The Execution of Joab

Joab flees to the tent of the LORD and takes hold of the altar when the news reaches him. Solomon refuses to treat the altar as shelter for him and orders Benaiah to strike him there and bury him.

W²⁸hen 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. ²⁹It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and is now beside the altar.” ³⁰And Benaiah entered the tent of the LORD and said to Joab, “The king says, ‘Come out!’” ³¹And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.

Solomon names Joab's killings of Abner and Amasa as bloodshed done without David's knowledge and declares that this blood will return on Joab's own head. By contrast, he asks that peace from the LORD rest on David's house and throne.

³²The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to the sword Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army. ³³Their blood will come back upon the heads of Joab and his descendants forever; but for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there shall be peace from the LORD forever.”

Benaiah kills Joab and buries him in the wilderness at his home. Solomon then puts Benaiah over the army and Zadok in Abiathar's priestly place.

³⁴So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness. ³⁵And the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army, and he appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.