Have you ever faced the difficult, emotional experience of firing an employee? Or perhaps you’ve had to place boundaries on a relationship? In the business world, a boss might want to avoid the pain of firing an employee who needs to be fired. In Christian communities, the theology of love and grace is deeply rooted in our consciences. The shadow side of love and grace, however, can lead us to allow an underperforming or unsuitable employee to remain in a position far too long. We can give abusive or selfish people too many chances before imposing boundaries.
We say, “What would love do?” thinking that love requires us to keep believing in the person, keep trying to help them grow and change. But “What would love do?” must also take into account all those affected by the employee. That employee’s actions and words often make life difficult for other employees. That employee’s performance is often detrimental to the company or church. What should we do?
1st Kings chapter 2 begins with David’s final words for his son, Solomon, who has become the new king, and David’s words to Solomon direct Solomon to place boundaries on some of the most powerful, and yet most difficult, people in the kingdom.
The most important part of David’s charge to Solomon, in my opinion, is what David says in verses 2–4. Those verses are the heart of the passage, and we will return to them in tomorrow’s post. For now let’s look at what David says to Solomon about those difficult “employees.” In verses 5–9, David names names. Essentially David says, “Solomon, get rid of the difficult people, and bless the wonderful ones.”
It is interesting that David wants Solomon to do what he himself didn’t do. Yet, David’s lack of confrontation resonates with me. It can be very difficult for some personalities to confront others, especially if the confrontation is a firing or a placing of boundaries on them.
In my role as pastor, there have been numerous situations in which I, believing love required me to give multiple chances to a person, actually enabled their poor performance to linger far too long. I should have applied love in a wider sense, to the rest of the staff or to the whole congregation, and let that employee go.
David, it seems, allowed people to stay too long, perhaps due to a sense of loyalty, when inwardly he knew he should have let them go. Now as he is dying, he urges Solomon to deal with those people. But will Solomon deal with them? We’re about to find out.
Before that, in verses 10–11, we read the account of David’s passing.
“Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. He had reigned forty years over Israel—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.”
The remainder of 1 Kings chapter 2 describes how Solomon established his throne.
First, Adonijah, the guy who was trying to become the next king (as we learned in the previous posts here and here), visits Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, urging her to ask Solomon to give the beautiful young woman Abishag to Adonijah to be Adonijah’s wife. Remember Abishag? Abishag was the young woman who taking care of David in his old age (see this post). Now Adonijah wants Abishag to be his wife.
Why didn’t Adonijah just ask Solomon directly? Clearly Adonijah thinks it is a far better idea if Solomon’s mom, Bathsheba, asks Solomon. She is the queen mother after all, and has incredibly high standing with Solomon. If not for her intervention, Solomon might not be king (as we learned here and here). If anyone has Solomon’s ear, it is Bathsheba.
Bathsheba agrees, and she asks Solomon if Adonijah can have Abishag as his wife.
How do you think Solomon should answer his mom? Solomon as king definitely has the authority to decide this question. Maybe he should give Abishag to be his older brother’s wife, as a peace offering.
What do you think Solomon says to his mom?
He says, “Absolutely not, and in fact, I can’t believe you said ‘yes’ to come to with me on Adonijah’s behalf.”
Why is Solomon so upset with his mom, and why is he viewing Adonijah’s request so negatively? Because Solomon views Adonijah’s request as a subversive act.
First, Adonijah is older than Solomon, and culturally-speaking, Adonijah has the right to the throne. Second, since Abishag was in King David’s service, it is essentially the same as saying that Abishag was David’s royal concubine. If Adonijah marries Abishag, Adonijah would be married to the former king’s concubine.
Put those two idea together: Adonijah’s birth order and marriage to David’s concubine. Solomon believes Adonijah would have a powerful rationale to claim that he, Adonijah, was the rightful king, even though David made Solomon king.
David is dead and gone, and Solomon believes that if he allows Adonijah to marry Abishag, it could lead to a political and perhaps military battle. Solomon says, “No way. Never.” Solomon makes it very clear, “Adonijah is asking to become king, and I told him previously that if he did anything wicked, he would have to die. This is wicked, and he must die.” Solomon has Benaiah, the guy who jumped in the pit the with a lion on a snowy day, go and enact capital punishment on Adonihah. Benaiah does so.
Solomon then deals with the people David instructed him to deal with. He removes Abiathar from the priesthood. He has Benaiah enact capital punishment on Joab and Shimei, people who David struggled with from time to time. With that Solomon has established himself on the throne.
It is a fairly brutal passage. Capital punishment always is. But I believe the lesson is that we should not delay applying loving boundaries. I totally disagree with capital punishment! But I believe that in the workplace, in churches, in Christian communities, we leaders would do well to apply love by quickly placing boundaries where needed, up to and including termination.
Easier said than done, I admit.
Check back tomorrow for the final post in this week’s series, as we’ll take a closer look at David’s last words to Solomon that I skipped over above in verses 2–4. I you see how significantly those words can apply to us as well.
Photo by Aleš Čerin on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 