The Weight of the Crown: A Charge to a Son and King Text: 1 Kings 2:1-9
Introduction: The Unsentimental Transfer of Power
We live in a sentimental age. We like our transitions to be smooth, our goodbyes to be tearful but tidy, and our leaders to be, above all else, nice. We have been conditioned by a therapeutic culture to believe that the highest virtues are niceness, tolerance, and an aversion to anything that smacks of harsh judgment. When we come to a passage like this, the final charge of David, the man after God's own heart, to his son Solomon, our modern sensibilities are often jolted. It starts with a pious charge to keep the law, which we can all nod along with, but it ends with a charge to execute two men. It feels jarring. It sounds like a contradiction. A call for piety followed by a call for bloodshed.
But this is because we have forgotten what a kingdom is. We have forgotten what justice is for. And we have forgotten that a godly king must be more than just a nice man; he must be a just man. David is not settling personal scores from his deathbed. This is not an old man's petty vindictiveness. This is the solemn, covenantal transfer of a kingdom. David is handing Solomon the weight of the crown, and that weight includes the responsibility to establish the throne in righteousness. A throne established in righteousness must be a terror to evildoers. If the king's throne is a place of comfort for murderers and traitors, then it is a place of terror for the righteous, and it will not stand for long.
David understands something that our generation has deliberately tried to forget: unresolved sin, particularly the sin of bloodshed, defiles the land. It leaves a stain that only justice can wash away. David's own hands were not entirely clean, and his own political power had been limited in certain ways. He had been unable, for various reasons, to deal with the high-level treachery of his nephew Joab and the insolent rebellion of Shimei. But these loose ends were not mere personal insults; they were threats to the stability of the kingdom and affronts to the justice of God. So David, in his final act as king, charges his son to do what he could not. This is not a preamble to a godless and malicious assignment. This is a father teaching his son the most difficult lesson of leadership: that true peace, true shalom, is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice.
In this passage, we see the foundation of a godly reign. It is built on two pillars: personal fidelity to God's law and the public administration of God's justice. One without the other is a house built on sand. Piety without justice becomes impotent sentimentalism, and justice without piety becomes raw tyranny.
The Text
Then David’s time to die drew near, so he commanded Solomon his son, saying, "I am going the way of all the earth. So you shall be strong, and be a man. And you shall keep the responsibility given by Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may be prosperous in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that Yahweh may establish His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons keep their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, He said, you shall not have a man cut off from the throne of Israel.’ Now you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed; he also shed the blood of war in peace. And he put the blood of war on his belt about his waist, and on his sandals on his feet. So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace. But show lovingkindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table; for they assisted me when I fled from Absalom your brother. Behold, there is with you Shimei the son of Gera the Benjamite, of Bahurim; now it was he who cursed me with a violent curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But when he came down to me at the Jordan, I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ So now, do not let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to Sheol with blood.”
(1 Kings 2:1-9 LSB)
The Covenantal Foundation (vv. 1-4)
We begin with the charge that grounds everything else.
"I am going the way of all the earth. So you shall be strong, and be a man. And you shall keep the responsibility given by Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses..." (1 Kings 2:2-3)
David begins by acknowledging his mortality. "I am going the way of all the earth." This is the great equalizer. But for the covenant man, death is not a terminus but a transition. It is this reality that gives weight to his words. He is about to stand before the God who gave the law he is now entrusting to his son. This is a deathbed charge, and such words carry a unique gravity.
His first command is simple and profound: "be strong, and be a man." This is not a call to generic machismo. In the biblical context, to "be a man" is to assume covenantal responsibility. It means to stand up, to take ownership, to lead, to protect, and to obey God, especially when it is hard. It is the same charge God gave to Joshua as he prepared to conquer Canaan. Manhood is not about brute strength; it is about strength under authority, the authority of God's Word.
And what is the primary duty of a man, a king? "Keep the responsibility given by Yahweh your God." The kingship is not Solomon's possession; it is a stewardship, a charge from God. And the operating manual for this stewardship is explicit: "the Law of Moses." David is not giving Solomon a set of clever political maxims. He is binding him, and the entire kingdom, to the written Word of God. The king is not above the law; he is the chief servant of the law. This is the foundation of the rule of law, not the rule of men.
The result of this obedience is prosperity and success. This is not the health-and-wealth gospel. This is the covenantal principle of blessing. When a nation's leaders walk in God's ways, the nation is blessed. When they abandon His ways, the nation is cursed. This is not cosmic karma; it is the personal, covenantal government of God in history. David then ties this all back to the dynastic promise God made to him. The continuation of David's line on the throne is conditional. It depends on his sons walking before God "in truth with all their heart and with all their soul." This is the principle of covenant succession. The promise is to you and to your children, but each generation must lay hold of that promise through faith and obedience. Grace is not hereditary, but the covenant is.
The Justice of the Throne (vv. 5-6)
Having laid the foundation of obedience to God's law, David now applies that law to two outstanding cases of high treason and murder.
"Now you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me... whom he killed; he also shed the blood of war in peace... So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace." (1 Kings 2:5-6 LSB)
Joab was David's nephew, his brilliant but ruthless general. He was loyal to David's power but not to David's God. He was a pragmatist who believed the ends justified the means. He murdered Abner, a rival general who was negotiating peace, and later he murdered Amasa, another rival, in cold blood, under the guise of a friendly greeting. These were not battlefield killings; they were political assassinations. They were, as David says, the "blood of war in peace." This blood, shed unjustly, polluted the land and, by extension, David's throne.
Why hadn't David dealt with him? The Bible tells us that the sons of Zeruiah were "too hard" for him. Joab had dirt on David regarding Uriah, and his power over the army was immense. For political reasons, David had been hamstrung. But an injustice postponed is not an injustice forgotten. God's law demands that murderers be executed (Gen. 9:6). Joab was a walking, talking, unpunished capital crime. For Solomon to establish his kingdom, this great injustice had to be addressed. David is not telling Solomon to be vindictive; he is telling him to be a king. "Act according to your wisdom." This is a charge to be a wise judge, to see that the sentence required by God's law is finally carried out. A peaceful end for a man like Joab would be a mockery of justice and an invitation for others to act with the same impunity.
The Gratitude of the Throne (v. 7)
Justice is not only about punishing evil; it is also about rewarding righteousness. In the midst of these hard commands, David inserts a charge of grace.
"But show lovingkindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be among those who eat at your table..." (1 Kings 2:7 LSB)
Barzillai was the wealthy Gileadite who provided for David and his men when they fled from Absalom's rebellion. When David was at his lowest, Barzillai was faithful. He acted with hesed, with covenant loyalty. David, now, commands Solomon to reflect that same hesed to Barzillai's sons. The throne is to be a place of judgment for the wicked, but it is also to be a fountain of blessing for the faithful. A righteous king remembers his friends and keeps his promises. This is a picture of how God deals with us. He is a just judge who will by no means clear the guilty, but He is also a gracious Father who remembers the faithfulness of His people and rewards them, seating them at His own table.
The Reckoning of the Throne (vv. 8-9)
The final piece of unfinished business concerns Shimei, the man who cursed David.
"Behold, there is with you Shimei... who cursed me with a violent curse... I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, ‘I will not put you to death with the sword.’ So now, do not let him go unpunished..." (1 Kings 2:8-9 LSB)
This is perhaps the most difficult part for modern readers. David had sworn an oath not to kill Shimei. Is he now telling Solomon to break that oath? Not at all. We must read carefully. When Shimei cursed David as he fled Jerusalem, it was an act of high treason. He was kicking the Lord's anointed when he was down. Later, when David was returning in victory, Shimei came groveling, and David made a specific oath: "I will not put you to death with the sword." David, personally, would not execute him.
David kept his oath. But the oath did not absolve Shimei of his crime. It was a personal pardon from David, not a royal pardon from the throne of Israel. The crime of treason remained on the books. David is telling Solomon, "I was bound by my personal oath. You are not. You are the king. You are a wise man. You know what must be done." This is not duplicity; it is a lesson in jurisdictions. David the man made an oath. Solomon the king has a duty. Shimei's crime was not just against David; it was against the office of the king, an office established by God. To leave such a man unpunished would be to cheapen the majesty of the throne and to signal that treason has no consequences.
Solomon, acting with wisdom, later puts Shimei under a form of house arrest. When Shimei foolishly violates the terms of his parole, Solomon executes him, not for the original crime of cursing David, but for breaking his oath to the new king. Solomon acted with wisdom, just as his father charged him. The gray hair of the traitor went down to the grave in blood, and the throne was secured in justice.
Christ, the Greater Solomon
David's charge to Solomon is a shadow, a type, of the charge that God the Father has given to His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true King, the greater Solomon, who has been given the charge to establish a kingdom that will never end.
Like Solomon, Jesus was commanded to be strong and to act as the great covenant man, the second Adam. He kept the charge of His Father perfectly, walking in His ways, keeping His statutes, and obeying His commandments with all His heart and soul. Because of His perfect obedience, God has established His throne forever.
And the greater Solomon also has a charge to execute justice. He has a Joab to deal with. The arch-murderer, Satan, who was a murderer from the beginning, has shed the blood of saints throughout history. His gray hairs will not go down to Sheol in peace. The King is acting according to His wisdom, and at the appointed time, the sentence will be carried out, and the devil and all his angels will be cast into the lake of fire. The land will finally be cleansed.
Our King also has a Shimei to deal with. All of us, in our natural state, are like Shimei. We have cursed the King. We have shaken our fist at the Lord's Anointed. We have committed high treason against the throne of heaven. And yet, in His mercy, the King has offered us a pardon. But it is a conditional pardon. We are, in effect, placed under house arrest in the city of God. We are told to remain within the bounds of His grace. If we foolishly leave that city, if we trample the Son of God underfoot and count the blood of the covenant a common thing, then our blood will be on our own heads. The King's justice will be swift.
But thank God, our King also has a Barzillai to remember. He is charged to show lovingkindness to all those who have been faithful to Him, especially when He was rejected and scorned. To all those who have given Him a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, He will show everlasting hesed. He will seat them at His table in His kingdom, and they will eat and drink with Him forever. This is the weight of the crown that our King bears. He is establishing His kingdom in perfect righteousness and perfect grace. He will punish every evil, and He will reward every good. His throne is founded on both, and therefore, of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end.