1 Kings 2:26

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.

1 Kings 2:26 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 2:26

And unto Abiathar the priest said the king
Who was either at court, or he sent for him, and thus addressed him:

get thee to Anathoth;
a city of the tribe of Benjamin, given to the priests, ( Joshua 21:18 ) ; of which place Abiathar might be originally, and whither he is bid to return:

unto thine own fields;
which belonged to him there, either by inheritance or purchase; and these he was to mind, and not perform the functions of his office, however as high priest, and at Jerusalem, and the tabernacle there, and still less appear at court, or meddle with state affairs, only to attend to his private domestic concerns:

for thou [art] worthy of death;
in joining with Adonijah in the lifetime of David, and setting him up as a king without his knowledge, and in opposition to Solomon, contrary to the will of God, and promise of David, of which he, being high priest, cannot be thought to be ignorant, and for his late confederacy with Adonijah, of which Solomon had knowledge:

but I will not at this time put thee to death;
he does not give him a full pardon, only a respite; suggesting, that should he be guilty of any overt act, he would be put to death another time, though not now:

because thou barest the ark of the Lord God before David my father;
when he fled from Absalom, ( 2 Samuel 15:24 ) ;

and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was
afflicted;
shared with him in all his afflictions under the persecutions of Saul, from the time he slew the priests at Nob, and at the rebellion of Absalom; in each of which he accompanied him, and suffered and sympathized with him.

1 Kings 2:26 In-Context

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.)