NOW Joab held onto the horns of the Tabernacle’s altar; and he pleaded for the king’s mercy like the Fourth Prince had done before.
So when King Solomon got the news, he became quite furious as he was not ready to grant the pardon.
‘Here’s a man who has lived by mercy through the reign of my father! Here’s the man shamelessly asking for more to escape judgement!’
This and much more were the ruler’s marvel.
Then in a moment his anger doubled up and he exclaimed: ‘What man is this? Doesn’t he feel shame to request pardon?
‘And tell me; how much further do we go on this leniency? Tell me; how much do I pardon?
‘He committed treason yet that was no reason to kill him…
‘But what shall we say to Abner whose blood still cries for justice?
‘How shall we comfort the bones of Amasa who died unjustly in the hands of Joab?
‘Now how do I face the Almighty if I let Joab live? If I let his murder go!
‘Righteousness is what I owe my God, and justice is what I owe the people!’
He summoned his chief of staff to take the next order.
‘Now Benaiah, go over to Joab at the Tabernacle of God. And tell him to be a man and come down from the altar!
‘Tell him to show honour and face his sentence. Then judge him with the sword for the murders in his name.’
Benaiah bowed on one knee.
Solomon went on. ‘As soon as the man takes steps away from the altar, let him know of his deed.
‘For he is being judged this very day for the lives of Abner and Amasa, which he took when the men couldn’t defend.
‘Then, for the blood of those soldiers which he shed at the time of peace.
‘The man is sentenced today for the murders that he did—not for his treason against the throne.’
Solomon finished. ‘Now since he asked for pardon, let him know that he’s been pardoned for treason.
‘Yet now he must die for the murder of Abner and Amasa. This is our sentence of justice!’
With this, Benaiah took off with the sword of judgement. And he arrived to meet Joab more desperate than he’d heard.
Joab cried: ‘I will rather die than leave this altar! Let the King have mercy or kill me here!’
At this point Joab trusted that no one might kill him at the altar. Not King Solomon who feared the God of Israel.
And so, he went on and on repeating the same words
When Benaiah saw that the war chief wouldn’t let go of the altar’s horns, he returned to the king to tell the situation.
But when the soldier got back, he was surprised at the order he got.
The young king was quite furious he laughed a caustic laughter.
Then he spoke. ‘There goes a man who killed two men in peacetime! He thinks he can use the horns of God’s altar!
‘He thinks the God he didn’t fear enough to spare Abner and Amasa will want him spared even now!
‘Well, he has said it himself – he said he would rather die on the altar. That his sentence should come on him right there!
‘Then make that wish come true, and cut him down with the sword right on the altar!
‘He has decided his own sentence today!’
Benaiah was quite startled. Even the court officials were astonished.
No one had even seen Solomon this way, so they marvelled at the wisdom with which he meted out justice.
Therefore the chief of staff rode up to the tabernacle; then with every detail he carried out the king’s sentence.
And Joab was slain and buried.
◙ ◙ ◙
With Joab gone and Abiathar exiled, Solomon knew he was done with Adonijah and everything him.
But the young king wasn’t so done with putting things right. He wasn’t in anyway done with justice.
For when he went through the record book, he saw a man whose crime seemed rather strange.
On the surface it appeared pretty small; but that small offence was like the flesh of a rotten apple, as it went deeper than the surface.
So Solomon would do his all to dig deep and unearth this rottenness.
Now the monarch went through the King’s Book of Records as his eyes got stuck on the man’s offence.
But this offence was neither murder nor theft, or anything like these. Yet the fellow did something so shocking it was felony.
For the man stoned the king of Israel, then cursed him with a malicious curse.
That man was Shimei the Benjaminite. He was the one who hurled stones at David in Bahurim – in the days of Absalom’s revolt.
So Solomon studied the case and realized this fellow was a member of King Saul’s family. And with this he understood why he would go that far.
‘The family of Saul has always been against the house of my father. So the hatred is understandable!’
Then he reconsidered. ‘Yet no one is foolish enough to curse at a soldier holding a sword dripping in blood.
‘How much more the King whose words alone can kill or spare him?
‘So if Shimei could throw stones at the King and curse at him in daylight, and still he goes unpunished—then history will have it that the Throne of David is nothing.
‘And that history will keep on returning for us.’
Therefore Solomon decided to summon the man and bring his crime to book.
And so, he sent for Shimei.
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