“And unto Abiathar the priest said the king, Get thee to Anathoth, unto thine own fields; for thou [art] worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou barest the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.” (1Ki 2:26 AV)

Abiathar was the lone survivor from the slaughter of the Priests at Nob when Doeg the Edomite slew them according to the word of Saul.  Abiathar followed David from that point forward.  He went through everything David went through from the years of evading Saul to the end of his life.  However, Abiathar made one serious mistake.  He followed Adonijah, David's second eldest son, when he assumed the throne not given to him.  Adonijah was the oldest of David’s living male children.  Because of this, he felt the kingdom should fall to him.  However, David had instructed his family it would be Solomon.  Adonijah, and consequently Abiathar, acted in rebellion against an elderly king who they thought would do nothing about it.  When Solomon takes the throne, he considers Abiathar’s sacrifices and loyalty of the past as the reason for grace in the present.

There has been too much division among God’s people lately.  It seems as though relationships come cheap.  If someone mistreats us, it is cause for automatic reprisal or revenge.  We throw out all the good of the past because of the indiscretion of the present.  Solomon had every right to put Abiathar to death.  His was an act of treason.  Yet when someone does far less to us, we wish them ill will.

The lesson here is clear.  Solomon shows great wisdom and compassion in taking into consideration the past acts of a noble man.  He considers the whole package.  He understands the cost this man paid for David.  He decides a relationship is more important than justice.  This is right and exemplary.