“Adoniyah the son of Haggit was beginning to claim that he would be king; to this end he organized chariots and horsemen, with fifty men to run ahead of him.”-1 Kings 1:5
We’re next introduced to Adoniyah, the 4th son born to David.
Adoniyah means “my Lord is YAH” or “my Lord is Yahweh.”
YAH is simply a shortened name for God.
So Adoniyah was the 4th in line to succeed the throne.
However, since the three brothers who came before him were all dead, Adoniyah assumed he would be the next king.
Amnon, as a result of raping his half-sister Tamar, was killed by Absalom.
Absalom was killed by David’s nephew Joab.
Finally, some think Chileab may have died young.
This could explain why he never shows up in the later struggles for the throne among David’s sons.
But to be clear, the Bible itself does not explicitly state this.
Anyway, the whole point of the matter is that based on the traditions of the day, Adoniyah was next in line to be king, and he knew it.
So this homie got real arrogant real fast.
He pretty much picked up where Absalom left off.
He arranged to be paraded around in Jerusalem in a royal chariot with 50 guards running ahead of him to clear traffic.
He wanted to let the people know he was the crown prince and that it was just a matter of time before he would be made king.
Why would he be so disrespectful towards his father?
Verse 6 gives us the answer:
“His father had never in his life confronted him by asking, ‘Why are you behaving this way?’ Moreover, he was a very handsome man; he was born next after Avshalom.”
In other words, David never properly disciplined his children.
The result was that his kids grew up entitled and without humility.
The fact that Adoniyah was very “handsome” like Absalom didn’t help matters much either.
This leads to today’s takeaway.
If you’re a father and don’t properly exercise discipline in the household, it’s gonna come back to haunt you.
Just as it did to David.
Ya feel me?
I’d say lack of fatherly discipline in the home is the biggest reason the nuclear family unit has disintegrated.
With the divorce rate topping 50%, traditional family values have gone straight out the proverbial window.
I can speak from personal experience on this topic.
The reason I became such a messed-up kid in my school years who couldn’t focus was that my parents divorced when I was three, and there was no strong father figure in the house.
The lack of a male authority in the household also caused my mother to turn me into her surrogate husband.
I became a victim of covert incest at her hands, which I feel utterly destroyed my ability to have a healthy intimate relationship with another woman.
By the way, look up “covert incest” if you don’t know what it means.
It is utterly devastating to the emotional health of a young child.
Anyway, I digress.
The lesson here is if you’re the man of the house…BE THE MAN OF THE HOUSE.
And if you’re a wife, respect your husband and let him be the man of the house that God created him to be.
Ya feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“The husband is the head of the wife
as Messiah is the head of the church,
his body, of which he is the Savior.”
-Ephesians 5:23
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