Power Plays

Who will be King?

Chapter One of I Kings opens up with a power play between two brothers, Adonijah and Solomon. But before we tackle that power play lets look back at the life of David to give a point of comparison to Adonijah’s power play and David’s power play.

Background to I Sam 24: 1-15

Saul, Israel’s current king, was seeking to kill David. This was quite a change from the way life used to be for David. Before Saul turned on David, David had married Saul’s daughter and was best friends with Saul son… the son that typically would be the next ruler. However, God had spoken and said that David was going to be the next king. It was this word of God that made Saul begin to fear David. It was the love of the people who David that made Saul hate the young man he once viewed as a son.

When we open up in Chapter 24 David and his band of men were living in the wilderness hiding from Saul. Living in the wilderness had become normal for those who supported David. Running for your life was also normal for those following David. Because of Saul’s fear/hate/jealous of David, David had to move his parents to another country. His parents end up dying in this country and not in their own home. The power struggle between David and Saul was disrupting their own personal lives and also the lives of their loved ones and countrymen.

Read Samuel 24:1-15

Why didn’t David kill Saul?

What do you think it cost David to not kill Saul?

What you think David’s obedience cost
• His men
• His wife
• His family
• Israel

Growing up my pastor used to say that it is easier to obey when our obedience only costly us… but what about when it costs our loved ones something? Will we still obey?

So what was worth all this to him?
Psalm 15:1-5
And in the middle of all this turmoil David believed this: Psalm 20:6-9

Who is God? What did David believe about God?
So now let’s switch gears to I Kings

Read I Kings Chapter One

When faced with the chance to grab power what did David do? He did not kill Saul, he did not grasp for power.

How is this different from what we see taking place in Chapter One?

Did Adonijah perform all that was required to become King?

So why did he not prevail?

Do you think Adonijah might have been taking a shortcut?

Do we ever take shortcuts in our lives: be it professional or otherwise that do not honor God?

Why do we do that?

What does it say about our view of God?

Is this as accurate view of God?




Food for thought later on in the week…

How much of this battle is a result of Israel asking for a King?

Do you think they imagined this result when they asked for a king?

What does that mean for us?

Why did they want a King? (They wanted something tangible… they wanted to look like other nations and be lead as other nations.)

What did God do? He gave them what they wanted but warned them of what this desire will do. We will return to this theme later on in the study.

Where are the areas in our life were we are not content with being lead by God but instead want someone tangible to guide us?

What could this cause in our own lives?