“The wind blows wherever it pleases” (John 3:8 NIV). Moreover, I need to repent of “mocking” the mockers…

Hence, the following biblical history lesson regarding usurpers and mockers, will be my last post regarding Barack Hussein Obama and the mockers who mock “the truth” (john 14:6 NIV) concerning the threat that SocialIslam poses to our “freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV).

Of Usurpers and Mockers…

“Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel” (2 Samuel 23:20 KJV) was one of the “thirty-seven” (2 Samuel 23:39 NIV) “mighty men” (2 Samuel 23:8 NIV) of David. “Benaiah son of Jehoiada…was as famous as the three mighty men” (2 Samuel 23:22 NIV), “but he was not included among the Three” (2 Samuel 23:23 NIV). Yet, Benaiah “was held in greater honor than any of the Thirty” (2 Samuel 23:23 NIV). Thus, “Benaiah …was a mighty man among the Thirty and was over the Thirty” (1 Chronicles 27:6 NIV).

“Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits” (2 Samuel 23:20 NIV). Benaiah “struck down two of Moab’s best men” (2 Samuel 23:20 NIV), and he “struck down a huge Egyptian” (2 Samuel 23:21 NIV) “who was seven and a half feet tall” (1 Chronicles 11:23 NIV). “Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear” (2 Samuel 23:21 NIV). “Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (2 Samuel 23:22 NIV).

Hence, “Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (2 Samuel 23:20 NIV) was one of David’s mightiest warriors. Therefore, “David put him in charge of his bodyguard” (2 Samuel 23:23 NIV), an elite group of mercenary soldiers, “the Kerethites and Pelethites” (2 Samuel 8:18 NIV). They also served as executioners and couriers. Needless to say, they were battle-hardened warriors. Thus, their leader would need to be someone they respected, someone they would be willing to take orders from, a mighty warrior like “Benaiah the son of Jehoiada” (2 Samuel 23:20 KJV). Thus, “Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites” (2 Samuel 8:18 NIV).

“Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (1 Chronicles 27:5 NIV) also commanded an army division for David. “The third army commander, for the third month, was Benaiah son of Jehoiada the priest. He was chief and there were 24,000 men in his division” (1 Chronicles 27:5 NIV). Furthermore, “Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (2 Samuel 23:20 NIV) raised his son, “Ammizabad” (1 Chronicles 27:6 NIV), to become a mighty warrior. Hence, “Ammizabad was in charge of his division” (1 Chronicles 27:6 NIV).

“Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (1 Kings 1:8 NIV) was a faithful and obedient servant of the king. So, when Adonijah attempted to usurp the throne and set himself up as king of Israel, “Benaiah son of Jehoiada, …and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah” (1 Kings 1:8 NIV). “Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they gave him their support. But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, …and David’s special guard did not join Adonijah” (1 Kings 1:7-8 NIV).

When David learned of Adonijah’s rebellion, he summoned Zadok, Nathan, and Benaiah, and ordered them to anoint Solomon as king of Israel. “Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (1 Kings 1:36 NIV) enthusiastically responded to David’s orders and said, “May the LORD, the god of my lord the king, so declare it. As the LORD was with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon to make his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David!” (1 Kings 1:36-37 NIV). “So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Kerethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule and escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ ” (1 Kings 1:38-39 NIV).

When Adonijah learned that Solomon had been anointed as king, and that “the Kerethites and Pelethites” (1 Kings 1:44 NIV), commanded by “Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (1 Kings 1:44 NIV), were with Solomon, Adonijah fled to the altar. “Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, went and took hold of the horns of the altar” (1 Kings 1:50 NIV) and begged for Solomon not put him “to death with the sword” (1 Kings 1:51 NIV). So, Solomon had mercy on Adonijah, and said, “if he shows himself to be a worthy man, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground; but if evil is found in him, he will die” (1 Kings 1:52 NIV).

Unfortunately for Adonijah, he did not repent of his rebellious ways. Adonijah asked Bathsheba to ask Solomon if Abishag the Shunammite could become his wife, which was tantamount to an attempted coup, for Abishag the Shunammite was considered to be David’s wife, even though David had never slept with her. “When King David was old and well advanced in years, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him. So his servants said to him, ‘Let us look for a young virgin to attend the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him so that our lord the king may keep warm.’ Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful girl and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The girl was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no intimate relations with her” (1 Kings 1:1-4 NIV).

Solomon understood Adonijah’s intentions to once more usurp the throne. Thus, Solomon ordered “Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (1 Kings 2:25 NIV) to execute Adonijah. So, “Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (1 Kings 2:25 NIV) “struck down Adonijah and he died” (1 Kings 2:25 NIV) in disobedience.

When Joab heard that Adonijah had been executed, he too “fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar” (1 Kings 2:28 NIV), for Joab had “had conspired with Adonijah” (1 Kings 2:28 NIV) to usurp the throne. So, Solomon ordered Benaiah to execute Joab, for David had warned Solomon about Joab’s disobedient ways. David had told Solomon, “Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace” (1 Kings 2:6 NIV). Therefore, “Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried on his own land in the desert (1 Kings 2:34 NIV) of disobedience. Solomon then “appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army” (1 Kings 2:35 NASB) in Joab’s place. Hence, Benaiah became commander-in-chief of Solomon’s army, the army of Israel.

After dealing with Adonijah, Solomon dealt with Abiathar the priest, who had also conspired with Adonijah to usurp the throne. “To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign LORD before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.’ So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD, fulfilling the word the LORD had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli” (1 Kings 2:26-27 NIV).

Solomon now had one person left to deal with, the “Mocker” (Proverbs 21:24 NIV), “Shemei son of Gera” (1 Kings 2:8 NIV), before “The kingdom” (1 Kings 2:46 NIV) would be free from rebellion and “firmly established in Solomon’s hands” (1 Kings 2:46 NIV).

“Shemei” (1 Kings 2:8 NIV) had “called down bitter curses” (1 Kings 2:8 NIV) and had thrown stones at David when David had fled Jerusalem when Absalom had usurped the throne. “David and his men continued along the road while Shimei was going along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went and throwing stones at him and showering him with dirt” (2 Samuel 16:13 NIV). David spared Shemei’s life after Absalom’s coup was quashed. But, David had instructed Solomon to be wise in dealing with the “mocker” (Proverbs 14:6 NIV), Shemei son of Gera. David told Solomon, “do not consider him innocent. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood” (1 Kings 2:9 NIV). So, Solomon ordered Shemei son of Gera, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, but do not go anywhere else” (1 Kings 2:36 NIV). Thus, Shemei was placed under house arrest, and was told that if he ever left Jerusalem he would be put to death. Solomon told him, “The day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you can be sure you will die; your blood will be on your own head” (1 Kings 2:37 NIV). Therefore, “Shemei stayed in Jerusalem for a long time” (1 Kings 2:38 NIV). “But three years later, two of Shimei’s slaves ran off to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath” (1 Kings 2:39 NIV). Although Shemei understood that death would be the consequence of his disobedience, if he ever left Jerusalem, Shemei “maliciously mocked” (Psalm 35:6 NIV) Solomon and “saddled his donkey and went to Achish at Gath in search of his slaves. So, Shimei went away and brought the slaves back from Gath” (1 Kings 2:40 NIV). Therefore, Solomon had Shemei brought before him and said, “You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the LORD will repay you for your wrongdoing” (1 Kings 2:44 NIV). Hence, Solomon “gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (1 Kings 2:46 NIV) to execute Shemei. So, “Benaiah son of Jehoiada went out and struck Shimei down and killed him” (1 Kings 2:46 NIV). Thus, Shemei would “mock” (Proverbs 14:9 NIV) no more.

Hence, through the obedient hands of “Benaiah son of Jehoiada” (2 Samuel 23:20 NIV), “The kingdom was …firmly established in Solomon’s hands” (1 Kings 2:46 NIV).

So, “Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, submitted themselves to King Solomon. So the LORD exalted Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel” (1 Chronicles 29:23-25 NKJV).

May you be obedient to “the truth” (John 8:32 NIV), and may “the truth” (John 14:6 NIV) keep the United States “free” (John 8:32 NIV) from the tyranny of SocialIslam.

Shalom,

Benaiah