"When David is about to die, he gave his son Solomon this instruction, 'I am about to go the way of all creatures. Be strong and show yourself a man. Keep the commandments of YAHWEH your GOD and walk in HIS ways. Keep HIS statutes, HIS commands, HIS ordinances and declarations written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in whatever you do and wherever you go. If you do so, YAHWEH will fulfill the promise HE made to me: 'If your sons take care to walk before me faithfully with their whole heart and their whole soul, you shall always have one of your descendants on the throne of Israel.'
Now you know what Joab, the son of Zeruiah did to me--how he dealt with the two commanders of Israel's armies, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether. These two he murdered, avenging, in time of peace, blood which had been shed in time of war. He has thus stained with innocent blood the belt I wear and the sandals on my feet. Act wisely, his blood must be shed before he dies of old age. As to the sons of Barzillai, the Gileadite, deal kindly with them and let them be among those who eat at your table, for they themselves treated me with similar kindness when I fled from your brother Absalom.
With you also is Shimei, son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who cursed me terribly the day I fled to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by YAHWEH, 'I will not put you to death with the sword.' Now therefore, you, being a wise man, shall not hold him guiltless. You will know what to do with him: his blood must be shed before he dies of old age.'
Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David. David reigned over Israel for forty years: seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of David his father and his reign was firmly established." - 1 Kings 2:1-12
King David And Son Solomon
(At the end of his life, David, who had already lost two sons in the pursuit of power [see 2 Samuel 3:2], chooses the wife whose son would be heir to the throne. Bathsheba is therefore designated [1 Kings 1:17] as queen-mother and her son Solomon is to reign in place of his father David. From this day onward, aware of the importance of the Davidic dynasty in the history of salvation, the Books of Kings mention for each reign the wife who will be appointed queen-mother and whose son will be enthroned in Jerusalem [this was not done for the king of Israel in the dissident kingdom]. When JESUS, the true descendant of David comes, the Gospel reveals the woman chosen among all, the mother whom GOD, in HIS sovereign authority, has destined to give birth to the Son and Heir [Luke 1:31, 42; Hebrews 1:2].
Keep the commandments of YAHWEH your GOD. This is the wisdom of the prophets: if the king and his people fulfill these laws, they will be prosperous.
Joab... Shimei... David had pardoned them; why did he now ask Solomon to kill them? This has nothing to do with David's holding grudges against them but rather with his being as superstitious as the people of his time. For them, the curse uttered by Shimei [2 Samuel 16:6] [or by anyone else] remains active and can suddenly fall on David's descendants. The most effective way to prevent the curse from harming them is to have it fall on Shimei himself and thus spare David's descendants. In the same way, the blood shed by Joab [2 Samuel 3:28] cries to heaven, and it is better to eliminate him so that GOD's justice may fall on him and not on David's children.)
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