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1 Kings 2:21-31

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21 She said, "Let 1Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife."
22 King Solomon answered his mother, "And why do you ask 2Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, 3for he is my older brother, and on his side 4are Abiathar[a] the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah."
23 Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, 5"God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life!
24 Now therefore 6as the LORD lives, who has established me and placed me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house, 7as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today."
25 So King Solomon sent 8Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he struck him down, and he died.
26 And to Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to 9Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, 10because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before David my father, 11and because you shared in all my father's affliction."
27 12So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling 13the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28 When the news came to Joab--for Joab 14had supported Adonijah although 15he had not supported Absalom--Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and caught hold of the 16horns 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, 17"Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, 18and thus take away from me and from my father's house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause.
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1 Kings 2:21-31 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KING 2

This chapter gives an account of the charge David gave to his son Solomon, a little before his death, to walk in the ways of the Lord, 1Ki 2:1-4; and of some instructions delivered to him concerning some particular persons he should either show favour to, or execute justice on, 1Ki 2:5-9; and the next account in it is concerning his death and burial, and the years of his reign, 1Ki 2:10,11; after which it relates an address of Bathsheba to Solomon in favour of Adonijah, which was refused, and the issue of it was his death, 1Ki 2:12-25; and the deposition of Abiathar from the priesthood, 1Ki 2:26,27; and the putting of Joab to death for his treason and murders, 1Ki 2:28-34; in whose post Benaiah was put, as Zadok was in the place of Abiathar, 1Ki 2:35; and lastly the confinement of Shimei in Jerusalem, who had cursed David, 1Ki 2:36-38; who upon transgressing the orders given him was put to death, 1Ki 2:39-46.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 18

  • 1. [See ver. 17 above]
  • 2. [See ver. 17 above]
  • 3. 1 Kings 1:6; 1 Chronicles 3:2, 5
  • 4. 1 Kings 1:7
  • 5. See Ruth 1:17
  • 6. See Ruth 3:13
  • 7. 2 Samuel 7:11, 13; 1 Chronicles 22:10
  • 8. 2 Samuel 8:18
  • 9. Joshua 21:18
  • 10. 1 Samuel 23:6; 2 Samuel 15:24, 29
  • 11. See 1 Samuel 22:20-23
  • 12. [ver. 35]
  • 13. See 1 Samuel 2:27-36
  • 14. 1 Kings 1:7
  • 15. 2 Samuel 17:25; 2 Samuel 18:2
  • 16. 1 Kings 1:50
  • 17. [Exodus 21:14]
  • 18. Numbers 35:33; Deuteronomy 19:13; Deuteronomy 21:8, 9

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew and for him and for Abiathar
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.