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
he is by: Exodus 21:14, Ezekiel 9:6, 1 Peter 4:17
Go: 1 Kings 2:25, 1 Kings 2:31, 1 Kings 2:46
Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 23:20 - Benaiah Ecclesiastes 8:4 - the word
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And it was told King Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord,.... This account was brought him very probably by some of his courtiers:
and, behold, [he is] by the altar; to which he betook himself for refuge, laying hold on the horns of it:
then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, go, fall upon him; slay him; Josephus g says, the orders were to cut off his head; but perhaps it might be only to lay hold on him, and take him thence, and bring him to Solomon to have judgment passed upon him; for the Targum is,
"exercise your power over him,''
take him into custody; and certain it is that the first orders were not to slay him, at least upon the spot where he was.
g Antiqu. l. 8. c. 1. sect. 4.
