Through the Bible – Day 118

₁₃One day, Adonijah went to see Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, and she asked, “Is this a friendly visit?”

“Yes. ₁₄I just want to talk with you.”

“All right,” she told him, “go ahead.”

₁₅“You know that I was king for a little while,” Adonijah replied. “And everyone in Israel accepted me as their ruler. But the LORD wanted my brother to be king, so now things have changed. ₁₆Would you do me a favour?”

“What do you want?” Bathsheba asked.

₁₇“Please ask Solomon to let me marry Abishag. He won't say no to you.”

₁₈“All right,” she said. “I'll ask him.”

₁₉When Bathsheba went to see Solomon, he stood up to meet her, then bowed low. He sat back down and had another throne brought in, so his mother could sit at his right side. ₂₀Bathsheba sat down and then asked, “Would you do me a small favour?”

Solomon replied, “Mother, just tell me what you want, and I will do it.”

₂₁“Allow your brother Adonijah to marry Abishag,” she answered.

₂₂Solomon said:

₂₅“Benaiah,” Solomon shouted, “go and kill Adonijah.” So Adonijah died.

₂₆Solomon sent for Abiathar the priest and said:

And so the promise that the LORD had made at Shiloh about the family of Eli came true.

₂₈Joab had not helped Absalom try to become king, but he had helped Adonijah. So when Joab learnt that Adonijah had been killed, he ran to the sacred tent and grabbed hold of the corners of the altar for protection. ₂₉When Solomon heard about this, he sent someone to ask Joab, “Why did you run to the altar?”

Joab sent back his answer, “I was afraid of you, and I ran to the LORD for protection.”

Then Solomon shouted, “Benaiah, go and kill Joab!”

₃₀Benaiah went to the sacred tent and yelled, “Joab, the king orders you to come out!”

“No!” Joab answered. “Kill me right here.”

Benaiah went back and told Solomon what Joab had said.

_31-32Solomon replied:

₃₄Benaiah went back and killed Joab. His body was taken away and buried near his home in the desert.

₃₅Solomon put Benaiah in Joab's place as army commander, and he put Zadok in Abiathar's place as priest.

₃₆Solomon sent for Shimei and said, “Build a house here in Jerusalem and live in it. But whatever you do, don't leave the city! ₃₇If you ever cross Kidron Valley and leave Jerusalem, you will be killed. And it will be your own fault.”

₃₈“That's fair, Your Majesty,” Shimei answered. “I'll do that.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem from then on.

₃₉About three years later, two of Shimei's servants ran off to King Achish in Gath. When Shimei found out where they were, ₄₀he saddled his donkey and went after them. He found them and brought them back to Jerusalem.

₄₁Someone told Solomon that Shimei had gone to Gath and was back. ₄₂Solomon sent for him and said:

₄₆“Benaiah,” Solomon shouted, “kill Shimei.” So Shimei died.

Solomon was now in complete control of his kingdom.

₁Solomon signed a treaty with the king of Egypt and married his daughter. She lived in the older part of Jerusalem until the palace, the LORD's temple, and the wall around Jerusalem were completed.

₂At that time, there was no temple for worshipping the LORD, and everyone offered sacrifices at the local shrines. ₃Solomon loved the LORD and followed his father David's instructions, but Solomon also offered sacrifices and burnt incense at the shrines.

₄The most important shrine was in Gibeon, and Solomon had offered more than a thousand sacrifices on that altar.

₅One night while Solomon was in Gibeon, the LORD God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Solomon, ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you.”

₆Solomon answered:

_10-11God said:

₁₅Solomon woke up and realized that God had spoken to him in the dream. He went back to Jerusalem and stood in front of the sacred chest, where he offered sacrifices to please the Lord and sacrifices to ask his blessing. Then Solomon gave a feast for his officials.

₁₆One day two women came to King Solomon, ₁₇and one of them said:

₂₂“No!” the other woman shouted. “He was your son. My baby is alive!”

“The dead baby is yours,” the first woman yelled. “Mine is alive!”

They argued back and forth in front of Solomon, ₂₃until finally he said, “Both of you say this live baby is yours. ₂₄Someone bring me a sword.”

A sword was brought, and Solomon ordered, ₂₅“Cut the baby in half! That way each of you can have part of him.”

₂₆“Please don't kill my son,” the baby's mother screamed. “Your Majesty, I love him very much, but give him to her. Just don't kill him.”

The other woman shouted, “Go ahead and cut him in half. Then neither of us will have the baby.”

₂₇Solomon said, “Don't kill the baby.” Then he pointed to the first woman, “She is his real mother. Give the baby to her.”

₂₈Everyone in Israel was amazed when they heard how Solomon had made his decision. They realized that God had given him wisdom to judge fairly.

₁Pilate gave orders for Jesus to be beaten with a whip. ₂The soldiers made a crown out of thorn branches and put it on Jesus. Then they put a purple robe on him. ₃They came up to him and said, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” They also hit him with their fists.

₄Once again Pilate went out. This time he said, “I will have Jesus brought out to you again. Then you can see for yourselves that I have not found him guilty.”

₅Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, “Here is the man!”

₆When the chief priests and the temple police saw him, they yelled, “Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!”

Pilate told them, “You take him and nail him to a cross! I don't find him guilty of anything.”

₇The crowd replied, “He claimed to be the Son of God! Our Jewish Law says that he must be put to death.”

₈When Pilate heard this, he was terrified. ₉He went back inside and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not answer.

₁₀“Why won't you answer my question?” Pilate asked. “Don't you know that I have the power to let you go free or to nail you to a cross?”

₁₁Jesus replied, “If God had not given you the power, you couldn't do anything at all to me. But the one who handed me over to you did something even worse.”

₁₂Then Pilate wanted to set Jesus free. But the crowd again yelled, “If you set this man free, you are no friend of the Emperor! Anyone who claims to be a king is an enemy of the Emperor.”

₁₃When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out. Then he sat down on the judge's bench at the place known as “The Stone Pavement”. In Aramaic this pavement is called “Gabbatha”. ₁₄It was about midday on the day before Passover, and Pilate said to the crowd, “Look at your king!”

₁₅“Kill him! Kill him!” they yelled. “Nail him to a cross!”

“So you want me to nail your king to a cross?” Pilate asked.

The chief priests replied, “The Emperor is our king!” ₁₆Then Pilate handed Jesus over to be nailed to a cross.

Jesus was taken away, ₁₇and he carried his cross to a place known as “The Skull”. In Aramaic this place is called “Golgotha”. ₁₈There Jesus was nailed to the cross, and on each side of him a man was also nailed to a cross.

₁₉Pilate ordered the charge against Jesus to be written on a board and put above the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” ₂₀The words were written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

The place where Jesus was taken wasn't far from the city, and many of the Jewish people read the charge against him. ₂₁So the chief priests went to Pilate and said, “Why did you write that he is King of the Jews? You should have written, ‘He claimed to be King of the Jews.’ ”

₂₂But Pilate told them, “What is written will not be changed!”

₂₃After the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the cross, they divided up his clothes into four parts, one for each of them. But his outer garment was made from a single piece of cloth, and it did not have any seams. ₂₄The soldiers said to each other, “Let's not rip it apart. We will gamble to see who gets it.” This happened so that the Scriptures would come true, which say,

₂₅Jesus' mother stood beside his cross with her sister and Mary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was standing there too. ₂₆When Jesus saw his mother and his favourite disciple with her, he said to his mother, “This man is now your son.” ₂₇Then he said to the disciple, “She is now your mother.” From then on, that disciple took her into his own home.