1 Kings 2:20-30

20 And she said to him, I pray of thee one little asking; shame thou not my face. And the king said to her, My mother, ask thou; for it is not leaveful that I turn away thy face (for it would not be right for me to refuse thee).
21 And she said, (Let) Abishag of Shunem be given (for a) wife to Adonijah, thy brother.
22 And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother, Why askest thou (only for) Abishag of Shunem to Adonijah? Ask thou to him also the realm (Why askest thou only for Abishag of Shunem for Adonijah? Why not ask thou also for the kingdom for him?); certainly he is mine elder brother, and he hath Abiathar, (the) priest, and Joab, the son of Zeruiah.
23 Therefore king Solomon swore by the Lord, and said, God do to me these things, and add these things too, for Adonijah hath spoken this word against his (own) life.
24 And now the Lord liveth, that hath confirmed me, and hath set me on the throne of [David,] my father, and that hath made to me an house, as he spake, for Adonijah shall be slain today. (And now as the Lord liveth, who hath firmly established me, and hath put me on the throne of my father David, and who hath made a house for me, as he promised, let Adonijah be killed today!)
25 And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada; and Benaiah slew Adonijah, and he was dead (and so he died).
26 Also the king said to Abiathar, the priest, Go thou into Anathoth, to thy field; and soothly thou art a man of death, that is, worthy of death, for conspiring against me, and David, my father; but today I shall not slay thee, for thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David, my father, and thou sufferedest travail in all things, in which my father travailed.
27 Therefore Solomon putted out Abiathar, that he should not be priest of the Lord (And so Solomon put out Abiathar, so that he would no longer be the Lord's priest), (so) that the word of the Lord were [ful]filled, which he spake on the house of Eli in Shiloh.
28 And a messenger came to Solomon, and said that Joab had bowed after Adonijah, and that he had not bowed after Solomon. Therefore Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and took the horn of the altar. (And a message concerning all of this came to Joab; for he had sided with Adonijah, but not with Absalom. And so Joab fled into the Tabernacle, or the Tent, of the Lord, and took hold of the horns of the altar.)
29 And it was told to king Solomon, that Joab had fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was beside the altar; and Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, and said, Go thou, and slay him.
30 And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to Joab, The king saith these things, Go thou out. And he said, I shall not go out, but I shall die here. Benaiah told the word to the king (Benaiah told this to the king), and said, Joab spake these things, and answered these things to me.

1 Kings 2:20-30 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.