1 Kings 2:26

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

²⁶Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, "Go back to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death at this time, since you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and you suffered through all that my father suffered."²⁷So Solomon banished Abiathar from the priesthood of the LORD and so fulfilled the word the LORD had spoken at Shiloh against the house of Eli. ²⁸When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar. ²⁹It was reported to King Solomon: "Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and is now beside the altar." So Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, "Go, strike him down!" ³⁰And Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, "The king says, 'Come out!'" But Joab replied, "No, I will die here." So Benaiah relayed the message to the king, saying, "This is how Joab answered me." ³¹And the king replied, "Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed. ³²The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he killed with the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army. ³³Their blood will come back upon the heads of Joab and his descendants forever; but for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forever." ³⁴So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Abiathar: 1 Kings 2:35, 1 Kings 1:7, 1 Kings 1:25

Anathoth: Joshua 21:18, Isaiah 10:30, Jeremiah 1:1

worthy of death: Heb. a man of death, 1 Samuel 26:16, 2 Samuel 12:5, *marg.

barest: 1 Samuel 22:20-23, 1 Samuel 23:6-9, 2 Samuel 15:24, 2 Samuel 15:29, 1 Chronicles 15:11, 1 Chronicles 15:12

hast been: 2 Samuel 15:24-29, Matthew 10:42, Luke 22:28, Galatians 3:4

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 2:31 - I will cut 1 Samuel 2:33 - to consume 1 Samuel 22:23 - he that seeketh 1 Samuel 30:7 - Abiathar 2 Samuel 19:11 - sent 1 Kings 4:4 - Zadok 1 Chronicles 6:60 - Anathoth Jeremiah 32:8 - Anathoth Mark 2:26 - Abiathar Romans 6:21 - for the

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And unto Abiathar the priest said the king,.... Who was either at court, or he sent for him, and thus addressed him:

get thee to Anathoth; a city of the tribe of Benjamin, given to the priests, Joshua 21:18; of which place Abiathar might be originally, and whither he is bid to return:

unto thine own fields; which belonged to him there, either by inheritance or purchase; and these he was to mind, and not perform the functions of his office, however as high priest, and at Jerusalem, and the tabernacle there, and still less appear at court, or meddle with state affairs, only to attend to his private domestic concerns:

for thou [art] worthy of death; in joining with Adonijah in the lifetime of David, and setting him up as a king without his knowledge, and in opposition to Solomon, contrary to the will of God, and promise of David, of which he, being high priest, cannot be thought to be ignorant, and for his late confederacy with Adonijah, of which Solomon had knowledge:

but I will not at this time put thee to death; he does not give him a full pardon, only a respite; suggesting, that should he be guilty of any overt act, he would be put to death another time, though not now:

because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father; when he fled from Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:24;

and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted; shared with him in all his afflictions under the persecutions of Saul, from the time he slew the priests at Nob, and at the rebellion of Absalom; in each of which he accompanied him, and suffered and sympathized with him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For Anathoth and the allusions in this verse, see the margin reference.