DISCIPLINE: Parents must interfere

1 Kings 1:5-6

Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, "I will be king." So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him.

(His father had never interfered with him by asking, "Why do you behave as you do?" He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.)

It was David’s plan to make Solomon the next king. Adonijah, however, was the oldest surviving son and believed that he should be king.

King David was just too busy at the office to get involved with his son Adonijah. After all, he had a kingdom to run. The result was that Adonijah grew up with a big ego: “he put himself forward and said, ‘I will be king.’” Probably, Haggith his mother believed that Adonijah had the right to become the next king. The tragedy in all of this was that Adonijah would never be king. But since “Dad David” had never interfered with him, he figured David would stay out of the way this time, too. Sadly for Adonijah, it would eventually cost him his life.

From his deathbed, David crowns Solomon king. Then the plot thickens. In chapter 2, Adonijah is still plotting to be king and influences Bathsheba, Solomon’s mom, to speak in his behalf. Solomon sees through it and orders Adonijah’s execution. It seems like Adonijah had never been told, “No.” He had a high self-esteem. As a prince he had been catered to, he had been flattered, and he had been allowed to do as he pleased without correction. Adonijah could not accept his place; therefore, wise Solomon could not allow him to live.

Verse 6 points out the root of Adonijah’s problem very simply: “His father had never interfered with him.” In other words his dad had never corrected him. Adonijah grew up without a father’s balance and authority. He had the run of the palace. David was around but not connected. Adonijah’s self-importance grew and grew, but David either had not known or had not taken the time.

Here’s my point. Parents are supposed to “interfere” in their children’s lives. God fully expects parents to lead, to instruct, and to punish. That sounds like interference to me. It is the kind of interference that will help them to grow into productive, God-fearing adults.

May it never be said of us that we did not address the behavior of our children.