1 Kings 2:29

And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

1 Kings 2:29-30. Go, fall upon him — Namely if he will not come out from thence, as I foresee he will not. Thus saith the king, Come forth — That the king gave this command, though it be not mentioned before, is evident, both from the nature of the thing, for Solomon would not pollute the altar without necessity, and from Benaiah’s affirmation of it; for why should he tell a lie without a cause? It appears, also, from his returning to the king for new orders, upon Joab’s resolution not to come out thence, He said, Nay, but I will die here — For he supposed, either that Solomon would not defile that place with his blood, but would spare him for his respect to it, as he had done Adonijah; or, he had a superstitious conceit, that his dying there might give his guilty and miserable soul some advantage.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:26-34 Solomon's words to Abiathar, and his silence, imply that some recent conspiracies had been entered into. Those that show kindness to God's people shall have it remembered to their advantage. For this reason Solomon spares Abiathar's life, but dismisses him from his offices. In case of such sins as the blood of beasts would atone for, the altar was a refuge, but not in Joab's case. Solomon looks upward to God as the Author of peace, and forward to eternity as the perfection of it. The Lord of peace himself gives us that peace which is everlasting.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Joab followed the example of Adonijab (margin reference). The tabernacle was now at Gibeon 1 Kings 3:4; 1 Chronicles 16:39.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Ki 2:28-45. Joab Slain.

28. Then tidings came to Joab—The execution of these sentences respectively on Adonijah and Abiathar prepared Joab for his fate. Death, due to his great crimes (Nu 35:33), would long ago have been inflicted, had not his power and popularity with the army been too formidable for the old king. He now fled to the altar, which, though a recognized asylum, afforded no sanctuary to the rebel and murderer (Ex 21:14). And, as he refused to leave it, he seems to have cherished some faint hope that a religious scruple would have been felt at the thought of violating the sanctity of the place by bloodshed. Benaiah, not liking to assume any responsibility, referred the matter to Solomon, who determined that the law should take its course (De 19:13).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

To wit, if he will not come thence, as I foresee he will not.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire 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.

Geneva Study Bible

And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD; and, behold, he is by the {o} altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him.

(o) Thinking to be saved by the holiness of the place.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. he is by the altar] The LXX. has ‘he has taken hold of the horns of the altar’, after which that version adds ‘And Solomon the king sent to Joab, saying, What has happened to thee that thou hast fled to the altar? And Joab said, Because I was afraid of thee, and fled unto the Lord.’ These words seem merely an expansion of the narrative, and we need not suppose that they represent a lost clause of the Hebrew.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 29. - And it was told king Solomon that Joab was fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord; and, behold, he is by the altar. [The LXX. here inserts, "And Solomon the king sent to Joab, saying, What has happened thee, that thou art fled to the altar? And Joab said, Because I feared before thee, and I fled to the Lord." This is only a gloss, but it is an instructive one. It shows that the author regarded Joab's flight as betraying a guilty conscience.] Then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him. [The LXX. adds, "and bury him."] 1 Kings 2:29

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Execution of Joab. - When the report (of the execution of Adonijah and the deposition of Abiathar) came to Joab, he fled to the tent of Jehovah (not to the tabernacle, but to the holy tent upon Zion) to seek protection at the altar (see at 1 Kings 1:50). The words נטה לא...יואב כּי are introduced as a parenthesis to explain Joab's flight: "for Joab had leaned after Adonijah," i.e., taken his side (אהרי נטה, as in Exodus 23:2; Judges 9:3), "but not after Absalom."

(Note: Instead of אבשׁלום the lxx (Cod. Vat.), Vulgate, Syr., and Arab. have adopted the reading שּׁלמה, and both Thenius and Ewald propose to alter the text accordingly. But whatever plausibility this reading may have, especially if we alter the preterite נטה into the participle נטה after the ἦν κεκλικώς of the lxx, as Thenius does, it has no other foundation than an arbitrary rendering of the lxx, who thought, but quite erroneously, that the allusion to Absalom was inapplicable here. For אחר נטה, to take a person's side, would suit very well in the case of Adonijah and Absalom, but not in that of Solomon, whose claim to the throne was not a party affair, but had been previously determined by God.)

There is no foundation in the biblical text for the conjecture, that Joab had given Adonijah the advice to ask for Abishag as his wife, just as Ahithophel had given similar advice to Absalom (2 Samuel 16:21). For not only is there no intimation of anything of the kind, but Solomon punished Joab solely because of his crimes in the case of Abner and Amasa. Moreover, Abiathar was also deposed, without having any fresh machinations in favour of Adonijah laid to his charge. The punishment of Adonijah and Abiathar was quite sufficient to warn Joab of his approaching fate, and lead him to seek to save his life by fleeing to the altar. It is true that, according to Exodus 21:13-14, the altar could afford no protection to a man who had committed two murders. But he probably thought no more of these crimes, which had been committed a long time before, but simply of his participation in Adonijah's usurpation; and he might very well hope that religious awe would keep Solomon from putting him to death in a holy place for such a crime as that. And it is very evident that this hope was not altogether a visionary one, from the fact that, according to Exodus 21:30, when Joab refused to leave the altar at the summons addressed to him in the name of the king, Benaiah did not give him the death-blow at once, but informed Solomon of the fact and received his further commands. Solomon, however, did not arrest the course of justice, but ordered him to be put to death there and afterwards buried. The burial of the persons executed was a matter of course, as, according to Deuteronomy 21:23, even a person who had been hanged was to be buried before sunset. When, therefore, Solomon gives special orders for the burial of Joab, the meaning is that Benaiah is to provide for the burial with distinct reference to the services which Joab had rendered to his father. "And take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and my father's house." So long as Joab remained unpunished for the double murder, the blood-guiltiness rested upon the king and his house, on whom the duty of punishment devolved (cf. Numbers 35:30-31; Deuteronomy 19:13). חנּם דּמי, blood without cause, i.e., blood shed in innocence. On the connection of the adverb with the substantive, at which Thenius takes offence, comp. Ges. 151, 1, and Ewald, 287, d. - For V. 32, compare Deuteronomy 21:5. The words of Solomon in v. 33a point back to the curse which David uttered upon Joab and his descendants after the murder of Abner (2 Samuel 3:28-29). "But to David, and his seed, and his house, and his throne, let there be salvation for ever from Jehovah." This wish sprang from a conviction, based upon 2 Samuel 7:14, that the Lord would not fulfil His promise to David unless his successors upon the throne exercised right and justice according to the command of the Lord.