We
like to think of David as the gentle shepherd boy with the harp, who
liked to write psalms and who forgave his enemies and wept at the
deaths of Saul and of Absalom. But David also had a temper, as shown
in the story of Abigail and Her Really Stupid Husband (1 Samuel 25).
And although he might forgive, that didn't mean he'd forget.
We
see King David in 1 Kings 2 on his deathbed, having just crowned
Solomon as his successor by doing an end-run around the attempted
coup by Solomon's older brother, Adonijah. (That's another recurring
theme in Scriptures; an inheritance going to someone other than the
Firstborn Son who "should" have received it; but that's
irrelevant to this particular reading).
David
begins his final charge to Solomon with a pious set of conventional
platitudes. Good, godly advice:
"I
am about to go the way of all the earth," he said. "So be
strong, show yourself a man, 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, and that the LORD may
keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live,
and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul,
you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.' (1
Kings 2: 2-4)
Then
things get interesting. David has three special requests. The first
concerns Joab, who was the commander of David's army:
I
like to think of Joab as the G. Gordon Liddy of the Davidic court.
Whenever there was dirty dealings afoot, Joab was usually involved in
it somewhere. Sometimes he was pragmatic voice of reason, as when he
questioned the wisdom of David's command for a census or when he
reminded David that despite his sorrow over Absalom's death, he also
had to consider his army's morale. Sometimes he was acting at
David's command, as when he sent Uriah the Hittite on a suicide
mission so that David could have Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. Sometimes
he went behind David's back, as when he killed the rebellious
Absalom, despite David's orders that his son not be harmed. Usually
he could claim, with some justification, that he was acting in
David's best interest. Then there were the two incidents David
mentions here.
Joab
ran down and killed Abner, one of King Saul's best generals, when
Abner was defecting to David's side during the struggles for the
throne of Israel after Saul's death. (2 Samuel 3) On a later
occasion, when Joab was supposed to meet up with Amasa, one of
David's other generals, Joab pretended to greet him with a friendly
embrace but then stabbed him with a concealed dagger. (2 Samuel
20:1-13) David was infuriated by both murders, but at the time could
do little about them. Joab was simply too valuable to kill. But by
the same token, he was too dangerous to let live; which is why David
advises his son:
"Deal
with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go
down to the grave in peace." (1 Kings 2:6)
Changing
gears, David requests that his son show kindness to the sons of
Barzillai, who provided food and shelter for him and his retinue when
David was fleeing from Absalom. David did not
forget his friends.
But
he didn’t forget his enemies either. He also commands his son to
remember Shimei, son of Gera the Benjamite. During the same period
when David was fleeing from Absalom, Shimei came out to meet David's
retinue and threw stones at him and cursed him:
"Get
out, get out, you man of blood, you scoundrel! The LORD has repaid
you for all the blood you shed in the household of Saul, in whose
place you have reigned... You have come to ruin because you are a man
of blood!" (2 Samuel 16:7-8).
One
of David's men offered to chop off the guy's head, but David told him
not to. After all, David says, it's quite possible that God commanded
Shimei to give him this message. The guy had a point; David's career
had been a bloody one and he was far from blameless. So David swore
that he would not put Shimei to death.
But
that was then. Reminding his son of this incident, he also tells
Solomon that he is not bound by his father's oath.
"You
are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray
head down to the grave in blood." (1 Kings 2:9)
It's
a funny thing; Scriptures speaks of the Wisdom of Solomon, but gives
us very few concrete examples of his wisdom. We get the dubious
attribution of the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but apart from
the story of the Two Mothers and the Baby and the story of the Queen
of Sheba, we get few solid examples of Solomon doing smart stuff. It
occurs to me that how Solomon goes about fulfilling his father's
requests in the rest of Chapter 2 shows some remarkable shrewdness.
But
what are we to make of these three requests: One a nasty sort of
pragmatism, one an act of gratitude and generosity, and one just
downright petty? They don't show the Great King David in a terribly
flattering light. But perhaps that is the point.
Even
David was not a Plaster Saint, a paragon of virtue. He made mistakes
like other men; he let his temper and his desires and his power as
king get the better of him. Sometimes he even let his own remorse
cloud his judgment. He wasn't a superhero.
And
that I think gives his life story meaning: both the heroic deeds and
the dreadful mistakes, the glorious triumphs and the shameful
tragedies. I can relate to that, even when I wail at the stupidity of
some of his acts. And if some of his final thoughts were focused on
petty vengeance, he was also thinking of what was best for his son;
and he had confidence that his son would be able to work things out.
