Saturday, March 28, 2020

* Solomon deals with Abiathar the priest, with Joab the captain of David army, and with Shimei the man who cursed David.


Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet

Dealing with Abiathar, the priest:

I Kings 2:25-27 And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.

 So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest unto the Lord; that he might fulfil the word of the Lord, which he spake concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Now the action taken against Abiathar makes sense.

There was a penalty from God placed on the house of Eli the priest in the days when Samuel the prophet was a child.

God said:  I Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial (sons of the devil); they knew not the Lord.

* They stole from the offerings in the sense they took the raw meat before it could be offered for sins. The meat had to be burnt upon the alter.  The priest could take a portion of that offered meat.  But they took the meat before it was offered because they wanted the raw meat,  the meat with the fat.  They even said if it was not given to them raw they would take it by force.  The offering meant nothing to them and was therefore despised by them as an offering.  Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord: for men abhorred the offering of the Lord.  I Samuel 2:17

* They committed fornication with the women who entered the gate of the city.

Eli said to his sons:  I Samuel 2:23-25    And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord's people to transgress. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them.

In God's sight Eli did not restrain his sons and God wanted to slay his sons for their abominable sins, therefore God pronounced a penalty against the house of Eli.

I Samuel 2:29-36   Wherefore kick ye at MY sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in MY habitation; and honourest thy sons above ME, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel MY people?

Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before ME for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from ME; for them that honour ME I will honour, and they that despise ME shall be lightly esteemed.

Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house.

And thou shalt see an enemy in MY habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever.
 

And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from Mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.

And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.

And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in Mine heart and in MY Mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
 

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.  (Their motive will be flesh and not spirit.)

***

God said to the child Samuel the following:

I Samuel 3:11-14   And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle.

In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end.

For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.


And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.


***

I Samuel 4:10-11   And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.

And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

15-18    Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.

And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army.

 And he said, What is there done, my son? 

And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 

And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he (Eli) fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

19-21   And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.

 And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.


And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.

Now in the days of Solomon, the priest Abiathar, of the house of Eli, is judged by Solomon, and put in exile.

God does not forget the word HE has spoken even though many generations pass between the time that word is spoken and the time that word comes to pass.

II Peter 3:8-10    But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning HIS promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;

The wrath of God, the judgment of God upon the wicked will come and they will be judged in time.

***


Concerning Joab;

I Kings 2:28-33   Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah (David's son), though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.
(kill him) 


And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said unto him, Thus saith the king, Come forth. And he said, Nay; but I will die here.  And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. 

And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him (kill him), and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.  

And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head, who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, my father David not knowing thereof, to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah. 

Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever: but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the Lord.


New Testament church:  Paul says ...

Acts 20:26-27    I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

If we do wrong and withhold good from another, their blood will be upon us.  And this is true for the New Testament church as well as the Old Testament church.

***

I Kings 2:34-35   So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.

And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the host: and Zadok the priest did the king put in the room of Abiathar.

***

Concerning Shimei:
 


I Kings 2:36-46   And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Build thee an house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth thence any whither.  For it shall be, that on the day thou goest out, and passest over the brook Kidron, thou shalt know for certain that thou shalt surely die: thy blood shall be upon thine own head.

And Shimei said unto the king, The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do.

And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.

And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away unto Achish son of Maachah king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants be in Gath.

And Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants: and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.

And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again.

And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said unto him, Did I not make thee to swear by the Lord, and protested unto thee, saying, Know for a certain, on the day thou goest out, and walkest abroad any whither, that thou shalt surely die?   and thou saidst unto me, The word that I have heard is good.

Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I have charged thee with?

The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness which thine heart is privy to, that thou didst to David my father: therefore the Lord shall return thy wickedness upon thine own head;

And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever.


So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; which went out, and fell upon him, that he died. 

And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

***

And so it is with us.  

Our "kingdom", assignment, is established when we agree to separate from the wicked, from the enemies of God.

Then we do the works of God.

*****