Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Solomon was informed, ‘Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon; see, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, “Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword.”’ So Solomon responded, ‘If he proves to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.’ Then King Solomon sent to have him brought down from the altar. He came to do obeisance to King Solomon; and Solomon said to him, ‘Go home.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, October 28, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Oh, snap! This plays like a scene in a movie, I tell you. Solomon is no fool. Adonijah had set himself up as David’s successor and had it ripped out from under him when David had Solomon anointed king. Adonijah knows that without Solomon’s favor, he is a dead man. Solomon knows that Adonijah isn’t about to just roll over. He’ll pay lip service to his loyalty to the new king, but Solomon’s just too smart for that. “As long as you play nice, you live. But you step even a hair’s breadth out of line and you’re done.” Solomon knows that Adonijah’s true colors will come out sooner or later, and he refuses to be placed in a position where he makes a promise he has to later renege on, at the loss of his own reputation. Adonijah has no choice but to agree to the deal, so he comes out of where he’s been cowering in the temple and bows down to Solomon.
I imagine Solomon regarding the guy with utter coldness as Adonijah goes through the motions of being loyal, then saying with complete dismissiveness, “Go home.”
Shivers, I tell you. Right down my spine.
Once again, I find myself straying from the idea of writing a devotional about God’s scripture, pulled away by the theatrical nature of some of this stuff. Perhaps I can draw myself back into the ongoing thread of the downsides of Israel demanding a monarchy rather than letting God rule them in a more decentralized, anarchic manner, and say that here, at least, God’s people are getting a competent king who truly does love—and is loved by—God. Even if he sounds like Michael Corleone.
Can I find the positive in modern political leaders? What draws me to those I support?
