And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; who fell on him, that he died.
Adonijah asked for Abishag, the young woman who had cared for David in his last days. Solomon heard that request as a bid for the crown — so why did asking for a wife cost a man his life?
One commentator explains the custom that gave the request its force:
When Bathsheba passes on Adonijah's request, Solomon's sharp insight and wisdom show at once. "And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother." Adonijah's request was a scheme to get the kingdom. Abiathar and Joab most likely put it together. By Eastern custom, many people treated a dead king's wife or concubine as the king's own, so asking for her was the same as claiming the rights of the king... Had Solomon granted the request, he would have disgraced himself beyond recovery in the eyes of the people.
The size of a petition is no guide to what stands behind it:
It did not look like much, but Solomon was wise. Solomon detected the unjudged ambition and rebellion of Adonijah's heart... She presented what she called a small petition. That is often done when there is something great behind it, though not always known. On this occasion Bathsheba was only the tool of a man who was not after something small. He wanted the greatest place in the kingdom.
Solomon had spared Adonijah once already. His own words to Bathsheba show what that mercy had not changed:
This man looks broken on the outside, but in his heart he is far from broken. "You know," he says, "that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign." How could such claims fail to anger the true king?... His words alone show an embittered heart, a bitterness long suppressed and now showing itself, because he had not judged himself in the least.
Solomon had set the terms of that earlier mercy himself, and they came with a condition:
Solomon agrees to forget and to be gracious one more time. But he puts Adonijah under responsibility before the glory of his reign: "If he will show himself a worthy man, not a hair of his shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die."
One writer reads this scene as the first mark of Solomon's reign:
Solomon at first shows mercy to Adonijah. But Adonijah's will is still restless, and he wants the dead king's wife. That awakens the righteous judgment meant for those who had failed in integrity and who had risen up against God's anointed. It is the first character attached to the king reigning in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. There is no escaping the watchfulness of this judgment.
What that judgment secured, however, had a limit:
Adonijah's disloyal scheming threatened the throne that David wanted made secure, so Benaiah fell upon him and he died... "And the kingdom was established" — yes, established for a time, but not forever! Just judgment prevailed temporarily.
Adonijah's rebellion began with two words: "I will." One writer traces where that self-will leads:
As surely as Solomon prefigures Christ, Adonijah prefigures the Antichrist. Note the fatal words, "I will." In Isaiah 14:13-14 we hear Lucifer saying five times, "I will." Here we have the very essence of sin. 1 John 3:4, correctly translated, teaches us that "sin is lawlessness." Lawlessness is self-will... Self-will has been the ruin of the human race, and its full evil has not yet come out.
The verse names the man who carried out the sentence. He had a long record of following his king:
Benaiah is of special interest to us. In David's time he already held a leading place in service. He had followed his master's footsteps in everything, step by step. Was he not worthy to be made chief captain over the whole army later on? Yet this man has no ambition other than to stay faithful to his king and to copy him. He is not like Joab, who takes the stronghold of Zion to gain the top place. No, he is humble, for his whole purpose is to reproduce David in his conduct.
- Ambition. The request for Abishag was a claim on the crown. Solomon's insight saw the kingdom hidden inside a "small petition."
- Unjudged. Solomon pardoned Adonijah, but pardon never broke him — his own words still called the kingdom his.
- Conditional. The earlier mercy came with terms: prove himself worthy and not a hair falls; show wickedness and he dies.
- Righteousness. Righteous judgment is the first mark of the king reigning in glory. Nothing escapes his watchfulness.
- Temporary. The kingdom stood firm — but only for a time, which is why the picture points past Solomon to a greater King.
And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Go to Anathoth, to thine own fields; for thou art worthy of death; but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst bear the ark of Adonai Jehovah before David my father, and because thou hast been afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted.
Solomon has just taken the throne, and his first acts settle old scores. The man he sends away is the priest who carried the ark and shared David's hardships — so what had Abiathar done, and why does he keep his life?
Solomon's judgments open his reign, and they fall on people who had God's patience and did not use it:
So the reign of righteousness begins with judgment. It falls on all those who were placed under the grace and patience of God, but did not use it to bring their hearts and their actions into line with this rule. Abiathar was all the more guilty because he had carried the ark of the Lord before David, and had also shared his afflictions from the beginning (1 Sam. 22:20). He had had a part in the testimony of the Lord's anointed, and had suffered for it. Solomon recognises this. But there was one case where Abiathar's faithfulness was tested, and where the glory of the son of David was at stake. In that case he failed completely and abandoned his master.
Abiathar had backed Adonijah's grab for the throne. That single choice exposed him:
Abiathar the priest had earlier seemed true to David (2 Sam. 15:24-29). But Adonijah's defection tested him and proved him lacking, so he could no longer be trusted as a faithful priest. Solomon did not put him to death, though he told him he deserved it (v. 26). Instead he banished him from Jerusalem and sent him to Anathoth, his home.
Carrying the ark is what stood between Abiathar and execution. It also makes his part in the plot harder to explain:
Abiathar had carried the ark of God, and this saved him on the day Solomon convicted him. It was very sad that a priest of God should be caught up in a plot to set aside the will of God. God had clearly told David that Solomon was to succeed him as king. If Abiathar had been living close to the king, he would have known the mind of God.
The move he made to secure his position destroyed it:
No doubt Abiathar thought that following Adonijah would secure him the priesthood. He was flattered that Adonijah had consulted him. But instead of being confirmed in the priesthood, Solomon thrust him out. Only his earlier faithfulness saved him from death.
Abiathar's removal also closed a case God had opened long before against the house of Eli:
Abiathar followed David in his wanderings, and he stayed in office all through David's reign. But for his part in Adonijah's conspiracy, Solomon banished him to the priests' town of Anathoth, where he most likely died in disgrace. "So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, thus fulfilling the word of the LORD that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh" (1 Kings 2:27). He was the fourth high priest from Eli, and the last of the line of Ithamar to hold this office of dignity and honour. God had announced His judgment on the family nearly a century before. It did not come quickly, but it still came exactly as God had said.
Abiathar's removal also marks a change in where the priest stands:
After the king is brought in, the position of the priesthood changes. It stops being the usual link between the people and God. When God sets Eli aside, He says, "I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest… and he shall go in and out" — not before Me, but "before My anointed forever" (1 Sam. 2:35). Here I have a royal person, another link between God and the people, set above priesthood. So Solomon was quite right in thrusting out Abiathar.
Abiathar had stayed loyal when Absalom rebelled. That earlier test did not cover the later one:
Abiathar should have known that if it was wrong to follow Absalom, it was also wrong to follow his brother Adonijah. It is not enough for us to be faithful in one crisis: we ought to be faithful in every crisis — yes, at all times and in all things.
- Word spoken. God's sentence on Eli's house waited nearly a century. Then it fell just as He said. Delay is not cancellation.
- Test applied. Abiathar looked loyal for a lifetime; Adonijah's plot was the one trial that measured him, and he failed it.
- Grace refused. His guilt was greater, not smaller. He had carried the ark, shared David's sufferings, and had every means of knowing God's mind.
- Mercy given. Past faithfulness did not save his office. It did save his life: he went to his own fields instead of to the sword.
- Order settled. With the king in place, the priest now serves before the anointed one. Righteous rule begins by removing those who will not bend to it.
And Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Jehovah, to fulfil the word of Jehovah, which he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.
Solomon's first acts as king settle old accounts, and removing Abiathar looks like politics after a failed coup. Yet the verse ties it to something God had said generations earlier about the family of Eli, the priest at Shiloh.
God announced His judgment on Eli's house in Samuel's day. It fell in stages, and this verse is the last.
The house of Eli continued its priestly duties through the reigns of Saul and David, until Solomon became king. At Saul's command, Doeg the Edomite killed eighty-five of the Lord's priests. That terrible slaughter was part of the judgment God pronounced on Eli's family (1 Sam. 22). Only one, Abiathar, escaped and fled to David... He was the fourth high priest from Eli, and the last of the line of Ithamar to fill this office of dignity and honour. God had pronounced His judgment on the family almost a century before. It was not carried out quickly, but it was carried out just as God had said.
The word came first; the occasion came later. One writer sets Esau beside Abiathar.
Here we find the principle expressed in the words "I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated" (Mal. 1:2-3), spoken thirteen centuries after He had said, "the older shall serve the younger" (Gen. 25:23). It was the Lord's free choice. But He pronounces the sentence only after Esau had shown himself to be the irreconcilable enemy of God and of His people. It is the same with Abiathar. He is cut off from the priesthood one hundred and thirty-five years after the judgment is announced. But first he supplied a reason for that judgment by his alliance with the rebel.
Abiathar did not fall only for an ancestor's fault. He had backed Adonijah's bid for the throne.
Abiathar the priest had seemed true to David before (2 Sam. 15:24-29). But Adonijah's defection tested him and proved him lacking. He could no longer be trusted as a faithful priest. Solomon did not put him to death, though he told him he was worthy of death (v. 26). Instead he banished him from Jerusalem and sent him to Anathoth, his home.
Abiathar had fled to David when Saul massacred the priests, and stayed with him through every hardship. That record makes the ending heavier, not lighter.
Abiathar was all the more guilty because he had carried the ark of the Lord before David. He had also shared in David's afflictions from the beginning (1 Sam. 22:20). So he had had a part in the testimony of the Lord's anointed and had suffered. Solomon recognises this. But there was one case that tested Abiathar's faithfulness, and it concerned the glory of the son of David. There he fails completely and abandons his master. The word of the Lord, long suspended, is fulfilled: Abiathar is rejected.
Commentators notice that Abiathar still appears beside Zadok in a later list (1 Kings 4:4), and read Solomon's act as narrower than total disgrace.
There is no doubt that Solomon had removed Abiathar from office... It seems that, in view of Abiathar's faithfulness in times past, Solomon did not want to deprive him of the dignity of priesthood, although he had removed him from the office of priesthood.
The removal marks a shift in how God deals with His people. The promise to Eli's replacement pointed that way already.
After the king comes in, the position of the priesthood changes. It stops being the usual link between the people and God. When Eli is set aside (1 Sam. 2:35) God says, "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest... and he shall go in and out" — not before Me, but "before my anointed forever." There I have a royal person, another link between God and the people, set up above priesthood. So Solomon was quite right in thrusting out Abiathar.
Solomon is not only closing the past. One writer sees the future in these opening judgments.
Here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness. In the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will follow disobedience quickly, as it did with Shimei.
The personal edge is obvious. Men of standing were set aside at the very moment the kingdom was established in glory.
...surely they awaken in our consciences the grave importance of seeing that we are true to our Lord Jesus during this time of His personal absence and rejection, so that when He comes we may have His precious commendation — "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
- Word — God spoke this sentence on Eli's house about a century earlier. Delay was not cancellation. This verse closes it.
- Occasion — the word waited for Abiathar's own act. He sided with Adonijah against the king God had chosen.
- Test — a lifetime beside David ended in failure at the one test that touched the glory of the son of David.
- Shift — with the king on the throne, the priest is no longer the usual link between God and the people.
- Preview — Solomon's opening days show how righteousness will govern when Christ reigns.
And the report came to Joab (for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he had not turned after Absalom); and Joab fled to the tent of Jehovah, and caught hold of the horns of the altar.
Solomon has executed Adonijah and banished Abiathar, so Joab runs to the tent of the LORD and grips the horns of the altar. Why did this hardened soldier turn religious, and why did the altar do nothing for him when it had spared Adonijah a chapter earlier?
The verse pauses to note that Joab had supported Adonijah but not Absalom. One writer traces the difference back to Joab's own interests.
Joab had not supported Absalom. David was then a strong, active king, and Joab knew that deserting him would not serve his own best interests. But now David was dying, and Joab's natural thoughts drew him to follow Adonijah, David's oldest living son.
Another writer sets Joab's case inside a wider pattern. His earlier loyalty only makes the charge worse.
So the reign of righteousness starts with judgment. It falls on those who had God's grace and patience but never used it to bring their hearts and actions into line with that rule... Scripture says plainly that Joab had not turned after Absalom (v. 28), whatever his feelings in that matter may have been. But turning away from the reign of righteousness at its very start was far more serious. It showed no fear at all before the one destined to sit as glorious king on his throne.
The altar was not a random hiding place. Its horns carried a meaning. That meaning explains why a guilty man would grab them, and why they could still fail him.
The horn is a symbol of strength. So when the blood was sprinkled on the horns, the whole strength of the altar now works for the sinner instead of against him. And that strength is displayed in full. The horns of the altar became a place of refuge, a sanctuary no one could violate. They sheltered everyone who had a right to their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood. Joab sought this protection when he fled from Solomon (1 Kings 2:28). But he had no claim on it, for he was a murderer, and so he was killed.
Solomon was not improvising. The law already covered this exact case, and it named the altar.
Joab flees to the tabernacle and takes hold of the horns of the altar. That cannot save him. The Word of God is against him: "But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die" (Ex. 21:14). Solomon remembers this. Once Solomon has settled the judgment, it is too late for the altar to shelter him.
Adonijah had made the same move and lived. Joab made it and died. One writer puts the difference in the man, not in the altar.
We also read of Adonijah, who for fear of judgment went and caught hold of the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50) and was spared at the time. Later Joab attempted the same thing, but having proved himself treacherous, he was killed. For it was not faith that moved him, but fear.
One writer turns the scene toward the reader.
This is like the sinner who, in desperation, would gladly claim the benefits of the death of Christ to escape the judgment. Yet his heart is still far from Him. But wherever there is trust in the value of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar, no power on earth or in hell can touch that soul. It rests under the shelter and protection of that sacrifice.
This was not just tidying up old scores. The blood Joab had spilled stood in the way of Solomon's reign.
Solomon's kingdom could not be established until the innocent blood of Abner and Amasa was avenged on Joab. Joab had shed that blood without David's knowledge (vv. 32-33)... His execution pictures how the coming thousand-year kingdom of the Lord Jesus will be established: in righteousness, which brings peace.
One writer points to the timing. Joab grabbed an altar at a moment when what he needed most did not yet exist.
Joab fled to the tabernacle of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar. But there was no perfect sacrifice then, and no risen and glorified Saviour on the throne of God. So "Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and killed him."... And the kingdom was established — yes, established for a time, but not forever! Just judgment prevailed temporarily.
- Grip — Joab grabbed the horns of the altar, Israel's place of refuge, and it did not save him.
- Claim — The horns sheltered only those covered by the sprinkled blood. Joab was a murderer, so he had no claim on them.
- Command — The law had already said a man who kills by cunning is to be taken from the altar and put to death.
- Motive — Fear drove him to the altar, not faith. Only trust in the sacrifice shelters a soul, and then no power on earth or in hell can touch it.
- Contrast — He reached for an altar when there was as yet "no perfect sacrifice... and no risen and glorified Saviour upon the throne of God."
And it was told king Solomon that Joab had fled to the tent of Jehovah; and behold, he is by the altar. And Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall on him.
The report reaching Solomon is short and strange: Joab is at God's altar, holding on to it. The king's reply is shorter still, and it raises the hardest question here: why does the place of mercy give this man no mercy?
One writer traces the scene from Joab's fear to the moment Benaiah acts:
When news came to Joab of Adonijah's execution and of Abiathar's banishment, Joab knew he could not escape punishment, since he had sided with Adonijah. He went to the tabernacle and took hold of the horns of the altar as Adonijah had done at first. This was the desperate act of a man clinging to religious ritual, but having no knowledge of God. Solomon sent Benaiah to execute Joab. Benaiah was reluctant to do this while Joab was clinging to the horns of the altar. But at Solomon's word, since Joab would not leave the altar, Benaiah carried out this unpleasant task.
He came empty. That is the difference between his grip on the altar and true refuge:
He thought he had reached a safe place of refuge. But he did not come with sacrifice and blood. So the altar was against him, and he died.
Adonijah had grabbed those same horns and lived. So the altar was not powerless. God's law had already ruled Joab's case out:
Adonijah found refuge at the horns of the altar. His act seems to say, "instead of a substitute, I present myself." In his case that unconditional surrender was accepted, and he was pardoned. Joab did the same, and it was not accepted. He had deliberately killed two men by cunning, and God had appointed that such a man should be allowed no mercy: "you shall take him from my altar that he may die." So he was put to death.
In the sacrifices, blood went on those horns. That blood changed the altar's strength from being against a guilty person to being for him:
The horn is a symbol of strength. The strength of the altar had been against the sinner. When the blood was sprinkled on the horns, that whole strength, displayed in all its completeness, now works for him. So the horns of the altar became a place of refuge, a sanctuary no one could violate. They sheltered everyone who had a right to their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood. Joab sought this protection when he fled from Solomon; but since he had no claim on it, for he was a murderer, he was slain. This is like the sinner in desperation. He would gladly claim the benefits of the death of Christ to escape the judgment, while his heart is still far from Him. But where there is trust in the value of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar, the soul rests under its shelter and protection. No power on earth or in hell can touch it.
Joab had kept his place for years by being careful. That caution now fails him:
In this situation Joab, long held back by caution during David's lifetime, shows himself as he is. But in the end man's caution fails before the judgment of God. God arranges events in such a way that, sooner or later, the most careful men are shown in their true light.
Solomon's order is not revenge. It clears a throne:
Joab flees to the tabernacle and takes hold of the horns of the altar. That cannot save him. The Word of God is against him... When Joab's judgment is settled it is too late for the altar to shelter him. The sentence must fall on him, so that "for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore." Without it, blood would have remained on the house of David. Judgment was necessary for his glory.
Kelly looks past Solomon to the King he pictures:
Solomon was not the man of blood that David was, and he was not the conquering king of Israel. Yet he was a picture of the Lord Jesus when He goes out as a man of war, which He surely will, and when He carries out vengeance on His adversaries... indeed, the reality is much greater than the picture.
- Blood first. Blood from the sacrifice on the horns was what made the altar a shelter. Joab came with other men's blood on his hands and none of the sacrifice.
- Fear is not faith. He clung to the altar as religious ritual, without knowing God — a grip of terror, not trust.
- Two men, one altar. Adonijah surrendered there and was pardoned. Joab was not, because God had already ruled that a man who kills by cunning must be taken from the altar and put to death.
- Nothing stays hidden. Caution kept Joab in place for years under David. God arranged events to show him as he was.
- Peace costs judgment. The sentence was not spite. Unavenged blood would have clung to David's house. Only judgment left that throne in lasting peace — a small picture of a far greater King still to act.
And Benaiah came to the tent of Jehovah and said to him, Thus saith the king Come forth. And he said, No; for I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.
Joab has run from Solomon's judgment to the tent of the LORD and taken hold of the altar. The king's officer arrives with a one-word order, and Joab will not move. His refusal raises the question: can the place of sacrifice shield a man from crimes he never dealt with?
Joab would rather die at the altar than leave it. One writer points to the command Solomon had in view:
Joab flees to the tent and takes hold of the horns of the altar. That cannot save him. The Word of God is against him: "But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die" (Ex. 21:14). Solomon remembers this. Once Joab's judgment is settled, it is too late for the altar to shelter him.
Joab comes to the altar empty-handed. He grips the horns, but brings nothing that the altar is for. So the place he clutches stands against him:
Joab feared what would happen after his treachery to King Solomon. He fled to the tent of the LORD and "caught hold of the horns of the altar" (1 Kings 2:28). He thought he had reached a safe refuge. But he did not come with sacrifice and blood. The altar was against him, and he died.
Another writer traces both Joab's grip on the altar and the officer's pause before striking there:
This was the desperate act of a man clinging to religious ritual, but having no knowledge of God. Solomon sent Benaiah to execute Joab. Benaiah was hesitant to do this while Joab was clinging to the horns of the altar. But at Solomon's word, since Joab would not leave the altar, Benaiah carried out this unpleasant task.
Adonijah had held the same horns and walked away alive. One writer reads the act as a surrender, and shows why it did not save Joab:
Adonijah found refuge at the horns of the altar (1 Kings 1:50). The act seems to mean, "instead of a substitute, I present myself." His unconditional surrender was accepted, and he was pardoned. Joab did the same (1 Kings 2:28), but his surrender was not accepted. He had deliberately killed two men by cunning. God had ruled in Ex. 21:14 that such a man should be shown no mercy: "you shall take him from my altar, that he may die." So he was put to death.
The murders behind Solomon's order were years old. One summary of Joab's life notes where the account came due:
Joab refused to leave the altar when he was summoned, so he was put to death there. The punishment for his murders was long delayed, but it fell on him now in righteous judgement.
The execution was not private revenge. Joab's guilt stood in the way of the new reign:
Solomon's kingdom could not be established unless the innocent blood of Abner and Amasa was avenged on Joab — blood Joab had shed without David's knowledge (vv. 32-33)... Joab's execution is a picture of the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus: it will be established in righteousness, and righteousness brings peace.
The altar itself was not powerless. Its horns were a real sanctuary — for the right people, on the right ground:
The horns of the altar became a place of refuge. It was a sanctuary no one could break, for all who were rightly under its protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood. Joab sought this protection when he fled from Solomon (1 Kings 2:28). He had no claim on it, for he was a murderer, so he was killed. This is like the sinner who, when pressed hard, would gladly claim the benefits of the death of Christ to escape the judgment. Yet his heart is still far from Him. But where there is trust in the value of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar, no power on earth or in hell can touch that soul. It rests under the altar's shelter and protection.
- Refuge. The horns of the altar were a real sanctuary for anyone sheltering there on the ground of sprinkled blood.
- Claim. Joab had none. He came with fear instead of faith, and with no sacrifice. So the altar he gripped stood against him.
- Contrast. Adonijah held the same horns and was pardoned. Joab held them and died, because God's written word gave no mercy to a man who kills by cunning.
- Delay. Abner's and Amasa's blood was years old and unavenged. Long postponement is not cancellation; the account came due at the altar.
- Result. Solomon had to answer that blood before David's throne could rest in peace — a picture of a kingdom built on righteousness, and righteousness brings peace.
And the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall upon him, and bury him; and take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me and from the house of my father.
Solomon tells Benaiah to strike Joab down at the altar he is clinging to, and to bury him. That death also settles an older account: blood Joab had shed without cause. Two questions follow. Why does the altar not protect Joab? And why must a king remove blood-guilt before his reign can stand?
The words "without cause" reach back years, to a murder David refused to own. One writer shows how David took no part in Joab's killing of Abner and called down God's judgment on him.
How David recovers the precious features of his character in these difficult circumstances! Refusing any share in this evil, he proves himself "innocent in the matter" (2 Cor. 7:11). He calls God's judgment down on Joab: "May it [the blood of Abner the son of Ner] fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house" (v. 29). And again: "The LORD repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!" (v. 39). Later this judgment of God, spoken by David, comes to pass (1 Kings 2:31-34).
What David asked of God, Solomon now carries out. The blood was Joab's, but the stain lay on the royal house.
Joab had run to the tabernacle and grabbed the horns of the altar. The horns stood for the altar's strength, and a guilty man could lay hold of them — but not every guilty man. One writer sets Joab beside Adonijah, who took hold of the same altar and lived.
Adonijah sought safety there and found it (1 Kings 1:50). Joab, at the same refuge, met the just repayment of his sins (1 Kings 2:28-34). The reason is this: "if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die" (Ex. 21:14).
Solomon's command in verse 31 is not a king overriding the sanctuary. It is a king obeying a written law that had already named this exact case.
Joab's grasp on the horns looked like faith. One writer names it for what it was.
This was the desperate act of a man clinging to religious ritual, but having no knowledge of God. Solomon sent Benaiah to execute Joab. Benaiah was hesitant to do it while Joab clung to the horns of the altar. But at Solomon's word, since Joab would not leave the altar, Benaiah carried out this unpleasant task.
Verse 31 gives a reason for the execution: to take the guilt away from Solomon and from his father's house. The removal was not optional if the promise of verse 33 was to stand.
Joab flees to the tabernacle and takes hold of the horns of the altar. That cannot save him... When Joab's judgment is settled, it is too late for the altar to shelter him. Vengeance must be carried out so that "for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore" (v. 33). Without that vengeance, blood would have stayed on the house of David. Judgment was necessary for his glory.
Solomon later wrote as a proverb what he did here with a sword.
Solomon's own thinking can be learned from his Book of Proverbs. "A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes" (Prov. 20:8). "Take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness" (Prov. 25:5). When Solomon had carried out judgment on Joab and others, the Holy Spirit says, "So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon" (1 Kings 2:46).
This kind of judgment points past Solomon to another king.
Righteous judgment carried out on the earth is the first character attached to the king reigning in glory. There is no escaping the vigilance of this judgment.
One writer applies the same altar to the sinner.
The horns of the altar became a place of refuge. They were a sanctuary no one could violate, for all who had a right to that protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood. Joab sought this protection when he fled from Solomon (1 Kings 2:28). But he had no claim on it, for he was a murderer, and so he was killed. This is like the sinner who is desperate and would gladly claim the benefits of the death of Christ to escape the judgment. Yet his heart is still far from Him. But where there is trust in the value of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar, no power on earth or in hell can touch the soul sheltered there.
- Blood. Joab killed Abner "without cause." The guilt rested on David's house, not only on Joab's, until Solomon dealt with it.
- Altar. The horns were a real refuge. But Scripture had already ruled out the deliberate killer: take him from the altar to die.
- Grasp. Joab clung to the ritual without knowing God. Touching the altar is not the same as trusting the sacrifice.
- Peace. The judgment was the means, not the end. First the blood-guilt went, then God promised lasting peace to David's throne.
- Throne. With the wicked taken away, "the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon." Writers see in that righteous judgment a picture of the king who will reign in glory.
And Jehovah shall requite the blood which he shed upon his own head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword, without my father David's knowledge Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah.
Solomon has just sent Benaiah to kill Joab at the altar for murdering two commanders, Abner and Amasa. Why did that blood go unavenged for so long, and why did the altar not shelter Joab?
These two men did not die in battle. Each murder had its own motive.
Joab was David's nephew (1 Chronicles 2:18) and commander of his forces. He showed great courage in war, but he was vengeful, and all through he seems never to have shared the king's mind. He treacherously assassinated Abner to avenge his brother Asahel, whom Abner had killed in self-defence (2 Sam. 2:23). He also killed Amasa, whom David had promoted to be commander-in-chief, out of jealousy at having a rival (2 Sam. 20:10). These, as Solomon says, were better men and more righteous than he. These killings, and his killing of Absalom with his own hand against the king's express command, brought David great sorrow.
Solomon is careful to say the killings happened behind his father's back. David's own reaction at the time bears that out.
How the precious features of David's character return in these hard circumstances! Refusing any part in this evil, he proves that he was "innocent in the matter" (2 Cor. 7:11). He calls down God's judgment on Joab, asking that Abner's blood fall on him: "May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house" (2 Sam. 3:29). And again: "The LORD repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!" (2 Sam. 3:39). Later this judgment of God, spoken by David, is carried out (1 Kings 2:31-34).
David knew what Joab had done. So why did Joab live on, unpunished, for years?
In the matter of righteousness David failed badly. He allowed Joab to murder both Abner and Amasa and go unpunished. David's own sons Amnon and Absalom were guilty of terrible sins, and they also went unpunished. About Joab, David said, "these men the sons of Zeruiah are more severe than I." He even said, "I was gentle today, though anointed king" (2 Sam. 3:39). Pitiful words from a man who had so often known God's sustaining power and grace. But Joab was a capable military commander, and so useful to the state. This is by no means the only time the sins of public men have been excused. But it is not righteousness.
(Fereday quoted an older translation reading "too hard for me" and "I am this day weak, though anointed king.")
Joab spent a lifetime looking like David's man. Was he serving the king, or himself?
Perhaps this bloody man thought he was serving his king the whole time he was serving his own interests. Impossible! What a man does for his own interest, he does against God. In a time of peace Joab's belt and sandals — his service and his walk — had been stained with the blood of war. This was defilement. War must overtake him in turn. He must learn there could be no peace for him. Peace is kept for those who make peace (James 3:18). Solomon's reign was a reign of peace and righteousness, and it could not tolerate such men.
Joab's last move was to grab the horns of the altar. The law had already ruled out that escape.
Joab flees to the tabernacle and takes hold of the horns of the altar. That cannot save him. The Word of God is against him: "But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die" (Ex. 21:14). Solomon remembers this. Once Solomon has determined the judgment, it is too late for the altar to shelter him. Vengeance had to fall on Joab, so that "for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore" (v. 33). Without it, blood would have stayed on the house of David. Judgment was necessary for his glory.
Joab's death closes more than an old account. It sets the pattern for how a kingdom of peace begins.
To establish Solomon's kingdom, the innocent blood of Abner and Amasa had to be avenged on Joab. Joab had shed that blood without David's knowledge (vs. 32-33). Joab had stood by David until he went over to Adonijah. That defection showed his true motive. It was not love for David but his own advantage. His motives in killing Abner and Amasa were selfish too. Joab's execution pictures how the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus will be established: in righteousness, which brings peace.
- Blood shed. Joab killed Abner out of revenge and Amasa out of jealousy. The verse calls both men better and more righteous than he was.
- Blood hidden. It was done without David's knowledge; David refused any part in it and asked God to lay it on Joab's head.
- Blood unpunished. David let it stand for years. Joab was useful, and David was weak. Commentators name it for what it is: not righteousness.
- Blood returned. The altar could not shelter a deliberate murderer; the law said to take such a man from the altar and put him to death.
- Blood cleared. Solomon settles the debt, the throne is clean, and God promises peace to David's house forever. Righteousness comes first, then peace.
And their blood shall be requited upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever; but upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from Jehovah.
Solomon's last word about Joab points two ways at once: blood lands forever on one house, peace rests forever on another. Why should the death of one old soldier settle anything, and why must a kingdom of peace begin with it?
Joab killed Abner and Amasa years before this, and for years nothing happened to him. One writer looks at what Joab thought of himself, and at what God did not forget.
He thought that he had served his lord, the king, faithfully; in fact, he had always sought his own advancement. God did not forget his crimes. The blood he shed came back on his head and on his descendants.
The second half of the verse explains the first. The blood had to come off David's house before that house could have peace, and the verse traces that peace to the LORD.
Vengeance must be carried out on him so that "for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore" (v. 33). Without that vengeance, blood would have stayed on the house of David. Judgment was needed for his glory.
Joab died holding the horns of the altar. One writer explains who the altar was built to shelter, and why Joab had no claim on it.
The horns of the altar became a place of refuge. They were a sanctuary no one could touch, for all who had a right to their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood. Joab sought this protection when he fled from Solomon (1 Kings 2:28); but since he had no claim on it, for he was a murderer, he was killed. This is like the sinner in desperation. He would gladly claim the benefits of the death of Christ to escape judgment, while his heart is still far from Him. But wherever there is trust in the value of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar, that soul is safe. No power on earth or in hell can touch it as it rests under that shelter and protection.
The verse gives peace to David's house and none to Joab. One writer traces that back to what Joab did in peacetime.
In time of peace Joab's "belt and sandals," his service and his walk, had been stained with the blood of war. This was a defilement. War must overtake him in turn. He must learn that there could be no peace for him, because peace is kept for those who make peace (James 3:18). Neither Solomon's reign of peace nor his reign of righteousness could tolerate such elements.
Note: the ESV of 1 Kings 2:5 speaks of "the belt around his waist" and "the sandals on his feet." Older translations read "girdle and shoes."
Judgment came first, and the kingdom stood after it. One writer also reads the scene forward, to a greater reign.
For Solomon's kingdom to be established, the innocent blood of Abner and Amasa had to be avenged on Joab. Joab had shed that blood without David's knowledge (vs. 32-33)… Joab's execution pictures how the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus will be established in righteousness, which brings peace.
Another writer links the same lesson to Solomon's own proverbs about a king's throne.
We can learn Solomon's views from his book of Proverbs: "A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes" (Prov. 20:8). "Take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness" (Prov. 25:5). Solomon carried out judgment on Joab and others. Then the Holy Spirit says, "So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon" (1 Kings 2:46).
- Blood — Joab shed the blood of Abner and Amasa in peacetime. That blood came back on his own head and on his descendants.
- Delay — years without punishment were not a pardon. God did not forget, and the sentence landed under the new king.
- Altar — the altar sheltered those who came on the ground of the sacrifice. It gave a murderer nothing. It is still unbreakable shelter for anyone who truly trusts that sacrifice.
- Peace — Joab could have no peace, because peace is kept for those who make peace. It rests instead on David, his descendants, his house and his throne, and it comes "from the LORD."
- Throne — righteousness clears the ground first, and then the kingdom stands. Commentators see the same pattern completed in the reign of Christ, where righteousness brings lasting peace.
And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and fell upon him, and put him to death; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
Joab had led David's armies for a lifetime, yet he died at the altar he had grabbed for safety, and was buried in his own house out in the wilderness. The verse raises two hard questions. Why did holding the altar not save him? And why did Solomon's peaceful reign begin with a sword?
Joab had murdered men years before this. Nothing happened at the time — and that silence was not acquittal.
When Joab heard that Adonijah's cause had failed, he saw his danger, fled to the tabernacle, and caught hold of the horns of the altar. He refused to leave when they summoned him, so they put him to death at the altar. So punishment for the murders he had committed, though long delayed, now fell on him in righteous judgment.
His career looked like loyal service. God and David valued it differently:
For many long years he led David's armies. He was honoured among the people of God and victorious over their enemies. But all this activity was without value, either in the eyes of God or of David. He was not given a place among David's mighty men, an honour that was given to his armour-bearer. In the end he received his due under the government of God, and perished miserably by the sword in the very house of God where he thought he had found a refuge. He thought he had served his lord the king faithfully; in fact, he had always sought his own advancement.
The altar did not fail him. God's law had already ruled out shelter for a man like him.
Joab flees to the tabernacle and takes hold of the horns of the altar. That cannot save him. The Word of God is against him: "But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die." Solomon remembers this. Once Joab's judgment is settled, it is too late for the altar to shelter him. Vengeance had to be carried out on him. Only then could it be true that "for David and for his descendants and for his house and for his throne there shall be peace from the LORD forevermore." Without that vengeance, blood would have stayed on the house of David. Judgment was necessary for his glory.
The altar really was a refuge — but only for those with a right to it:
The horn is a symbol of strength. When the blood was sprinkled on the horns, the whole strength of the altar, once against the sinner, is now used on his behalf. So the horns of the altar became a place of refuge, a sanctuary no one could violate, for all who were rightfully under their protection on the ground of the sprinkled blood. Joab sought this protection when he fled from Solomon; but since he had no claim on it, for he was a murderer, he was slain. This is like the sinner who is desperate to escape the judgment. He would gladly claim the benefits of the death of Christ, while his heart is still far from Him. But wherever there is trust in the value of the sacrifice offered to God on the altar, no power on earth or in hell can touch that soul. It shelters under the altar's protection.
Joab's ruin began with a calculation.
Adonijah confers with Joab, the man who had constantly used David for his own purpose. Joab reckoned that David would be of very little use to him any longer. The opportunity seemed good; he took it. Policy is always ruinous work in the end, at any rate among God's people. There was no faith in Joab. He was a wise man after the flesh; he was an extremely political individual.
Solomon had written the rule his reign then carried out:
Solomon's own views can be learned from his book of Proverbs: "Take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness." When Solomon had carried out judgment on Joab and others, the Holy Spirit says, "So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon."
One writer sees the same order in the coming kingdom of Christ:
Joab's execution pictures the way the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus will be established in righteousness, which brings peace.
David tolerated these men for years. Solomon did not. That change of administration is the warning in the chapter.
All through David's reign these men were tolerated. Grace was shown to them. But Solomon is charged to kill them. No mercy is to be shown to them once David's reign of grace is over. David's throne, like God's at present, is a "throne of grace." Judgment was carried out on these enemies at the opening of Solomon's glorious reign. If you refuse God's grace and stay unreconciled, you must have judgment. In grace God lets you live, as David let his enemies live.
- Delay. Joab's murders went unpunished for years; the verse shows that delay was patience, not pardon.
- Refuge. He reached the altar but had no claim on it — the sacrifice shelters faith, never mere fear.
- Motive. A lifetime of visible service collapsed the moment his own advantage pointed away from the king.
- Order. The kingdom could not stand in peace until the blood was dealt with; righteousness comes first, peace follows.
- Deadline. David's throne let enemies live; Solomon's did not. Grace has a reign, and reigns end.
And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his stead over the host; and Zadok the priest the king put in the stead of Abiathar.
Solomon's clear-out of the old rulers ends not with a death but with two appointments: Benaiah takes the army, and Zadok takes the priesthood. Behind that short note lies a sentence God had spoken generations earlier, and a pattern of how a king rewards the men who stood with him.
Abiathar's removal was not Solomon's improvisation. Commentators trace it back to a word God spoke to Eli, an earlier priest. They also note how long God waited before acting on it.
The leader of the conspiracy, the false king, has met his fate. Now Solomon's righteousness catches up with the priest (vv. 26–27). David had supported him for a long while, but the Lord had already spoken his sentence in the ears of Eli. … One hundred thirty-five years after the judgment was announced, he is cut off from the priesthood. He had first given a reason for his judgment by his alliance with the rebel.
His record was long. That made his one failure heavier, not lighter.
Abiathar was all the more guilty in that he had borne the ark of the Lord before David, and that he had also shared in his afflictions from the beginning (1 Sam. 22:20). So he had shared in the testimony of the Lord's anointed, and he had suffered. Solomon recognizes this. But in the one case where Abiathar's faithfulness was tested, where the glory of the son of David was at stake, he makes shipwreck and abandons his master.
The change is more than a change of men. Once a king reigns, the priest's place is set in relation to him. That is why Solomon could remove a priest at all.
After the king is brought in, there is a change in the position of the priesthood; it ceases to be the habitual link of connection between the people and God. When God sets Eli aside (1 Sam. 2:35), He says, "I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest … and he shall go in and out" — not before Me, but "before My anointed forever." There I get a royal person, another link between God and the people, set up above priesthood. So that Solomon was quite right in thrusting out Abiathar; 1 Kings 2:27.
Solomon took away Abiathar's office but not his life. Writers note that he did not take away his honour either.
Abiathar himself (1 Kings 4:4), driven from the priesthood, is counted among the princes alongside Zadok. He had carried the ark and shared all David's afflictions. He lost his office, but his lord did not wish to take from him the dignity he was giving to all those who had suffered with the rejected king.
Benaiah's promotion over the army is the other half of the verse. It crowns a lifetime of standing in one place.
Joab did not share David's mind about Solomon sitting on the throne. Benaiah did share the king's God-given desires, along with others of David's mighty men. … Rebellion broke out against King Solomon. Remarkably, Adonijah, its head; Joab, its energy; and Shimei, who cursed David, all fell at last by the sword of Benaiah. He was "with David" in his rejection and his fighting; "with David" as captain of his bodyguard; "with David" in his kingdom in positions of honour. Now David's son Solomon raised him to be captain of the army of Israel, and he shared in that glorious reign when the wars were past.
Zadok's appointment reaches a long way in both directions: back to an old promise, and forward to a coming day.
Zadok takes his place as the high priest, and we know this will be the line when the Lord Jesus comes to reign. … the family of Zadok will be actually in the administration of the priesthood in that future day of blessedness on the earth. This we know from the book of Ezekiel … "But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of My sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from Me, shall come near to Me to minister to Me" (Ezekiel 44:15). The reason is plain: they were faithful. But there is another reason too, which does not appear in the prophecy. They were the direct descendants of Phinehas. God had sworn in the wilderness … that there would be an everlasting covenant with the priesthood and the family of Phinehas.
Commentators read the judgments and appointments in this chapter as a preview of Christ's coming reign.
Solomon spares Abiathar's life but thrusts him out of the priesthood, so fulfilling the word of the Lord concerning the house of Eli (1 Sam. 2:31–36). Zadok alone becomes priest (verse 35). … And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness; in the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns.
- One test. Abiathar's long service could not cover one failure. He sided against the king God had chosen.
- One sentence. God's word about Eli's house waited generations. It fell once Abiathar had given his own reason for it.
- One order. With a king on the throne, the priest's place is before the anointed. So Solomon could remove one priest and install another.
- One reward. Benaiah stood with David in rejection and in the kingdom. Solomon gave him command of the whole army.
- One preview. Both appointments sketch the reign to come. Today grace reigns through righteousness; then righteousness itself will reign, with Zadok's line near to God.
And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build thee a house in Jerusalem, and abide there, and go not forth thence anywhere.
Solomon has already judged Adonijah, Joab and Abiathar, and now he calls in the last man on his father's list. He gives Shimei a boundary instead of a death sentence — so why is a pardoned man still on trial, and why test him at all?
Shimei had cursed David and later said he was sorry. David spared his life. But what did that pardon actually settle?
He looked like a restored man. But though David in grace had spared him, he did not hold him innocent. Everything now depended on how he behaved under the king of righteousness. His conduct would show whether his repentance was real. As with Joab, Shimei's case goes to the wisdom of Solomon.
Why fence him in at all? Shimei had once said sorry, but sorry had not changed him.
Shimei was a different kind of character again. He had cursed David viciously, yet he had apologised for it, and David had then spared his life (2 Sam. 19:18-23). But he was not changed in heart. Solomon told him in effect that he could not trust him out of sight. He ordered him to live in Jerusalem, and warned him that if he ever went elsewhere he would be put to death.
Shimei accepts the terms gladly. One writer hears an older voice in that answer.
Solomon places him on the footing of responsibility and he accepts it. He shows in this his complete ignorance of his own sinful state, and so of his inability to obey. Had not Israel said the very same words when God proposed the law? "All that the LORD has spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8). And so Shimei answers that the word is good, and that he will do as his lord the king has said. He knows, poor man, that to disobey means death, and that his blood will be on his own head. Yet he can do nothing but disobey. He cannot give up two runaway slaves. To get them back for a day, he throws away his own life!… The man who is put under responsibility, accepts it, and fails cannot be tolerated under the reign of righteousness.
What he traded his life for is the sting of the story. Three years later he crossed the line, chasing two runaway slaves.
Surely he had not forgotten Solomon's warning and his own promise! Perhaps he thought three years was enough to change Solomon's mind. But he wanted slaves to rule over, while he himself would not be content to be ruled!
Was David right to spare him in the first place? One writer has doubts.
Nor does his mercy to Shimei seem to have upheld the righteousness that should mark the throne. He evidently came to believe this himself, as we see from his instruction to Solomon about him. Relaxing the full penalty might well suit the day of David's return to the throne. Shimei had, after all, claimed to repent. But there seems to have been no reality in it such as would have matched that fuller grace.
Why does Scripture record these court cases at all? One writer looks past Solomon's court to a kingdom still to come.
At first Solomon shows mercy to Adonijah. But Adonijah's will is still restless, and that awakens the righteous judgment meant for those who had failed in integrity and had risen up against God's anointed. This is the first mark of the king reigning in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. There is no escaping the watchfulness of this judgment. This is seen in the case of Shimei.
Another writer sets that coming kingdom beside our own day:
And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the age to come. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness. In the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will fall swiftly on disobedience, as it fell on Shimei.
- Spared — David let Shimei live, but never called him innocent. The case stayed open.
- Tested — Solomon puts him on the footing of responsibility. Stay in Jerusalem and live; cross the line and die.
- Agreed — Shimei calls the word good and promises to keep it, just as Israel did when God proposed the law. He does not know that he cannot obey.
- Failed — two runaway slaves outweighed his own life; he wanted men to rule over but would not be ruled himself.
- Judged — the king's watchfulness reaches him. Today grace reigns through righteousness. In the kingdom to come, righteousness reigns, and judgment falls on disobedience at once.
And it shall be that on the day thou goest forth, and passest over the torrent of Kidron, ... know for certain that thou shalt surely die thy blood shall be upon thine own head.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Shimei said to the king, The saying is good as my lord the king has said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two servants of Shimei's ran away to Achish son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei saying, Behold, thy servants are in Gath.
Solomon had spared Shimei's life on one condition: stay in Jerusalem. Three years later, two of his slaves run off to a Philistine city, and Shimei goes after them. That short errand settles his case. So what did those three years test?
The trip was long. The reason for it was small:
Three years later, two of Shimei's slaves escaped from his service. They went to Gath, about 25 miles from Jerusalem. When Shimei was told his servants were there, he took a trip by donkey to look for them. Surely he had not forgotten Solomon's warning and his own promise! Perhaps he thought that three years was enough to change Solomon's thoughts. But he wanted slaves to rule over, though he would not be content to be ruled himself.
The servants ran to Gath, a Philistine city. David had gone there himself once, in a low moment:
One of the five royal cities of the Philistines, and the city Goliath belonged to... David went to Achish king of Gath when his faith failed him about God's protection. Later, when he was king and in power, he took Gath and her towns out of the hand of the Philistines.
Shimei had cursed David. When David came back, Shimei confessed his sin, and David spared his life. But sparing a man is not the same as clearing him:
He was then apparently restored, but if David in grace had spared him, he did not hold him innocent. Everything was made to depend on his conduct under the king of righteousness. His conduct would show whether his repentance was real.
Shimei took the terms on himself. One writer reads his failure as a picture of the whole world under God's law:
Solomon places him on the footing of responsibility and he accepts this. In doing so he reveals his total ignorance of his state of sin, and so of his inability to obey... He knows, wretched man, that to disobey means death for him, and that his blood will be on his own head. Yet he is unable to do anything but disobey. He is unable to give up two runaway slaves. To get them back for a day, he sacrifices his own life! What a picture of the world! It knows the law of God, yet it will not and cannot submit to that law once a passing interest comes between God's will and itself.
Shimei slipped out in private, and word still reached the king. One writer sees Solomon's rule here as the pattern of a greater reign:
It is the first mark of the king reigning in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. There is no escaping the watchfulness of this judgment. This is seen in the case of Shimei.
Two men gave their word that day. Only one kept it:
Though Shimei did not keep his promise, Solomon would keep his. Solomon also reminded him of the wickedness of his attitude toward David. That wickedness would come back on his own head... Shimei's case is a warning to us not to speak evil of those in authority.
David's reign left Shimei alive. Solomon's did not. One writer sees in that change of kings a picture of an age still to come:
Shimei was commanded to remain in Jerusalem; disobedience would mean certain death. When he disobeyed, the sentence of death was carried out on him. Here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness. In the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Disobedience will be swiftly met by judgment, as it was with Shimei.
- Spared. Shimei had cursed the king and lived. Grace spared him, but it did not pronounce him innocent.
- Bound. Solomon put him on the footing of responsibility. Shimei accepted the terms and the penalty himself.
- Tested. Three quiet years proved nothing. His conduct under the king of righteousness would show whether his repentance was real.
- Exposed. Two runaway slaves undid him. He wanted slaves to rule over, yet he would not be ruled himself. That is the world's attitude toward God when a passing interest cuts across His will.
- Settled. Shimei broke his word. Solomon kept his. Where righteousness reigns, no one escapes its watchful judgment.
Then Shimei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Gath, to Achish, to seek his servants; and Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath.
Solomon had given Shimei one simple condition: stay inside Jerusalem and live. Three years later two of his slaves ran away to a Philistine city. This verse is the moment Shimei saddles his donkey and goes after them — the choice that costs him everything.
Three years of obedience ended over a matter of property.
However, three years later two of Shimei's slaves escaped from his service and went to Gath, about 25 miles from Jerusalem. When Shimei heard his servants were there, he took a trip by donkey to look for them (v.40). He had surely not forgotten Solomon's warning and his own promise! Perhaps he thought three years was enough to change Solomon's mind. He wanted slaves to rule over, but he would not be content to be ruled himself!
Shimei accepted Solomon's terms in his own words. One writer says that acceptance is what exposed him.
Solomon places him on the footing of responsibility and he accepts this. So he shows his complete ignorance of his state of sin, and therefore of his inability to obey. Had not Israel spoken the very same words when God proposed the law to them? "All that the LORD has spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8). And Shimei says the same: "What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do" (v. 38). He knows, poor man, that to disobey means death for him, and that his blood will be on his own head. Still he can do nothing but disobey. He is unable to give up two runaway slaves. In order to get them back for a day, he sacrifices his own life! What a picture of the world! It knows the law of God, yet it will not and cannot submit to it once a passing interest comes between itself and the will of God.
Gath was no neutral ground, and David had a history there.
Gath was one of the five royal cities of the Philistines, and Goliath came from there… David went to Achish king of Gath when his faith in God's protection failed him.
David had gone to Achish when his faith failed. Shimei went to the same city when his word failed.
Shimei crossed a line that Solomon was watching. One writer sees here the first mark of a king who reigns in glory.
At first Solomon shows mercy to Adonijah. But Adonijah's will is still restless, and he asks for the dead king's wife. This wakes the righteous judgment kept for those who had failed in integrity and had risen up against God's anointed. It is the first character attached to the king reigning in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. There is no escaping the vigilance of this judgment. This is seen in the case of Shimei.
Solomon then judged Shimei by Shimei's own promise.
Someone reported Shimei's trip to Solomon. The king called for Shimei and reminded him of his promise to stay in Jerusalem, and of Solomon's promise to have him killed if he did not (vs.41-42). Though Shimei did not keep his promise, Solomon would keep his. Solomon also reminded him that his wickedness toward David would come back on his own head. David had not killed Shimei, so as to avoid any appearance of personal revenge, but justice had to be done even though David was no longer alive. Shimei's case is a warning to us not to speak evil of those in authority (Jude 8-9).
Years earlier David had spared Shimei's life and left the question of his sincerity open.
David does not stop to ask whether Shimei's feelings are sincere. He is not judging them now. Shimei will have to give account for them later, when his conduct will show whether they were real (1 Kings 2:36-46). "You shall not die," David tells this guilty man.
One writer sees in Shimei's end a glimpse of the coming age, and a contrast with our own.
Shimei was commanded to remain in Jerusalem; disobedience would mean certain death. When he disobeyed, the death sentence fell on him. And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness; in the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will fall quickly on disobedience, as it did with Shimei.
- Boundary. Shimei could live on one condition: stay in Jerusalem. He accepted the terms in his own words.
- Bait. Two runaway slaves pulled him past the line. He wanted slaves to rule over, but would not be ruled himself.
- Blindness. Accepting a rule he could not keep exposed him. He knew disobedience meant death, and he still could not obey.
- Breach. He left the king's city for Gath, a Philistine royal city. Mercy had delayed the reckoning; his conduct showed what his apology was worth.
- Balance. Solomon kept his word when Shimei broke his. In the coming kingdom, righteousness reigns and judgment follows disobedience quickly.
And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had come again.
Three years earlier Solomon had let Shimei live on one condition: stay inside Jerusalem or die. Now the news of his journey reaches the throne. Why would a man spared by grace risk everything for two runaway slaves?
Shimei had once cursed David publicly, then apologised when David returned to power. One writer traces how that pardon left an open question rather than closing the case.
Shimei had cursed David, and then when David came back he showed signs of repentance and confessed his sin. He seemed to be restored, but although David in grace had spared him, David did not treat him as innocent. Everything now depended on his conduct under the king of righteousness. His conduct would show whether his repentance was real.
The errand looks small: a man going after two runaway slaves. Set beside the promise he had made, it shows what mattered more to him.
Three years later two of Shimei's slaves escaped from his service. They went to Gath, about twenty-five miles from Jerusalem. When Shimei heard his servants were there, he took a trip by donkey to look for them. Surely he had not forgotten Solomon's warning and his own promise! Perhaps he thought that three years was enough to change Solomon's thoughts. He wanted slaves to rule over, though he would not be content to be ruled himself.
Shimei went and came back, apparently unnoticed. Yet the report arrives anyway, and one commentator treats this as the defining feature of the reign being described.
It is the first mark of the king reigning in glory. He carries out righteous judgment in the earth. There is no escaping the watchfulness of this judgment. This is seen in the case of Shimei.
Shimei's own promise becomes the thing that condemns him. One writer reads the episode as a picture of everyone who agrees that God's law is good and then cannot keep it.
Solomon places him on the footing of responsibility and he accepts this. In doing so he shows his complete ignorance of his sinful state, and therefore of his inability to obey. Had not Israel spoken the very same words when the law was proposed? "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." And so Shimei: "The saying is good: as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." He knows, wretched man, that to disobey means death for him. He knows that his blood will be on his own head. And yet he cannot do anything but disobey. He is unable to give up two runaway slaves. To get them back for a day, he sacrifices his own life! What a picture of the world! It knows the law of God, yet it will not and cannot submit to it, once a passing interest comes between itself and the will of God. His own word judges him: "The word that I have heard is good." A man placed under responsibility, who accepts it and then fails, cannot be tolerated under the reign of righteousness.
Two promises had been made in that earlier interview. Only one of them was honoured, and the contrast carries a warning past the story itself.
Word of Shimei's trip reached Solomon. The king called for Shimei and reminded him of his promise to remain in Jerusalem, and of Solomon's promise to have him killed if he did not. Though Shimei did not keep his promise, Solomon would keep his. Solomon also reminded him how wicked his attitude toward David had been, and told him that this wickedness would come back on his own head. David had not killed Shimei, so as to avoid any appearance of personal revenge. But justice had to be done, even though David was no longer alive. Shimei's case is a warning to us not to speak evil of those in authority.
Solomon's throne also gives a picture of a kingdom still to come. One writer uses Shimei's end to contrast how God governs now with how He will govern then.
And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness; in the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will meet disobedience swiftly, as it did with Shimei.
- Spared. David's grace gave Shimei his life, but it did not declare him innocent. Everything now rested on how he behaved under the king of righteousness.
- Bound. He called the king's terms good and promised to keep them, putting himself on the ground of responsibility.
- Exposed. He wanted slaves to rule over, yet would not be ruled himself, and he traded his life for two runaways.
- Reported. Nothing escaped the king. News of the quiet trip still reached the throne, because there is no escaping the watchfulness of this judgment.
- Judged. His own words condemned him — a picture of a world that agrees God's law is good and still cannot submit to it.
And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Did I not make thee swear by Jehovah, and protest to thee, saying, Know for certain, that on the day thou goest forth, and walkest abroad anywhere, thou shalt surely die? and thou saidst to me, The word that I have heard is good.
Three years earlier, Solomon had set the terms on which Shimei would live. Why does the king now build his case on Shimei's own reply, and not on the trip to Gath?
Solomon does not begin with the crime. He begins with the promises — his own and Shimei's.
News of Shimei's trip reached Solomon. The king called for Shimei and reminded him of his promise to remain in Jerusalem, and of Solomon's promise to have him killed if he did not (vv. 41-42). Though Shimei did not keep his promise, yet Solomon would keep his. Solomon also reminded him of his wicked attitude toward David. That wickedness would come back on his own head. David had not killed Shimei, so that nothing would look like personal revenge. But justice still had to be done, even though David was no longer alive. Shimei's case is a warning to us not to speak evil of those in authority (Jude 8-9).
Shimei had called the arrangement good, and that word now accuses him. One writer reads the episode as the story of a man who agreed to stand on his own obedience — with no idea what he was agreeing to.
Solomon places him on the footing of responsibility and he accepts this. By this he shows his complete ignorance of his state of sin, and so of his inability to obey. Had not Israel spoken the very same words when God proposed the law? "All that the LORD has spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8). And so Shimei: "What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do" (v. 38). He knows — wretched man — that disobeying means death for him. He knows his blood will be on his own head. Still he can do nothing but disobey… What a picture of the world! It knows God's law, yet once a passing interest comes between God's will and itself, it will not and cannot submit. His own word judges him: "What you say is good" (v. 42). The reign of righteousness cannot tolerate a man who is put under responsibility, accepts it, and then fails.
What pulled Shimei past the city limit was small: two runaway servants.
However, three years later two of Shimei's slaves escaped from his service and went to Gath, about 25 miles from Jerusalem. When Shimei was told his servants were there, he took a trip by donkey to look for them (v. 40). Surely he had not forgotten Solomon's warning and his own promise! Perhaps he thought three years was enough to change Solomon's mind. But he wanted slaves to rule over, though he would not be content to be ruled himself!
David had spared Shimei years before. But mercy is not the same as a verdict of innocence.
So he seemed to be restored. But though David in grace had spared him, he did not hold him innocent. David made everything depend on his conduct under the king of righteousness. His conduct would show if his repentance was real.
One commentator sees David swearing an oath he had no power to make good:
Here too the king shows that he was in no way equal to the task that only the true David will take up and carry out in full. Moved by his own feelings, he swears to Shimei that he shall not die — an oath that could not hold once Solomon came to the throne, as we learn from another book of Scripture.
Commentators read Solomon's dealings with Shimei as a picture of Christ's coming reign.
Righteous judgment is the first mark of the king reigning in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. No one escapes the watchfulness of this judgment. Shimei's case shows it.
Another writer sets that coming age beside the present one:
And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness; in the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will swiftly meet disobedience, as it did with Shimei.
- Word — Shimei had called Solomon's terms good. The king convicts him with his own words.
- Weakness — Standing on your own obedience shows what you are, not what you can do. Shimei promised what Israel promised when God proposed the law, and failed as Israel failed.
- Wanting — Two runaway servants pulled him out of the city. He wanted to rule others, but would not be ruled himself.
- Waiting — David's pardon spared his life, but never called him innocent. His conduct under the next king would show whether his repentance was real.
- Watchfulness — Commentators read the ending as a picture of Christ's coming reign, where no disobedience escapes notice. Today grace reigns through righteousness; then righteousness itself will reign.
Why then hast thou not kept the oath of Jehovah, and the commandment that I charged thee with?
Shimei had agreed to stay inside Jerusalem. Three years later he left, and Solomon calls him in to answer for the broken oath. The king is not asking for information. He already knows. His question presses a harder point: Shimei had accepted these terms himself, and then broke them.
Solomon is not dealing with a fresh offender. Shimei had been pardoned once before, and one writer explains what that pardon did not settle.
Shimei, from the tribe of Benjamin, had cursed David, and then when David returned he showed signs of repentance by confessing his sin. He seemed to be restored. David in grace had spared him, but he did not hold him innocent. Everything now depended on his conduct under the king of righteousness. His conduct would show whether his repentance was real.
Solomon's question names two things: an oath sworn to the LORD and a command from the king. Shimei had accepted both, and had called the terms good. One writer shows how that acceptance became his judgment.
Solomon puts him in a place of responsibility and he accepts it. This reveals his complete ignorance of his state of sin, and therefore of his inability to obey. Had not Israel spoken the very same words when the law was proposed? "All that the LORD has spoken we will do" (Ex. 19:8). And so Shimei: "The word is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." He knows, wretched man, that to disobey means death for him and that his blood will be on his own head — and yet he is unable to do anything but disobey. He is unable to give up two runaway slaves. To get them back for a day, he sacrifices his own life! What a picture of the world! It knows the law of God, and it will not and cannot submit to it once a passing interest comes between God's will and itself. His own word judges him: "The word that I have heard is good." The reign of righteousness cannot tolerate a man who takes on responsibility and then fails.
What drew Shimei out of the city was small. One writer points out the irony of the errand.
When Shimei heard that his servants were there, he took a trip by donkey to look for them. Surely he had not forgotten Solomon's warning and his own promise! Perhaps he thought three years was enough to change Solomon's mind. He wanted slaves to rule over, but he would not be content to be ruled himself!
The terms carried two promises: Shimei's and the king's. Only one of them held.
Someone reported Shimei's trip to Solomon. Solomon called for Shimei. He reminded him of his promise to remain in Jerusalem, and of his own promise to have him killed if he broke it. Though Shimei did not keep his promise, Solomon would keep his. Solomon also named the wickedness of his attitude toward David. That wickedness would come back on his own head. David had not killed Shimei, so as to avoid any appearance of personal revenge. But justice still had to be done, even though David was no longer alive. Shimei's case is a warning to us not to speak evil of dignities (Jude 8-9).
Commentators read this scene as more than court business.
He executes righteous judgment on the earth. Nothing escapes the watchfulness of this judgment. Shimei's case shows it.
Another writer marks the difference between that reign and this present age.
Solomon commanded Shimei to remain in Jerusalem. Disobedience would mean certain death. When he disobeyed, the death sentence fell on him. And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness. In the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will meet disobedience swiftly, as it met Shimei.
- Word that spared. David let Shimei live after the cursing. But sparing a man is not the same as clearing him. Solomon's reign would settle the matter.
- Word he accepted. Shimei called the terms good and promised to keep them. Israel had spoken the same way when the law came, and it ended the same way.
- Word he broke. Two runaway servants were enough to pull him past the boundary. He would rule slaves, but he would not be ruled himself.
- Word that judged him. Solomon's question needed no new evidence. Shimei's own oath, sworn before the LORD, convicted him, and the wickedness came back on his own head.
- Word of the coming King. Commentators see here a preview of a reign where nothing escapes notice. They also mark the difference from now: grace reigns in this age, righteousness in the age to come.
And the king said to Shimei, Thou knowest all the wickedness of which thy heart is conscious, which thou didst to David my father; and Jehovah returns thy wickedness upon thine own head;
Shimei had once cursed David. Years later, Solomon brings that old wrong back up. He does not argue the case. He points Shimei to what his own heart knows, and leaves the outcome to the Lord, who turns a man's evil back on him.
Shimei's place under the new king looked secure. One writer shows that he was really on probation.
This same Shimei had not joined Adonijah's following. He stayed with David's mighty men and had followed Solomon. So he seemed to be restored. But if David in grace had spared him, he did not hold him innocent. Everything now depended on how he behaved under the king of righteousness. His conduct would show whether his repentance was real.
Solomon names David as the man Shimei harmed. One writer doubts Shimei's apology and points past David to the one the evil was really against.
David knew that Shimei's apology was not sincere. So he told Solomon to act wisely and see that Shimei was put to death for this evil, which had really been against the Lord (vs.8-9).
Why did David never settle this himself? One writer explains that David's own hand would have looked like personal revenge. Waiting did not cancel the debt.
Solomon also reminded him how wicked his attitude toward David had been. He told him that this wickedness would come back on his own head. David had not killed Shimei, so that nothing would look like personal revenge. But justice still had to be done, even though David was no longer alive. Shimei's case is a warning to us not to speak evil of those in authority (Jude 8-9).
Shimei had accepted Solomon's terms and called the order good. That agreement is what condemned him in the end. One writer reads it as the story of a man who does not know what he cannot do.
Solomon puts him on the ground of responsibility, and he accepts it. In doing so he shows how completely blind he is to his state of sin, and so to his inability to obey… He knows, poor man, that to disobey means death for him, and that his blood will be on his own head. Still he can do nothing but disobey. He cannot give up two runaway slaves. To get them back for a day, he throws away his own life! What a picture of the world! It knows the law of God, yet it will not and cannot submit to it, once a passing interest comes between itself and the will of God. His own word judges him: "The word that I have heard is good" (v. 42).
Harm returning on a man's own head is not just Shimei's story. One writer traces the same rule through God's dealings with nations.
God knows how to turn man's evil back upon himself. He did this with Haman in the Book of Esther (Esther 7:6-10), and it will be so with nations who attack Israel in the tribulation period (Daniel 11:40-45). This is perfectly righteous government. Nations will be caught in their own net. Through painful experience they will learn that God makes Himself known in the judgments He carries out.
Writers look past Shimei to a greater King. Nothing slips past that throne. And the age we live in is not yet the age of that reign.
It is the first character attached to the king reigning in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. There is no escaping the vigilance of this judgment. This is seen in the case of Shimei.
And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness; in the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will meet disobedience quickly, as it did with Shimei.
- Grace waits. David spared Shimei. Sparing him was not the same as calling him innocent. The new king would settle the case.
- Responsibility tests. Shimei took Solomon's terms and called them good. He had no idea that he could not obey.
- Conscience convicts. Solomon calls no witnesses. He points to what Shimei's own heart knew, and to the word Shimei had called good.
- Evil returns. Bringing harm back on the doer's own head is how God governs — the net catches the one who set it.
- The throne stands. David would not act for himself. Righteousness still acted after his death. Nothing escapes the King who reigns in righteousness.
and king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Jehovah for ever.
Shimei has broken the terms he accepted. Solomon's last word to him sets two things side by side: one man's guilt returning on his own head, and a throne made secure before the LORD. Why should the removal of one old offender matter to a whole kingdom? And why say "forever" of a throne whose king would later fail?
David had let Shimei live. Commentators point out that this restraint was deliberate, and that it did not close the case.
David had not killed Shimei so as to avoid any appearance of personal retaliation, but justice had to be done even though David was no longer alive. Shimei's case warns us not to speak evil against those in authority (Jude 8-9).
The verse joins the blessing on the king to the settling of the throne. Solomon later wrote down the principle he was acting on here.
We can learn Solomon's own thinking from his book of Proverbs: "A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes" (Proverbs 20:8). "Take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness" (Proverbs 25:5). When Solomon had carried out judgment on Joab and others, the Holy Spirit says, "the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon" (1 Kings 2:46).
Solomon gave Shimei clear terms. Shimei called those terms good, and that answer is what condemns him.
Solomon places him on the footing of responsibility and he accepts this. He thus reveals his pure ignorance of his state of sin and, therefore, of his inability to obey. Had not Israel spoken the very same words when the law was proposed? "All that the LORD has spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:8). And so Shimei: "What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do." He knows, wretched man, that to disobey means death for him. He knows his blood will be on his own head. And still he can do nothing but disobey… He is judged by his own word. The man who is put under responsibility, accepts it, and fails cannot be tolerated under the reign of righteousness.
Commentators read Solomon's first acts as a preview of a greater reign.
Solomon at first shows mercy to Adonijah. But Adonijah's will is still restless, and he wants the dead king's wife. This awakens the righteous judgment meant for those who had failed in integrity and had risen up against God's anointed. It is the first character attached to the king reigning in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. There is no escaping the vigilance of this judgment. This is seen in the case of Shimei.
Another writer sets that coming rule against the way God deals with people now.
And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness; in the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Disobedience will be swiftly met by judgment as it was with Shimei.
Yet the word "forever" reaches past Solomon himself.
Adonijah, by his disloyal scheming, was a threat to the establishing of the throne as David wanted it, so Benaiah struck him down and he died. Joab fled to the tabernacle of the LORD and caught hold of the horns of the altar. But there was no perfect sacrifice then, and no risen and glorified Saviour on the throne of God. "So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up and struck him down and put him to death." Solomon also gave orders about Shimei, so Benaiah "went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was established" — yes, established for a time, but not forever! Just judgment prevailed for a while.
There is a warning in the timing. Shimei survived one reign and not the next.
All through David's reign these men were tolerated. Grace was shown them. But Solomon is charged to put them to death. No mercy must be shown them after David's reign of grace is over. This is solemn, sinner. David's throne, like God's at present, is a "throne of grace" (Hebrews 4:16).
- Guilt keeps. David spared Shimei to avoid any look of personal revenge. The wrong still stood. Justice was handed forward.
- Terms accepted. Shimei agreed to Solomon's terms and called them good. His own word judged him.
- Throne cleared. Remove the wicked, and the throne stands. Solomon wrote it himself: "take away the wicked… and his throne will be established in righteousness."
- Throne previewed. Commentators see here the first mark of the King reigning in glory. He judges the earth in righteousness, and nothing escapes.
- Throne of grace, now. Solomon's kingdom was established for a time, not forever. Today God's throne is a throne of grace. That season has an end.
And the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; who went out and fell upon him, and he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
The closing line of 1 Kings 2 comes after a run of executions carried out by Benaiah — Adonijah, Joab, and now Shimei. Why does a reign of peace open with death sentences? And what does that say about the King this kingdom pictures?
The order matters. The kingdom is called secure only after Solomon carries out the sentences. One writer ties that order to Solomon's own sayings about kings:
We can learn Solomon's own mind from his Book of Proverbs: "A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows all evil with his eyes" (Proverbs 20:8). "Take away the wicked from the presence of the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness" (Proverbs 25:5). After Solomon had carried out judgment on Joab and others, the Holy Spirit says, "So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon" (1 Kings 2:46).
Shimei had wronged David in the past. Still, Solomon gave him terms, and Shimei agreed to them — then broke them. One commentator sees a man who thought he could keep his own promise:
Solomon puts him under responsibility, and he accepts it. In this he shows his complete ignorance of his own sinful state, and so of his inability to obey... He knows, wretched man, that to disobey means death for him and that his blood will be upon his own head — and still he can do nothing but disobey. He cannot bring himself to give up two runaway slaves. To get them back for a day, he throws away his own life! What a picture of the world, which knows the law of God and will not and cannot obey it once a passing interest comes between God's will and itself. His own word judges him: "What you say is good" (v. 42). A reign of righteousness cannot tolerate a man who is given responsibility, accepts it, and then fails.
David had spared Shimei years before, but not because he was innocent:
Solomon also reminded him how wickedly he had treated David. That wickedness would come back on his own head. David had not killed Shimei, so that no one could call it personal revenge. But justice still had to be done, even though David was no longer alive. Shimei's case is a warning to us not to speak evil of those in authority (Jude 8-9).
One writer reads Solomon's dealings here as a picture of Christ reigning in glory:
At first Solomon shows mercy to Adonijah. But Adonijah's will is still restless: he wants the dead king's wife. That wakes the righteous judgment meant for those who had failed in integrity and had risen up against God's anointed. This is the first mark of the king who reigns in glory. He executes righteous judgment in the earth. Nothing escapes the watchfulness of this judgment. Shimei's case shows it.
Commentators set the present age beside the age to come. Shimei's swift end belongs to the second:
And here we have another glimpse of the government of the kingdom in the coming age. In the present age grace reigns through righteousness. In the kingdom age, when the Lord rules over all, righteousness reigns. Judgment will meet disobedience at once, as it did with Shimei.
One commentator reads Joab's death the same way:
Solomon's kingdom could not be established until Joab paid for the innocent blood of Abner and Amasa — blood he had shed without David's knowledge. Joab's execution pictures how the thousand-year kingdom of the Lord Jesus will be set up in righteousness, and that righteousness brings peace.
Solomon's throne was secure, but only for a time:
Solomon also gave the order about Shimei, so Benaiah "went out and struck him down, and he died. So the kingdom was established" — yes, established for a time, but not forever! Just judgment prevailed only for a while.
Today the throne works another way:
Grace justifies the believer today, and sets him in a kingdom which can never be moved. Great David's greater Son is crowned on high, and lives no more to die. A greater than Solomon is there to administer grace to the chief of sinners, and to the most needy of the saints... Having first made purification for sins, the Son of God went up to the throne. Having laid down His life for us, He lives above. Grace has the upper hand, and today it prevails in righteousness.
- Cause — The throne becomes secure only after evil is cleared away. Righteousness is what establishes a kingdom, as Solomon's own Proverbs say.
- Consent — Shimei agreed to the terms, then broke them. A reign of righteousness cannot tolerate a man who accepts responsibility and then fails.
- Reach — Nothing slips past this King. Mercy came first, but no offender escaped His watchful judgment.
- Contrast — Today grace reigns through righteousness. In the coming kingdom righteousness reigns, and judgment meets disobedience at once, as it did with Shimei.
- Completion — Solomon's kingdom stood for a time only. A greater than Solomon is on the throne today. He gives out grace, and His kingdom can never be moved.