The Anatomy Of Treason

Our text from 1 Kings 2 verses 8 to 25 reminds us that according to the Torah, you cannot take your father's wife.  In 1^st Corinthians 5 we read about a man who had his father's wife and Shaul writing to them, he said, 'You should mourn and pray that GOD will take this wicked person away from you, or that you should kick him out.'  'Give me Abishag' and, well, Bathsheba fell for it.  (Verse 18): 'So Bathsheba said, 'Very well, I will speak for you to the king.''She was not aware of his cunning; of his treachery.  It was obvious to Solomon, but it wasn't to her because she had a tender heart. Doesn't that send us a warning signal, that we should never let our heart rule our heads?  Our minds should always be predominant.  Yes indeed, with the truth of GOD and in all our decisions, the mind and heart go together, but the heart should never take precedence over the mind.  When we do that we are swayed by emotion, not by reason.

Bathsheba went into her son, an unwitting accomplice of Adonijah.  It happened before with Adonijah's half-brother, Absalom.  When Absalom was about to rebel against his father, he was plotting to kill his father and take the throne.  He went on the pretense of paying his vow in Hebron.  He got the king's blessing.  He said, 'Your servant is going to Hebron because when I was in exile, I made a vow to the LORD, and now I am going to pay it.'  King David, totally unsuspecting said, 'Bless you my son, go right ahead.'  So he went to Hebron.  He was offering sacrifices, but while he was offering sacrifices, we read the conspiracy was strong; and with him, went several people from the tribe of Judah who went in their simplicity.  They knew nothing.  They didn't realize; they were unwitting accomplices. And that's what was happening here, too.  Bathsheba was an unwitting accomplice of the traitor.  We see a beautiful picture here of how the king respected his mother.  Do you have a mother?  Be sure that you give her every mark of honour.

The King Solomon is an example to us of how our attitude should be towards our mother, or our grandmother.  'The king rose up to meet her, and bowed down to her and sat down on his throne.' I'll say this by way of incentive: I've noted that young men who honoured their mothers, usually do well with their wives.  They are usually good to their wives as well.

'He bowed down to her and sat down on his throne and had a throne set for the king's mother.  So she sat at his right hand.' The highest place of honour.  Do you remember one of the Ten Commandments? - 'Honour thy father and mother that thy days may be long upon the earth.' She sat at his right hand, and then she said, 'I desire one small petition of you.' He really thought that she was asking a personal favour.  And that's why he said, ''I will not say you, nay. I will not refuse you.

No lawful favour.  That's the condition, of course, that the favour she asked for was a lawful one.  And then when she came out with the request, he knew exactly what was behind it.  She was relaying Adonijah's request, and she says, 'Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah, your brother, as wife.' 'He is your brother.  He is your half-brother, but he does belong to the family.  Just do this kindness to him.'  But King Solomon saw the subterfuge, and that made the request unlawful.  King Solomon answered and said to his mother, 'Why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite....?'  

He is a type of Messiah, isn't he, just here?  At the wedding in Cana in Galilee, Mary came to YESHUA when the wine had run out and she said to him, 'They have no wine.'  He said, 'Woman, what have I to do with you?  My time has not yet come.''What he was saying was, 'You cannot interfere now with my mediatorial ministry.  I am the great Messiah; I have been appointed to public ministry now, and my mother cannot interfere with my public ministry.  She could tell me what to do just when I am her son.  As her son, I must listen to what she tells me.'  But when it comes to being under GOD's authority and doing GOD's work, not even a mother has a right to interfere in her son's calling. 'My time has not yet come.' He was saying to her, 'GOD has given me a time and a place to say and to do everything.'