Exalting Self
Posted by Isaac Butterworth | Filed under Bible
Take a look at 1 Kings 1:1-35.
These verses (and the ones following) comprise a succession narrative; that is, this passage recounts the intrigue surrounding the question: Who shall succeed David as king?
Adonijah, son of David’s wife, Haggith, announced that he would succeed his father on the throne, but David had promised his wife Bathsheba that her son Solomon would be king. When Bathsheba and her allies confronted the aging David about this, he declared Solomon his successor.
A phrase from verse 27 captures the primary issue of this passage: “Who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
Of course, Solomon was to be the immediate successor, but the true occupant of the throne of David is the Anointed One, Jesus Christ, the Son of David. Zechariah’s song in Luke, chapter 1, has these words in reference to Jesus: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old… (vv. 68ff., emphasis added).
Jesus, then, is the true successor to the throne of David.
Practical Application
We are Adonijahs all. Rather than acknowledge God’s Chosen One as the rightful ruler of all of life, including ours, we seek to usurp the throne and make ourselves king. Philip Graham Ryken writes that, in ancient Israel, “the problem was that men like Adonijah (and also Absalom) would not accept God’s choice, but kept exalting themselves” (1 Kings: Reformed Expository Commentary, p. 10). He goes on to say, “In one way or another, we are all tempted to exalt ourselves” (Ibid.)
Photo Credit: Not THE Crown, Just a Crown by Kyle Johnston
