Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Can Justice and Mercy Work Together? | Historical Books | 1 Kings 2:13-46

Episode Date: July 25, 2025

Why is there tension between justice and mercy? How is Jesus the culmination of the Old Testament story? Which do you tend to forget: God's justice or God's mercy? In today's episode, Jeff shares how 1 Kings 2:13-46 encourages us to be a picture of God's justice and mercy in today's world. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 2:13-46

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jeff Parrott. What is your gut instinct when you encounter a tension between two apparently conflicting ideas? For many people, it's easier to just take aside and alleviate the tension than it is to take a moment, to think. When we dodge the complexity and the discomfort of legitimate tensions, we can miss the opportunity to think. think. But on top of that, we might even miss the opportunity to be transformed. As we engage with our passage in First Kings chapter two today, we're going to encounter a theological tension that will indeed make us think. It's the apparent polarity between the themes of justice and mercy. Which is more

important? Sure, both of them matter, but is one more important than the other? Unfortunately, these two biblical themes are often pitted against each other in an either or fashion. But our passage today is going to ratchet up that tension in both of those themes. And in doing so, it's going to amplify our longing for the kind of king who doesn't just alleviate the tension between justice and mercy, but accomplish the end goal of everything within it. As we approach God's word together, let's slow down and ask. for His grace to move through our time. Heavenly Father, thank you for the amazing gift of life and breath in this new day.

And thank you for the gift of your word. We bring before you, all of who we are, our joys and our sorrows, our anxiety and our excitement, our calendars and our contingencies. Would you meet us in this space? Jesus help us abide in you and remain in you as we engage with your truth. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through this time in First Kings. And as we read these words, let these words read us and restore us. May your living word create new life in us.

In Jesus' name, amen. Now, our passage today picks up in the early moments of Solomon's reign after the death of his father, David. It's here in Solomon's first decisions as king that the tension of justice and mercy is tested. Now in chapter 2, verses 13 through 28, we begin with the half-brother of Solomon, Adonijah, trying to sneakly get Abyshag the Shunamite as his wife. But there's likely more at play than just betrothal here. First, it's worth noting that Abyshag was one of David's concubines back when he was alive. So in the eyes of some people, this desire to marry her may have just been a

covert attempt at the throne. And that suspicion is amplified because of Adonijah's recent effort to become king back at the end of chapter one. Now back there at the end of chapter one, Solomon showed Adonijah mercy and let him live. But he vowed that in the very moment that evil was found in Adonijah, his life would be over. And so here in chapter two, when Solomon senses that his half-brother is up to no good, he has him killed. So within this little mini-narrative of Adonijah, we see King Solomon responding with both mercy and with justice. There's a little tension going on between the two, but the passage keeps ramping it up. In verses 26 through 27, Solomon tells the priests, Abhyathar, that he deserves

death because of his unfaithfulness to the new regime. But because of Abyathar's loyalty to David, he's spared and he's just sent away to live in exile. So we get a sense here in this little mini narrative that Solomon is giving a lot of mercy to people. But then we go to verses 28 through 35, and Solomon sentences the great commander, Joab, to die because of his support in Adonijah's coup and because of his lingering blood guilt

from killing two men outside of King David's will. And here, with Joab, we're back to justice. In verses 36 through 46, Solomon directs his attention to a man named Shemaiah, who handed out some hardcore cursing of David while also supporting Absalom's rebellion back in 2nd Samuel 16. Now, for Shemaiah, Solomon initially tries to keep him under house arrest, and we get a sense of mercy. And that works for a while. But when Shemaiah breaks the terms of that agreement, Solomon puts him to death as well,

and we get a sense of final justice. Now, with all these many narratives combining together, let's just pause and reflect where we are. If we were to evaluate these early moments of Solomon's reign and ask, is the king of God's people prioritizing justice or mercy, what would we say? I mean, we really see both. It's not an either or, but a both and. But when we sit down to read this entire narrative, when you get into the text and read it, Solomon's admixture of justice and mercy kind of feels unsatisfaction. And that's intentional. Scholars note that in the worldview of the ancient near east, Solomon is actually just following the typical practices of wisdom when a new king takes over the throne. But the authenticity of this wisdom is uncertain. The Old Testament scholar Donald Wiseman states it this way. Solomon's action may not necessarily be taken as wise, for it led to divisions which lasted throughout the entire Davidic dynasty.

And indeed, as the historical books continue, we're going to see the kings of Israel doling out justice and mercy with greater and greater inconsistency. Eventually, the attempts at firm justice erode into egotistical violence. Eventually, mercy is going to be maligned into self-serving people-pleasing. Eventually, this tension will become a train wreck. Now, for an early audience of God's people encountering this passage in the time of the kings, in the time of exile, the tension between justice and mercy in the early days of Solomon's reign here would create a longing. A longing like this. When are we going to get a king who actually gets this right? When are we going to see justice and mercy working coherently instead of

chaotically? For them, the tension isn't just intellectual. It is lived out in their daily experience. We need a king who's wise enough to be truly just and truly mercy. And that brings us to another tension connected to this passage. And this tension has to do with our interpretation and application of these Old Testament books. As we read these books, one of our goals is to honor the original audience, their context and their concerns. We want to ask, what difference would this make for them? And how would that original meaning apply to us? And in that spirit, we can acknowledge that this passage is creating attention that is not resolved in the life and time of the original audience. It's a tension that creates a deep

longing for real justice and real mercy. But while we have that interpretive lens in front of us, there's also a sense in which we have to read these historical books as indicators to a bigger history, a redemptive history, where Jesus is at the center, where Jesus is at the foundation. Because as the story of the Bible progresses, we come to find that these two realities, justice and mercy, aren't in conflict. They eventually find a congruence. The longing of God's people, of all people, is satisfied in the cross of King Jesus. Jesus's real historical death on a cross isn't a random act to accomplish God's victory. It's the culmination and realization of the deepest longings of the human heart and the deepest priorities of God's kingdom. Because it's on the cross

that we see justice and mercy fully satisfied without either of them being compromised. There are so many New Testament texts that describe this, but Hebrews 2.17 is one example. It says this, therefore he, Jesus, had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priests in the service of God to make propitiation. That's a satisfaction of wrath for the sins of the people. So according to Hebrews 2, the cross is the confluence of justice and mercy. It is the wisdom of God, the power of God, the love of God on full display. Now, here's where the transforming power of the tension is important. If you decide out of the gate that you're going to read the Bible and only emphasize God's justice or God's mercy and you refuse to be curious

about the tension of both of them in the Bible, then you're going to end up missing this redemptive longing for a true king who satisfies both justice and mercy without compromise. You'll find yourself watering down the real justice and wrath of God against sin. Or you'll find yourself doing mental gymnastics around the full-blown mercy of God for sinful people. You'll end up missing the significance of the cross. And here's the layer on top of that.

this tension that points us to Jesus isn't simply meant to inform us, it's meant to transform us in light of his reign and his kingdom. At the beginning of my time in seminary, one of our professors said this. He said, when you graduate, we're not going to ask you what you know. We're going to ask you, who have you become? In a lot of ways, that reflects the goal of these historical books in the entire Bible. They're not just trying to tell us a story. They're trying to draw us into a story. to transform us in light of Jesus' death, resurrection, and reign. It's not just about what you know. It's about who you're becoming.

So as we finish our time, let's just take a moment to reflect on some of the themes from this passage and how it might change us. How is the tension between justice and mercy here in First Kings amplifying your own longings for Jesus? How are you sensing a need for justice or mercy or both in your own life right now. How might God be calling you

to be a picture of Jesus' justice, a picture of Jesus' mercy in the real life situations that you're navigating right now? Heavenly fathers, we go into the day that you have for us. Would you transform us with your truth? Help us see that our greatest desires

are satisfied in Jesus. Let that satisfaction change our desires to embody your justice, to embody your mercy in newer and deeper ways today. Holy Spirit, we ask you to move in and through us by your grace for your glory and your story. In Jesus' name, amen.