The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 49

port, &o. • Not nooeese.rily of Abiathar'e alte.r with blood." It was only the sanctity deposition, but certa,inly of Adonijah's of the altar which made it an asylum. death] ea.me to Joab, for Joab had turned There was strictly no" right of sanctuary"] , after [same expression as in Exod. xxiii. 2; Thus Ba.ith the king, Come forth. [Probably Judges ix. 3) AdonlJah, though [lit., and] Solomon ood directed that Joab should, if he turned not after Abealom. [The LXX. possible, be induced to leave the altar. (Cod. Vat.), Vulg., and all ancient versions Every Jew would dread its profanation by except the Chald., here read Solom<m, which strife and bloodshed.] And he Ba.id, Nay; Ewald and Theniue adopt. Thie reading is but I will die here. [Heb. "here will I die." perhaps too summarily dismissed by most Joab may possibly have thought that oommentntors, as involving a statement Solomon would hardly venture to put him which would be self-evident and superfluous. to death there, and that so he might some- But it is not so. The meaning would then how escape with his life. Bat it is more be that Joab had inclined to Adonijah, and probable that he counted on death, and bad not, eubsequently,gone over to the side that a feeling of superstition, or of defiance, of Solomon -information which is much had decided him to meet his doom there. less obvious than that he had not " gone It should be borne in mind that gross super- e.fter Absalom." The Arabic version may stition not uncommonly accompanies irre- thus be nee.rest the truth, which reads, ligion and brutality; and it is qnite con- "Neither did he love Solomon." Somewhat ceivable that J oab hoped for some indefinable similarly J oeephus.J And Joab tied unto the benefit from the shadow of the altar, much tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold of as the poor Polish Jew expects from burial the horns of the altar. [As Adonijah had in Jerusalem. Or hie motive may have done before him (eh. i. 60). His flight is been defiance, thinking he would "render almost certain evidence of his guilt. (" Joab Solomon odious to the people, e.s a profaner vero seipsum prodidit." Miineter.) Why of the Holy Place" (M. Henry). It can hardly should he flee, if conscious of innocence? have been to put off for ever so short a time Solomon had acted generously before, and the execution, as Bishop Hall imagines.] Joab would not be awe.re of David's <lying Ver. 31.-And the king ea.id unto h1m, Do instructions. His two assassinations had as he hath ea.id, and fall upon him [the remained so long unpunished that he would law decreed (Exod. xxi. 14) that, if a man hardly expect to be called to an account for had slain his neighbour with guile, he them now. We have here, therefore, anot.ber should be taken from the o.lte.r to die. indication of a second conspiracy, and it is Possibly the desperate character of J oab e.n old belief (Theodoret, al.) that Joab had made literal compliance with this command suggested to Adonijah the plan of marriage well-nigh impossible. The attempt to drag with Abishag. Some have asked why Joab him from his place of refuge might have should .flee to the altar when his crimes de- led to a bloody encounter. And the king prived him of the right of the sanctuary. But evidently felt thai Joab's crimes justified a drowning man grasps at a straw. It is exceptional measu1·es], and bury h1m [why probable that he never thought of bis mur- this injunction? Possibly because the spirit ders, but only of his treason. According to of Deut. xxi. 23 seemed to Solomon to re- the Rabbis, death at the altar ensured him quire it. Both Biihr and Keil think it was burial amongst bis fathers (Mlinster). But, that Joab's services to the k.ingdcm might U this were so, it would hardly cuter into be requited with an honourable sepu\turc. his calculations. Was it not rather that the corpse might be Ver. 29.-And it was told king Solomon removed with o.11 possible haste from the that Joab was fied unto the tabernacle of sanctuary, which it defiled, and hidden from the Lord ; and, behold, he ls by the altar. view, as one accursed of God, in the earth? [The LXX. here inserts, "And Solomon the So Dishop Hall : " He sends Benniah to king sent to Joab, saying, What has happened take away the offender both from God and thee, that thou art fled to the alta·r 1 And Joab men, from the altar and the worhl "]; tha.t Sflid, Because I feared befare thee, and 1 fled thou mayest take away [LXX. "to-day," to the Lord." This is only a gloss, but it ai1µ<pov] the innocent blood [for tl10 con- is an instructive one. It shows that the struction cf. 1 Sa.m. xxv. 31; Neb. ii. 12; author regarded Joab's flight as betraying nnd Ewald,287d. Innocent blood, i.e., blood e. guilty conscience.] Then Solomon sent not she<l in war, or forfeited to justico, rested Benaiah, the son of Jeholada, ea.y1ng, Go, upon the community, or the authorities fall upon him. [The LXX. adds," and bury responsible for its punishment (Num. him."] xxxv. 33; Deut. xix. 10, 13; xxi. 9. Cf. Ver. 30.-And Bena.lah came to the taber- Gen. iv. 10) until satisfaction was made. nacle of the Lord, and ea.id unto h1m See on VP,r. 5], which Joab shed, from me, rBene.iah evidently " hesitated to stain the. and from the house of my father. [Heb.  THE FIRST BOOK OF RINGS. [ OH, ll, 26-86,