1 Kings 2:31

1Ki 2:31 And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.

Ver. 31. Do as he hath said.] Slay him, though it be at the altar. Becket, the traitor, was so served by some that belonged to our Henry II, and thought to gratify him thereby. And although the king constantly protested, se nec mandasse, nec voluisse, nec suo artificio quaesivisse necem Thomae, that he was neither witting nor willing to the taking away of his life in that sort; yet, for a penance, he was, by the command of the Pope’s legate, lashed on the bare [back] with rods, each of the priests and friars there present - and they were not a few - giving him three or four stripes, till the blood followed: besides that he was forced to go three miles on his bare feet, which yielded bloody tokens of his devotion, on the way to Becket’s sepulchre, which he went to visit. {a}

{a} Rev., De Vit. Pontif., 149. Dan., Hist., fol. 101.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ki 2:31. Do as he hath said — Kill him, though he be there; take him from that place, and then kill him: for Exo 21:14, doth not command the ruler to kill the murderer there, but to remove him thence; to take him from the altar, that he may die. That thou mayest take away the innocent blood from me — Kings or judges owe that justice to God, whose vicegerents they are, as to inflict those punishments on offenders which the divine laws require them to inflict: or otherwise, the punishment due to the offenders may with justice fall upon their own heads, as, by not executing the punishment, they, in some measure, give their approbation to the crime.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For it was lawful to take the willful murderer from the altar, Exod. 21:14.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

31. and bury him] The LXX. adds these words to the king’s previous order in 1Ki_2:29. Joab was Solomon’s cousin, and so though it was a political necessity to put him to death, the king would not care to add further dishonour to the dead body.

the innocent blood] i.e. The causeless bloodshed of innocent people of which Joab had been guilty, and which, until it was avenged, would lie at the door of David and his descendants.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head,.... By way of retaliation, blood for blood:

who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he; later named; for though they had been in open rebellion against David, yet had submitted, and were reconciled and received into favour; and even their open crimes were not so bad, Solomon judged, as his secret treacherous murders of innocent persons in cool blood; they were men of more honour and integrity than he was, not so cruel and barbarous, though guilty in other respects:

and slew them with the sword, my father not knowing thereof; this is observed to remove all suspicion, and which doubtless had been entertained by some, that David had an hand in their death; and that Joab did what he did with his knowledge and consent, and by his advice and order; they having been both concerned in rebellion against him, the one under Ishbosheth, and the other under Absalom:

to wit, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the host of Judah: the reason of the two hosts, of which they were captains or generals, being thus distinguished, is, because the tribes of Israel were on the side of Ishbosheth, whose general Abner was, in opposition to Judah, who made David their king; and, on the other hand, they were the men of Judah that were first and chiefly in the rebellion of Absalom, whose general Amasa was; of the murder of these two men by Joab, see Sa2 3:27.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

It was only a murderer to whom the tabernacle was to be no protection (margin reference). Hence, the reference to the “innocent blood.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Do as he hath said; either,

1. Kill him in that place; and for so doing Solomon might seem to have warrant from God, Exo 21:14, and might further design by this just severity to deter future offenders, by showing that no place nor person should protect them from the stroke of justice. Or rather,

2. Let him die as he is resolved; kill him, though he be there; take him by violence from that place, and then kill him; for Exo 21:14 doth not command the ruler to kill the murderer there, but to remove him thence, to

take him from the altar, that he may die. And seeing this might be done, why should Solomon unnecessarily stain the altar with his blood?

The innocent blood, i. e. both the guilt of it, which would rest upon my father and my family if it went unpunished; and the scandal and reproach of it, that neither this nor following ages may imagine that it was done by David’s secret instigation, or with his consent.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the king said unto him do as he hath said, and fall upon him the law decreed (Exo_21:14) that, if a man had slain his neighbour with guile, he should be taken from the altar to die. Possibly the desperate character of Joab made literal compliance with this command well nigh impossible. The attempt to drag him from his place of refuge might have led to a bloody encounter. And the king evidently felt that Joab"s crimes justified exceptional measures, and bury him why this injunction? Possibly because the spirit of; Deu_21:23 seemed to Solomon to require it. Both Bahr and Keil think it was that Joab"s services to the kingdom might be requited with an honourable sepulture. Was it not rather that the corpse might be removed with all possible haste from the sanctuary, which it defiled, and hidden from view, as one accursed of God, in the earth? So Bishop Hall: "He sends Benaiah to take away the offender both from God and men, from the altar and the world" that thou mayest take away LXX "today," shmeron the innocent blood for the construction cf. 1Sa_25:31; Neh_2:12; and Ewald, 287 d. Innocent blood, i.e., blood not shed in war, or forfeited to justice, rested upon the community, or the authorities responsible for its punishment (Num_35:33; Deu_19:10, 13 21:9. Cf. Gen_4:10) until satisfaction was made. See on ver. 5, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father. Heb. "from upon me." Solomon evidently believed that the guilt of blood was upon him and his house so long as Abner"s and Amasa"s blood remained unavenged ("The blood that is not required from the murderer will be required from the magistrate." Henry), and that he and his seed might have to answer for it, as Saul"s seed had done. (2Sa_21:1, 2Sa_21:9) This is one of the many considerations which show that both David and Solomon were actuated not by "cold-blooded vengeance" or "long-cherished resentment" (Stanley), but by a sense of duty. In fact, Jewish law imperatively demanded the death of Joab, and to spare him was to violate all law, and to imperil the throne and the people. "Only a superficial observer," says Ewald, "can here reproach Solomon with needless severity."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Do, &c. - Kill him, though he be there; take him from that place, and then kill him: for, Exod. xxi, 14, doth not command the ruler to kill the murderer there, but to remove him thence, to take him from the altar, that he may die.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Do as he said. I accept them [i.e., the curses] upon myself. Therefore, all these became attached to Dovid’s offspring. Uziyah became [a] leper, Assa leaned on a staff, Yehoyakim died by the sword, and Tzidkiyahu lacked bread.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.