028-35:\u00a0 For many years Joab was the ruthless commander of King David&#8217;s army.\u00a0 Joab&#8217;s ruthlessness was never more manifest than when he unsuspectingly murdered two high ranking Israelite officials, Abner (in\u00a02\u00a0Samuel 3) and Amasa (in\u00a02\u00a0Samuel 20:9-10), possibly for fear that they would one day replace him.\u00a0 Joab also killed Absalom, David&#8217;s son, specifically against David&#8217;s orders.\u00a0 Yet for some reason David always spared Joab&#8217;s life.\u00a0 David literally let Joab get away with murder.\u00a0 (Why?\u00a0 Some scholars believe it&#8217;s because Joab was one of the few who knew the secret that David had ordered the murder of one of his own brave soldiers, Uriah the Hittite, and that David was scared that Joab would expose him.)<\/p>\n<p>With David now dead, Joab fears that Solomon will execute him, since Joab supported Adonijah&#8217;s bid for king instead of Solomon.\u00a0 So Joab goes to the house of God and hangs onto the altar, much like Adonijah did earlier (see\u00a01\u00a0Kings\u00a01:50-53), hoping that Solomon would spare his life.\u00a0 \u00a0But Solomon does not flinch.\u00a0 Pursuant to David&#8217;s deathbed wishes, Solomon has Joab executed and appoints Benaiah to replace Joab as military commander.<\/p>\n<p>What can we learn from this?\u00a0 First, let\u2019s see what happens in verses 36-46.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>1 Kings 2:36-46 (NIV)<\/strong><br \/>\n<sup>36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, &#8220;Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else.<br \/>\n<sup>37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head.&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>38\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Shimei answered the king, &#8220;What you say is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.&#8221; And Shimei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time.<br \/>\n<sup>39\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But three years later, two of Shimei&#8217;s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath, and Shimei was told, &#8220;Your slaves are in Gath.&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>40\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At this, he saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath.<br \/>\n<sup>41\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,<br \/>\n<sup>42\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0the king summoned Shimei and said to him, &#8220;Did I not make you swear by the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and warn you, &#8216;On the day you leave to go anywhere else, you can be sure you will die&#8217;? At that time you said to me, &#8216;What you say is good. I will obey.&#8217;<br \/>\n<sup>43\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Why then did you not keep your oath to the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and obey the command I gave you?&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>44\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The king also said to Shimei, &#8220;You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the\u00a0LORD\u00a0will repay you for your wrongdoing.<br \/>\n<sup>45\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But King Solomon will be blessed, and David&#8217;s throne will remain secure before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0forever.&#8221;<br \/>\n<sup>46\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down and killed him. The kingdom was now firmly established in Solomon&#8217;s hands.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On verses 36-46:\u00a0 Previously Shimei had publicly called down curses on David, which was an act equivalent to treason (2\u00a0Samuel 16:5-8; 19:18-21). Initially Solomon shows grace to Shimei, saying that he will not be harmed as long as he stays within Jerusalem (v36-37).\u00a0 Shimei agrees.\u00a0 However, one day Shimei leaves Jerusalem for the foreign country of Philistia in search of two runaway slaves (v39-40).\u00a0 Shimei probably thought, &#8220;I&#8217;m leaving Jerusalem for a good cause.\u00a0 Solomon shouldn&#8217;t mind.&#8221;\u00a0 However, upon hearing that Shimei had left Jerusalem, Solomon keeps his word and fulfills his father&#8217;s wishes by having Shimei executed (v41-46).<\/p>\n<p>What can we learn from all this?\u00a0 Joab lived much of his life thinking he could get away with anything, including murder.\u00a0 Shimei too thought that he could break his word and get away with it.\u00a0 Both received a significant amount of grace from King David and later King Solomon.\u00a0 Yet because they both persisted in rebellion one too many times, they ultimately lost their lives as a result.<\/p>\n<p>Like Joab and Shimei, all of us have rebelled against our King in countless ways.\u00a0 Like Joab and Shimei, all of us have been shown incredible grace by this King who chose to spare our lives.\u00a0 But\u00a0<strong>don&#8217;t be like Joab and Shimei and be hardhearted toward the grace you have received, thinking &#8220;God will let me get away with anything&#8221;.\u00a0\u00a0For if we intentionally and hardheartedly persist in sin and rebellion against the King, like Joab and Shimei we will pay dearly for it in the end.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>So cherish the grace of God, repent of sin, and live in humble reverence and loving obedience before Him.\u00a0 That&#8217;s the secret to living a joyful and successful life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Father, may I never take your grace for granted.\u00a0 May I never think that You will let me get away with anything.\u00a0 Instead, may I cherish Your grace every day and live in humble reverence and loving obedience before You.\u00a0 In Jesus&#8217; name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"poetry top-05\">\n<div>\n<div id=\"m_-7331731686688867366:1oa\" role=\"button\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-label=\"Hide expanded content\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>opyright \u00a9 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s passage is 1 Kings 2:28-46.\u00a0 As usual,\u00a0I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.\u00a0 See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s go!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>1 Kings 2:28-35 (NIV)<br \/>\n28\u00a0\u00a0When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and took hold of the horns of the altar.<br \/>\n29\u00a0\u00a0King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, &#8220;Go, strike him down!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On verses\u00a028-35:\u00a0 For many years Joab was the ruthless commander of King David&#8217;s army.\u00a0 Joab&#8217;s ruthlessness was never more manifest than when he unsuspectingly murdered two high ranking Israelite officials, Abner (in\u00a02\u00a0Samuel 3) and Amasa (in\u00a02\u00a0Samuel 20:9-10), possibly for fear that they would one day replace him.\u00a0 Joab also killed Absalom, David&#8217;s son, specifically against David&#8217;s orders.\u00a0 Yet for some reason David always spared Joab&#8217;s life.\u00a0 David literally let Joab get away with murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34435"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34438,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34435\/revisions\/34438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}