While Adoniyah was partying like there was no tomorrow, the Lord thrust Nathan into the middle of all the ruckus.
Why?
He was to be the Lord’s anointed tool to frustrate Adoniyah’s plans to become king.
This leads us to a Torah principle we’d be wise to remind ourselves of:
“When you have entered the land ADONAI your God is giving you, have taken possession of it and are living there, you may say, ‘I want to have a king over me, like all the other nations around me.’ In that event, you must appoint as king the one whom ADONAI your God will choose. He must be one of your kinsmen, this king you appoint over you- you are forbidden to appoint a foreigner over you who is not your kinsman.”-Deuteronomy 17:1-15
Notice the part I bolded.
The bottom line is that, regardless of who men think should be king based on custom, it is the Lord who has the final say.
And we see that the Lord has never been a respecter of persons.
Take a look at these pairs of names:
Isaac/Ishmael
Jacob/Esau
Judah/Reuben
Per the traditions of the day, the names on the left should have been the ones to inherit the promises.
Why?
Because they were the firstborn.
Yet for His own good purposes, the Lord rejected them and instead chose the younger brothers.
Isaac displaced Ishmael.
Jacob displaced Esau.
And Judah displaced Reuben.
There are many other examples in Scripture as well.
Finally, here, in the 1st chapter of Kings, by every conceivable human tradition, Adoniyah should have become the next King of Israel.
Yet that wasn’t gonna happen.
Why?
Because the Lord chose Solomon.
And He planned to execute that choice through His Prophet Nathan.
Simple and done.
Again, this ain’t some abstract principle I’m talking about here.
This is Torah law.
We may not always know the reason behind the Lord’s choices.
We simply have to accept that God is sovereign.
He will choose whom He will choose for His own good reasons.
David had several sons, and per genealogy (birth order), Adoniyah was the next in line logically.
But the Lord doesn’t operate according to human understanding, which is a hell of a lot more flawed than we realize.
As Adonai’s earthly representative, Nathan proclaimed that Shlomo would be king.
This declaration was God’s choice, not men’s.
So, here’s your takeaway for today.
The rule that the firstborn must become king is a human tradition.
It is not a principle given by God.
That matters more than you might think.
Because we love systems and predictable rules.
We want things to work like a formula.
But Scripture shows us again and again that God doesn’t operate according to human formulas.
He chooses whom He chooses.
Sometimes the younger brother.
Sometimes the overlooked son.
And He may choose you.
Or He may not.
And you should be cool with that either way.
Ya feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“God shows no favoritism among people.
But accepts those who fear Him.
From every nation under heaven.”
— Acts 10:34–35
“God chose the foolish things of the world.
To shame those who think they are wise.
God chose the weak things of the world.
To shame those who think they are strong.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:27–28
“It does not depend on human desire.
Nor on human effort or striving.
It depends on God who shows mercy.
For Scripture says to Pharaoh.”
— Romans 9:16–17
“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
What shall we say then?
Is there injustice with God?
May it never be so.”
— Romans 9:13–14
“Have not I chosen you twelve?
Yet one of you is a devil.
Jesus said this about Judas.
The son of Simon Iscariot.”
— John 6:70–71
“You did not choose Me.
But I chose you.
And appointed you to go.
And bear lasting fruit.”
— John 15:16
I absolutely agree that what God does isn’t always what humans expect, or be dictated by human rules.
One thing I do not agree with, though, is that Nathan declared Solomon king. From what I read, there is nothing indicating Nathan tells David God chose Solomon.
There is, however, Nathan verifying with Batsheba that David said Solomon would be king (1 King 1:12; 1:17;1:24), and both Batsheba and Nathan remind David of that promise.
And since you have pointed out what people expect isn’t always what God has planned, the greatest example that I thought of as soon as I saw the title of this message was Yeshua.
The people expected the Messiah to be an action hero to free them from Roman rule, but instead of a Rambo they got a Ghandi.
God planned that Messiah would come twice, first as the suffering son and then later as the conquering king (Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22).
But what the people expected was not what God had in mind, even when the Tanakh was clear what to expect!