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1 Kings 2:28

in 1 Kings 2

When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And the tidings came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the Tent of Jehovah, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

KJV

Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

This verse in 1 Kings 2

Commentary

7 notes on this verse

A commentator

Ishodad of Merv

BOOKS OF SESSIONS 1 KINGS 2:28 · Written before 850.

Joab runs to the tent for two reasons: first of all, in order to escape his death, if possible; second, because he imagined that, if he were killed in that place, the tent of God would become polluted as a consequence of his death, and …

This site's exposition

caught hold on the horns of the altar

on 1 Kings 2:28-30

Joab had not backed Absalom's revolt but did back Adonijah's, and news of Adonijah's death sends him to the horns of the altar, the asylum Exodus 21:14 explicitly denies a man guilty of premeditated murder rather than accidental killing. Benaiah's summons and Joab's flat refusal, Nay, but I will die here, force the question whether the altar can shelter a man the law already excludes from it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The debt he owed to the innocent blood that was shed, by answering its cries with the blood of him that shed, he could not pay himself, but left it to his son to pay it, who, having power wherewithal, failed not to do it.
Then tidings came to Joab,....

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Tidings came to Joab - He heard that Adonijah had been slain and Abiathar banished, and probably he had heard of David’s dying charge to Solomon. Fearing therefore for his personal safety, he takes refuge at the tabernacle, as claiming Divine protection, and desiring to have his case decided by God alone; or perhaps a spark of remorse is now kindled; and, knowing that he must die, he wishes to die in the house of God, as it were under the shadow, that he might receive the mercy of the Almighty.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

He now fled to the altar, which, though a recognized asylum, afforded no sanctuary to the rebel and murderer (Ex 21:14). And, as he refused to leave it, he seems to have cherished some faint hope that a religious scruple would have been felt at the thought of violating the sanctity of the place by bloodshed.
Joab followed the example of Adonijab (margin reference). The tabernacle was now at Gibeon 1Ki 3:4; 1Ch 16:39.

The words behind it

21 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהַשְּׁמֻעָה֙and the report

    vehashemuahH8052

  • בָּ֣אָהit came

    baahH9352568 times

  • עַד־to

    ʾad-H57041261 times

  • יוֹאָ֔בJoab

    yoavH3097144 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH35884482 times

  • יוֹאָ֗בJoab

    yoavH3097144 times

  • נָטָה֙he had turned aside

    natahH5186214 times

  • אַחֲרֵ֣יafter

    ʾachareiH310715 times

  • אֲדֹנִיָּ֔הAdonijah

    ʾadoniyahH13826 times

  • וְאַחֲרֵ֥יand after

    veachareiH310715 times

  • אַבְשָׁל֖וֹםAbsalom

    ʾavshalomH53110 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H38085168 times

  • נָטָ֑הhe had turned aside

    natahH5186214 times

  • וַיָּ֤נָסand he fled

    vaiyanosH5127159 times

  • יוֹאָב֙Joab

    yoavH3097144 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • אֹ֣הֶל[the] tent of

    ʾohelH168345 times

  • יְהוָ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • וַֽיַּחֲזֵ֖קand he took hold

    vaiyachazekH2388291 times

  • בְּקַרְנ֥וֹתon [the] horns of

    bekarnotH716176 times

  • הַמִּזְבֵּֽחַ׃the altar

    hamizbeachH4196401 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Exodus 27:2

    Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 118:27

      The LORD is God; He has made His light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    1 Kings 1:7

    So Adonijah conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, who supported him.

    it leads to

    • 2 Samuel 20:25

      Sheva was the scribe; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

    • 1 Kings 2:22

      King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you request Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my older brother, you might as well request the kingdom for him and for Abiathar the priest…

  • Through

    2 Samuel 18:2

    He sent out the troops, a third under Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the troops, “I will…

    it leads to

    • Judges 7:16

      And he divided the three hundred men into three companies and gave each man a ram’s horn in one hand and a large jar in the other, containing a torch.

    • 2 Samuel 15:19–22

      Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why should you also go with us? Go back and stay with the new king, since you are both a foreigner and an exile from your…

  • Through

    1 Kings 1:50

    But Adonijah, in fear of Solomon, got up and went to take hold of the horns of the altar.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 27:2

      Make a horn on each of its four corners, so that the horns are of one piece, and overlay it with bronze.

    • Exodus 38:2

      He made a horn at each of its four corners, so that the horns and altar were of one piece, and he overlaid the altar with bronze.

    • Exodus 21:14

      But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.

About 1 Kings

The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Judgment of Solomon, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ishodad of Merv, BOOKS OF SESSIONS 1 KINGS 2:28; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of the Kings and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.