What does 1 Kings 2:23 Mean?

Context Summary

So David's troubled life came to a close, but he has never ceased to lead the praises of the saints.

At the very beginning of his reign Solomon was confronted by a difficult problem. There was so close a connection in public opinion between the title to the crown and the possession of a deceased monarch's harem, that it would have been impossible to grant Adonijah's request without giving strong encouragement to his pretensions. Solomon treated Bathsheba with profound respect, but his love for her did not blind him to his duty to his realm, Proverbs 20:26.

Notice that solemn declaration, "As Jehovah liveth," 1 Kings 2:24. It was common to the godly of those days. See 1 Kings 17:1. They would not use the phrase lightly nor flippantly, but with a profound realization of standing in the presence of God. Let us recall those words of our Lord, "As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father," John 6:57, and let us draw daily on His life, so that we may live-yet not we, but he in us and we in Him, Galatians 2:20. From a worldly point of view Naboth might have done a good stroke of business by selling his estate to. Ahab. A royal price and assured favor might have been his-but he had a conscience! Above the persuasive tones of the monarch's offer sounded the voice of God: "The land shall not be sold for ever, for the land is mine." See Leviticus 25:23; Numbers 36:7; Ezekiel 46:18.

Ahab knew perfectly well that Jezebel could not give him the property of another except by foul means, but he took pains not to inquire. Though the direct orders for Naboth's death did not come from him, yet, by his silence, he was an accomplice and an accessory; and divine justice penetrates all such specious excuses. God holds us responsible for wrongs which we do not arrest, though we have the power. The crime was blacker because of the pretext of religion, as suggested by a fast. See also 2 Kings 9:26. The blood of murdered innocence cries to God, and his requital, though delayed, is inevitable. See Revelation 6:9-10. [source]

Chapter Summary: 1 Kings 2

¹  David, having given a charge to Solomon
³  of Reverence
⁵  of Joab
⁷  of Barzillai
⁸  of Shimei
¹⁰  Solomon succeeds
¹²  Adonijah, moving Bathsheba to ask unto Solomon for Abishag,
¹³  is put to death
²⁶  Abiathar, having his life given him, is deprived of the priesthood
²⁸  Joab fleeing to the horns of the altar, is there slain
³⁵  Benaiah is put in Joab's room, and Zadfok in Abiathar's
³⁶  Shimei, confined to Jerusalem, by occasion of going to Gath, is put to death