Episode 132: Solomon murders Joab, Shimei, and his brother Adonijah

1 Kings 2

David's last words: Murder Joab and Shimei

2 ¹ As David prepared to die, he called Solomon and said to him,

² I'm going to die soon. Be strong. Show that you are a man.

⁵ You know what Joab did to me.

⁶ Do to him according to your wisdom. Don't let his grey head die in peace.

⁸ And Shimei, who cursed me when I ran away from Jerusalem.

I swore to God that I wouldn't kill him.

⁹ You are a wise man. You know what you should do to him.

¹⁰ And with that, David died. ¹¹ He was king for forty years.

Solomon kills his brother Adonijah

¹² After David died, Solomon sat on his father's throne.

¹³ One day, Adonijah came to visit Solomon's mother, Bathsheba.

¹⁵ Adonijah said to her,

As you know, the kingdom was mine, and all of Israel wanted me to be king.

But God has given it to my brother, Solomon.

¹⁶ Now I have only one thing to ask of you.

¹⁷ Ask Solomon to give me Abishag for my wife.

²¹ So Bathsheba said to Solomon, "Give Abishag to Adonijah for a wife."

²² Solomon said,

^23-24 I swear to God, I’ll kill Adonijah today. And if I don't, let God kill me.

²⁵ So Solomon sent Benaiah to kill his half-brother, Adonijah.

Solomon kills Joab and Shimei

²⁶ King Solomon said to Abiathar the priest,

I should kill you, but I won't since you took care of the ark for my father.

²⁷ But you're no longer a priest.

²⁸ When Joab heard that Solomon had Adonijah killed, he fled to the tabernacle and held on to the horns of the altar.

²⁹ Solomon sent Benaiah to kill him.

³⁰ Benaiah went to the tabernacle and said to Joab, "Come out."

Joab said, "No thanks. I'll die here."

So Benaiah went back to Solomon and said, "He won't come out."

³¹ Solomon said, "Okay then, he wants to die on the altar. Kill him there."

³⁴ So Benaiah killed Joab as he clung to the horns of the altar.

³⁵ After Benaiah murdered Joab, Solomon made him his captain, and Zadok replaced Abiathar as priest.

³⁶ Then Solomon sent for Shimei, and said to him,

Build a house in Jerusalem and never leave it.

³⁷ Because the day you come out of your house and pass over the brook Kidron, you will be killed. Your blood will be upon your own head.

³⁸ Shimei said, "Okay. Sounds good to me."

³⁹ But after three years, two of Shimei's servants ran away to Gath.

⁴⁰ So Shimei got on his donkey and went to Gath to retrieve them.

⁴¹ When Solomon heard that Shimei went to Gath, he said to him,

⁴² Didn't I tell you to stay in your house or die? ⁴⁴ Now God is going to kill you.

⁴⁶ And Solomon commanded Benaiah to kill Shimei. Which he did.