1 Kings 2:29

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.

1 Kings 2:29 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 2:29

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 ^F7 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Antiqu. l. 8. c. 1. sect. 4.

1 Kings 2:29 In-Context

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.

31 And the king said to Benaiah, Do thou as he hath spoken, and slay thou him, and (then) bury him; and thou shalt remove the innocent blood, that was shed out of Joab, from me, and from the house of my father (and so thou shalt remove the innocent blood that was shed by Joab, from me, and from my father's house).