1 Kings 2:30

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

Reciprocal: 1 Chronicles 11:22 - Benaiah

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord,.... At Gibeon:

and said unto him; that is, to Joab:

thus saith the king, come forth; meaning, out of the tabernacle; which plainly shows that his orders were not to slay him in it:

and he said, nay, but I will die here; since he must die, he chose to die there; but what was his reason for it is not so clear; the Jews, some of them, say, to save his goods, and that they might come to his heirs, which would have been forfeited to the crown if he had been tried and condemned in a court of judicature; others, that he might be buried with his ancestors, whereas, had he been sentenced to death by the court, he would have been buried in the common place of malefactors; but rather he thought, or at least hoped, he should not die at all; either that, by gaining time, Solomon might be prevailed upon to pardon him; or however that he would not defile that sacred place with his blood; or, if he should die, he chose to die there, as being a sacred place, and so might hope to receive some benefit from it, as to his future state, where sacrifices were offered to atone for sin:

and Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, thus said Joab, and thus he answered me; told me he would not come out, and, if he must die, he would die there.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Kings 2:30. Nay; but I will die here. — The altars were so sacred among all the people, that, in general, even the vilest wretch found safety, if he once reached the altar. This led to many abuses, and the perversion of public justice; and at last it became a maxim that the guilty should be punished, should they even have taken refuge at the altars. God decreed that the presumptuous murderer who had taken refuge at the altar should be dragged thence, and put to death; see Exodus 21:14. The heathens had the same kind of ordinance; hence Euripides: -

Εγω γαρ ὁστις μη δικαιος ων ανηρπ

Βωμον προσιζει, τον νομον χαιρειν εων,π

Προς την δικην αγοιμ ' αν, αυ τρεσας θεους·

Κακον γαρ ανδρα χρη κακως πασχειν αει.

EURIPID. Frag. 42. Edit. Musg.

"If an unrighteous man, availing himself of the law, should claim the protection of the altar, I would drag him to justice, nor fear the wrath of the gods; for it is necessary that every wicked man should suffer for his crimes."