1 Kings 2:28-46 English Standard Version 28 When the news came to Joab—for Joab had supported Adonijah although he had not supported Absalom—Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and caught hold of the horns of the altar. 29 And when it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD, and behold, he is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.” 30 So Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.” 31 The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, and thus take away from me and from my father's house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause. 32 The LORD will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah. 33 So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever. But for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore.” 34 Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. 35 The king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada over the army in place of Joab, and the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar. 36 Then the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever. 37 For on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. Your blood shall be on your own head.” 38 And Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days. 39 But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei's servants ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And when it was told Shimei, “Behold, your servants are in Gath,” 40 Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath. 41 And when Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned, 42 the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I will obey.’ 43 Why then have you not kept your oath to the LORD and the commandment with which I commanded you?” 44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the harm that you did to David my father. So the LORD will bring back your harm on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.” 46 Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. We're going to pick up where we left off yesterday. Solomon tried to give Adonijah a chance to submit to his authority and be at peace with him, but it was clear to Solomon that his terms for peace were yet another power play for him to gain one more powerful ally on his side. Solomon then ordered that Adonijah be put to death and that Abiathar the priest who had been helping Adonijah be cut off from the priesthood and sent home.
This strikes fear in the heart of those that were allied to Adonijah, specifically, Joab. Joab fled to the Tabernacle to grab onto the horns of the altar (a tradition where people did this when someone sought to kill them because no one was to be killed in the sanctuary). There is a deeper picture here as these horns are often called the "horns of salvation" in the Bible and they are always being anointed with the blood of the sacrifices from the altar so that the only way salvation can be offered to anyone is to cling to the blood the provides atonement for sin (the blood of Jesus). The horns were also a sign of strength, and it is only in the blood that we can say "when I am weak, then I am strong." Solomon sent Benaiah to the Tent of Meeting and called for Joab to come out (likely so that he could kill him outside the Tent of Meeting), but Joab refused to come out. and told Benaiah that he would have to come in after him and kill him in the sanctuary. Benaiah does not go in but carries word back to King Solomon to ask him what should be done. Solomon says that Benaiah should do as Joab says and go in after him to kill him because this was no killing that was being done out of vengeance, but as justice for the two murders that Joab had committed. So, Benaiah went back and killed Joab and buried Joab in his own house that he had made for himself in the wilderness. Then King Solomon made Benaiah the new commander over the armies of Israel in place of Joab and he made Zadok high priest in the place of Abiathar. Again, this fulfilled the prophecy that the line of priests from the house of Eli would be cut off from serving as priests for Abiathar was the last priest to serve from that line and the priesthood was given to Zadok and his family who were also of the line of Aaron, but not through Eli. There was one more person that Solomon had sworn to David that he would take care of and that was Shimei, the descendant of Saul who threw dirt and rocks on David and cursed him as he was leaving Jerusalem when Absalom tried to seize power (see 2 Samuel 16:5-14). Solomon essentially offered Shimei a prison sentence (they didn't have prisons back then). Solomon said that Shimei could live the rest of his life in Jerusalem where Solomon could keep an eye on him, but if he ever crossed over the Kidron, his life was forfeit. Shimei agreed to these terms, but three years later, he broke his word in order to chase after two of his servants that ran away from him to Gath (a Philistine controlled region). When Shimei gets back to Jerusalem, Solomon summoned him and reminded him of the oath he took and how he had broken it. Solomon then judges Shimei for the crimes he had committed against David because where he was originally going to offer mercy, now the situation demanded that he execute justice, for Shimei has shown that he would break any covenant he made as long as it suited him. So Benaiah struck down Shimei and so that he died. So it was the Solomon fulfilled the dying wishes of his father David and the reign of Solomon begins. His throne is established and he has no more vows to David to fulfill. Everything done after this point is all on Solomon, so the first thing that Solomon is going to do is to ask the LORD for wisdom in how to rule His people. That's what we'll talk about next time. Comments are closed.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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