The KT OLLA Web Stories

AT Gibeon King Solomon offered a huge sacrifice of a thousand cattle. That great sacrifice stirred up the heart of God, as the soul which offered it pleased Him much. So there in the smoking clouds, God appeared to Solomon—and it was a breathtaking moment to hear Him speak. For He asked a man to make a wish: He asked Solomon to state his need. ‘I have seen your heart and your offering, and I am pleased with you this day. ‘Therefore Son of David, ask of Me anything you please, and I shall give you whatever you say.’ Right there where the mortal man bowed, he knew this was a mighty offer. But his needs weren’t so many to place in a giant offer. He wanted to ask one thing that is mightier than power and riches. He wanted to own one thing that is chief among so many. So He answered, ‘O God of Israel, You have loved David and blessed him in his days. ‘And this grace, You have extended to me his son: You have set me on his throne. ‘Still here I am in the midst of the many people you have mad...

SHIMEI didn’t suspect anything when he got the King’s summon. He left his house in the Benjaminite town of Bahurim and travelled to the capital. He left for the king’s palace at once. When he arrived at the palace and had presented himself, the monarch read him and thought he’d forgotten his wrong. So he decided that he’d remind him first before he would pass judgement. But Shimei hadn’t all forgotten. For he had indeed asked pardon from King David after the ruler’s crises were done. The monarch had granted his pardon when he’d hurriedly gone to placate him. And with the pardon secured, Shimei could move on like he never erred. However, this man became a little apprehensive that the king could change his mind. That he could turn back the page in time and revisit his wrong. Yet the tide of time rolled past and the king grew old, and died. Now with the king’s death, the man felt relieved as he said the monarch had carried his crime to the grave. But Shimei wouldn’t know that his offence ...

NOW Joab held onto the horns of the Tabernacle’s altar; and he pleaded for the king’s mercy like the Fourth Prince had done before. So when King Solomon got the news, he became quite furious as he was not ready to grant the pardon. ‘Here’s a man who has lived by mercy through the reign of my father! Here’s the man shamelessly asking for more to escape judgement!’ This and much more were the ruler’s marvel. Then in a moment his anger doubled up and he exclaimed: ‘What man is this? Doesn’t he feel shame to request pardon? ‘And tell me; how much further do we go on this leniency? Tell me; how much do I pardon? ‘He committed treason yet that was no reason to kill him… ‘But what shall we say to Abner whose blood still cries for justice? ‘How shall we comfort the bones of Amasa who died unjustly in the hands of Joab? ‘Now how do I face the Almighty if I let Joab live? If I let his murder go! ‘Righteousness is what I owe my God, and justice is what I owe the people!’ He summoned his chief of ...

JOAB’S error had happened quite many years before. It was before the new king was born, and before his father even ruled in Israel. It was those times when David was a young man fleeing from an envious lord—King Saul, the first of Israel’s kings. But at this time, the enemy had fallen in a battle against others. He’d fought a war against a nation, and he’d died along with the heir he took to battle. He died in that battle with three of his sons. So, every one of David’s men thought that he would then find rest, as the enemy who chased them without a break had passed. But that hope and expectation didn’t happen as the end of the fight only birthed a greater war. For as soon as King Saul fell, his royal troop carried on with the feud as far as their master would want it. And so, Saul’s men continued to fight David’s camp—among those men was one called Abner. Abner was the bravest one and his loyalty to Saul was without question. Now on David’s side was this warrior, Joab. He was the capt...

JOAB knew he’d crossed many lines with David and he’d been forgiven every time he did. He knew his loyalty to the man had always been tainted with tempers, his impulsive actions and unbridled wrath— But he’d enjoyed the monarch’s leniency too many times to count. However, the man had begun to fear in David’s latter years. And it wasn’t that he saw the former king made moves against him. Instead, it was the king’s silence that had caused him fear. A moment’s silence for a buried list of errors. Thus, the man had become quite nervous around David… Then when the king grew too old and weak to go for battles, it became easier to hold grudges that he wouldn’t let soldiers war. He didn’t realize then that his inward grumble was rather too loud for the old one to hear. He didn’t know that his master’s gaze was on him. So, Joab became quite sunken in his resentment and in his plot to find a better king, that he didn’t suspect his master’s eyes. But after the wind had blown past, and he’d seen D...

KING Solomon did not wait till Benaiah had returned before he let his mother leave in peace. He walked her to the dining table and pitied the situation she found herself in. He stopped her along the way and said, ‘Mother, if you want to go home and rest, it is all right. We can talk over your favourite meal next time you come visiting.’ The mother looked up at him, amazed at this son altogether. She just found herself saying, ‘Ah thank you; I think I need a nap. You see, I didn’t get enough sleep last night!’ ‘Mm, you definitely need to rest, Mother.’ ‘Thank you, Your Majesty. I’ll be leaving first.’ With this Bathsheba took leave of the ruler; then she hurried down to Adonijah’s. Somehow she hoped that the Fourth Prince might have heard, then fled. She didn’t want him punished for the thing she helped him with. So Bathsheba hurried down, daring the consequences. Then when she arrived she saw him resting… But it was a lifeless body gone from this world of sin. The queen mother stood th...

NOW King Solomon rose back to his place. This time the tide was high. ‘So all that Adonijah want from me is the Shunammite?’ he asked the guest. The woman affirmed the word. ‘Then with this he should be pacified?’ Bathsheba nodded. The king tested her afresh.  ‘Did you say all I have to give this brother is my wife, the woman Father gave me to wed?’ Bathsheba spoke up then. ‘No, not your wife... it is the Shunammite lady; I mean—’ Solomon cut her short. ‘But if I give my wife and he isn’t satisfied, then he can come back to ask the throne—right?’ Bathsheba stuttered, but the king wouldn’t hear a word. He went on speaking as though she’d answered him. ‘Oh why would he trouble himself asking compensation? He deserves this seat, doesn’t he? ‘He should have simply asked for the throne! What a waste of ambition! ‘Definitely it was his wife I stole, how much less the throne! He should have come for both his wife and me!’ Bathsheba was a little scared. She moved to implore the king, but S...

KING Solomon jumped to his feet at once. He closed his eyes for a long moment as if he was sinking in something. And in the next moment he was back seated on the throne. For a flame of rage burned so hot in his belly. That morning the queen mother had paid the king a visit and the latter had received her with all the delight. He’d got another throne set up beside him to honour his mother. He’d made Bathsheba sit on the royal throne beside him. Yet if only the king’s mother had caught a glimpse of the bounds of her role, she wouldn’t have dared to go. But it was too late then. For it’d finally spilled and Solomon wasn’t quiet. In that instant when she blabbered about things too embarrassing to say, she heard her words return in an echo and saw the glares of silent faces... She saw fireballs in her son’s gaze. In one fraction of a tiny moment, everything the woman had built up in sky came crashing down in ice stones and water. And before she knew it, she met a different side of Solomon.....

WHEN Bathsheba let the prince in and he settled down, she was all too quick to ask: ‘Is this visit of peace, Son of Haggith?’—she started out by calling him by his mother’s. Then she added, ‘You must have come peaceably!’ Adonijah was eager to clarify himself, so he immediately put in a good word. ‘May you live, Your Majesty! See, I have come peaceably! And if I haven’t got a favour to ask of you, I wouldn’t have come!’ Bathsheba let out a puff of relief. Somehow she knew no one in their right mind would want to harm her, since they would be going against the king doing so. But she couldn’t be this sure about Adonijah, a man who’d clearly attempted to reign. She was now relieved things weren’t so. Thus Bathsheba was eager to know what exactly this favour was, the favour a rival might go to ask from a foe, as she apparently wasn’t out of the woods yet. So she sat up and asked: ‘Now what is this favour that I can possibly offer you? Is there something you want me to do?’ Adonijah was del...

IT was a new dawn in Israel and a new beginning in the palace of the kingdom. That quiet morning, a woman set out to change things pretty much. To change the order of things among the courtiers of the royal house... For she sat up so early reorganizing the positions of duty of her female servants. That morning, palace maids and retainers knelt before the old lady as the latter would call them out and question them on sundry matters. Then she’d assign most of them to new quarters. This she was doing as her part in maintaining the security of the new king. It was a duty she’d suddenly saddled herself with. Now that powerful one who demanded such a submissive bow was the first lady of all the women in Israel... As she was the mother of the new king—and the king hadn’t got a spouse yet. Yes, she was the Queen Bathsheba, now called the Queen Mother. She was the queen consort of yesterday. Thus, Bathsheba woke up so early this day with the thought of protecting her son from within her place....