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[13]
Now when Joab the captain of the host heard of the slaughter of Adonijah,
he was greatly afraid, for he was a greater friend to him than to Solomon;
and suspecting, not without reason, that he was in danger, on account of
his favor to Adonijah, he fled to the altar, and supposed he might procure
safety thereby to himself, because of the king's piety towards God. But
when some told the king what Joab's supposal was, he sent Benaiah, and
commanded him to raise him up from the altar, and bring him to the judgment-seat,
in order to make his defense. However, Joab said he would not leave the
altar, but would die there rather than in another place. And when Benaiah
had reported his answer to the king, Solomon commanded him to cut off his
head there 1
and let him take that as a punishment for those two captains of the host
whom he had wickedly slain, and to bury his body, that his sins might
never leave his family, but that himself and his father, by Joab's death,
might be guiltless. And when Benaiah had done what he was commanded to
do, he was himself appointed to be captain of the whole army. The king
also made Zadok to be alone the high priest, in the room of Abiathar, whom
he had removed.
1 This execution upon Joab, as a murderer, by slaying him, even when he had taken sanctuary at God's altar, is perfectly agreeable to the law of Moses, which enjoins, that "if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, thou shalt take him from mine altar that he die," Exodus 21:14.
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