CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1 Kings 2:30. Nay, but I will die here—A defiance of the king’s message, thinking that Solomon dared not order his execution there. But Joab had placed himself outside the protection of the altar (Exodus 21:14; Deuteronomy 19:11-13).
HOMILETICS OF 1 Kings 2:28-34
THE RETRIBUTION OF BLOOD
Life is a Divine gift, bequeathed as a sacred trust to humanity, to be jealously guarded and carefully cultured. It is susceptible of the loftiest rapture, or the most abject misery. To violate the body, which is the curiously-wrought casket of the life-principle, and to rob it of its priceless jewel, is a sacrilege and a crime. Only He who gave life has an absolute right to resume it. Murder is an unpardonable outrage on humanity; it is the ghastly policy of the cruel tyrant, the final resource of the baffled coward. It is a gross Insult to the great Giver of all life, and an offence against the Divine law which cannot go unpunished. The murderer forfeits his own life, and exposes himself to a righteous retribution which sooner or later will fall upon him with overwhelming power. The blood of the innocent victim clamours with unceasing voice for vengeance, and clamours not in vain. Terrible will be the wrath-vials poured upon the head of the blood-shedder, and which he is utterly powerless to avert.
I. The retribution of blood, though delayed, is inevitable. Years had passed away since Joab had recklessly shed the blood of Abner and A masa; but the crime was not forgotten, nor could it go for ever unrequited. Mere lapse of time has no power to change the nature of things; it weakens nothing; it strengthens nothing. Before Him who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the sin a generation old is as new as at the time of its committal, even as the holy aspiration that may be rising from the soul at this moment will be had in remembrance a thousand years hence as it is at this instant of time. Nor can the good deeds of one part of our life atone for the heinous crimes committed at another period. Joab deserved well of his king and country. He was brave and victorious in war; he did much towards the building and beautifying of Jerusalem; he clung faithfully to David in his distresses; and devoted himself to promote the best weal of Israel. But his noblest virtues were unable to ward off the punishment due to his old sins. “It is not in the power of all our deserts to buy off one sin, either with God or man; where life is so deeply forfeited, it admits of no redemption.” Often when least expected the stroke of vengeance falls. The long, deep, silent pause in the tempest is most to be dreaded: the storm-king is but gathering strength for a more terrific onset.
II. The retribution of blood is perpetually dreaded. “Then tidings came.… And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on the horns of the altar” (1 Kings 2:28). The conscience spoke, and the soul was filled with fear. “The wicked flee when no man pursueth.” No man pursued Adam amid the bowers of Paradise, yet he fled. “I heard thy voice in the garden, and was afraid.” No man pursued Cain when the world was in the morning of youth, yet he fled. No man pursued Joab as yet, though the sword of vengeance was busy with those around him, and yet he fled. There was that within him which told him he could not always escape. Oh, what a hell of misery is often carried in the breast of the sinner! His conscience creates the image of his righteous avenger who is ever threatening and ever pursuing him. It is a mere phantom, but none the less real, none the less near, none the less alarming on that account. He cannot escape it; he cannot destroy it. Neither oceans nor continents can separate him from it; it is not at his heels, it is in his heart; it has become a part of himself. He hears the visionary pursuer in every sound. The whispering wind, the rustling leaf, the creak of a swinging branch, the chirp of an insect, seem to betray to his disturbed imagination the immediate presence of the avenger.
“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer.”—Shakespeare.
III. The retribution of blood respects not the protection of the most sacred asylums. “Behold, he is by the altar … Go fall upon him” (1 Kings 2:29). It had become the custom for malefactors to flee to the altar for safety, though there was no law on the subject, except for accidental homicides. But for the murderer the altar offered no protection (Exodus 21:14). There is no citadel, however massive; no cavern, however gloomy; no seclusion, however remote; no spot on earth, however sacred, that can screen the trembling victim from the remorseless avenger of blood. There are some sins too great for any human sanctuary to shelter. But there is a refuge to which the worst transgressor may run, and be assured of safety, pardon, and hope. Christ is that refuge. The victims offered and the blood shed on the altar of the tabernacle, and which sanctified it as a place of refuge, typified the atonement made for the sins of the whole world by the shedding of the blood of Christ, the Paschal Lamb. None, however guilty, but may, by believing in Christ, obtain salvation. Unspeakably happy are they who have taken sanctuary in Him.
“Betake thee to thy Christ, then, and repose
Thyself in all extremities, on those
His everlasting arms,
Wherewith he girds the heavens, and upholds
The pillars of the earth.”—Quarles.
IV. The retribution of blood is in harmony with the Divine law. “And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head” (1 Kings 2:32). We are set in the midst of a system of laws which, in their ever active operation, press upon us at all points. While we act in harmony with them they minister to our well-being; but when we violate them they are inexorable in their revenge.
1. Retribution is in harmony with the law of causation. We are to-day the result of our conduct yesterday, and the cause of our conduct to-morrow; and thus our present actions must ever be the seeds of future recompense.
2. It is in harmony with the law of conscience. It is the province of conscience to approve or condemn. No action of our life is ever lost. Memory reproduces every detail of the past; and conscience smiles or frowns according to its actual character.
3. It is in harmony with the law of righteousness. Divine justice binds itself to punish the wicked and reward the good. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
“Heaven is most just, and of our pleasant vices
Makes instruments to scourge us.”
V. The retribution of blood sometimes reaches, in its effects, beyond its immediate victim. “Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab and upon the head of his seed for ever” (1 Kings 2:33). It is a sentiment frequently set forth in the Old Testament that innocent blood cries to God for vengeance, and that if suffered to go unpunished it brings down a curse and judgment upon the land. This idea seemed present to the mind of David, and influenced his conduct; hence, at the time of Abner’s murder, he publicly implored that the judgment of this innocent blood might be averted from his house and kingdom, and that it might rest upon Joab and upon his house (2 Samuel 3:28-29). The murderer hands down the stigma of his guilt to his posterity. The history makes no further mention of the descendants of Joab; they sink into inglorious oblivion. What becomes of the children of our great criminals? If it were possible to trace the career of sin in its darkest exploits, what a terrible record would be made!
VI. The retribution of blood is essential to the maintenance of good government. “But upon David, and upon his seed, and upon his house, and upon his throne, shall there be peace for ever from the Lord” (1 Kings 2:33). Either from motives of friendship, or fearing the consequences because of Joab’s popularity with the army, David had hesitated to punish the murderer as he deserved; but knowing the power of this man to disturb the peace of the kingdom—an instance of which had just been exhibited in his siding with the treasonable attempt of Adonijah—the dying monarch charged his son to execute upon him the judgment of heaven on the first occasion that justified him in so acting. All government is at an end where crime is allowed to go unpunished; authority is insulted and defied, and anarchy and terror prevail. “It is a foolish niceness,” says Bishop Hall, “to put more shame in the doing of justice than in the violating of it. In one act Solomon approved himself both a good magistrate and a good son, fulfilling at once the will of a father and the charge of God.” A negligent magistrate will bear the woe of the sin that he is not careful to avenge. Favour to the offender is cruelty to the favourer. The throne is only secure when it sends forth justice irrespective of persons (Proverbs 25:5).
VII. The retribution of blood is inexorable and complete.—“So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him and slew him” (1 Kings 2:34). The voice of blood can be silenced only by adequate retribution (Genesis 9:6). Retribution overtook Joab on the very scene of the most treacherous of his murders; for the tabernacle, at whose altar he perished, was then at Gibeon, and it was at the “great stone which is in Gibeon” that Joab slew Amasa (2 Samuel 20:8-10). The sword of justice may be for a while mercifully suspended; but when it falls, terrible indeed is the havoc it occasions. The sins of an impenitent life return in vengeance upon the sinner. “Society is like the echoing hills. It gives back to the speaker his words; groan for groan, song for song. With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to yon again.” Though human laws cannot be satisfied with anything less than blood for blood, yet if the greatest sinner, even a murderer, fly to the horns of the Divine altar, he shall never be dragged thence.
VIII. The retribution of blood does not extend further than to answer the purpose of God. “And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness” (1 Kings 2:4). Vengeance did not extend to the dead body of Joab. It is not for man to lay the iniquity upon the bones, whatever God may do. It is a fiendish cruelty that offers the least indignity to a lifeless corpse. Joab was buried in his own family sepulchre attached to his country seat, and in a manner befitting a great warrior, a peer of Israel, and a near relative of the king. “Death puts an end to all quarrels: Solomon stays the penalty when Heaven is satisfied: the revenge that survives death, and will not be shut up in the coffin, is barbarous and unbeseeming true lsraelites.” The funeral of Joab would suggest to the spectators many solemn reflections on fallen greatness, and the inability of high social status and deeds of valour to screen the wrongdoer from severe retribution.
LEARN—
1. The preciousness of human life.
2. That no misery is so great as that of the murderer.
3. That Christ can pardon the greatest sinner.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Kings 2:28-34. The terrible end of Joab.
1. He dies conscious of his guilt, without peace and pardon.
2. Even in the very jaws of death he is defiant, rough, and proud.
3. He does not leave the world like a hero, but like a criminal. How differently David dies! (1 Kings 2:2).—Lange.
Of all expositors, Pellican only justifies Joab to have been a most faithful servant to David, and seemeth to tax it as a point of ingratitude in David towards him to appoint him to be slain; by his example warning all courtiers of their uncertain condition. But Joab certainly now received according to his deserts for his bloodshed and faction, which must not go unpunished.—Mayer.
1 Kings 2:28. “For Joab turned after Adonijah.” And that was his bane. If men do not cast away all their transgressions—that “all” is a little word, but of large extent—they perish undoubtedly. Many here, like Benhadad, recover of one disease and die of another.—Trapp.
“Joab fled, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.” An evil conscience can put to flight a hero who never yielded to the enemy in a single bloody field. Fond Joab, hadst thou formerly sought for counsel from the tabernacle, thou hadst not now needed to seek it for refuge; if thy devotions had not been wanting to that altar, thou hadst not needed it as a shelter. It is the fashion of our foolish presumption to look for protection where we have not cared to yield obedience. Even a Joab clings fast to God’s altar in his extremity, which, in his prosperity, he regarded not. The worst men would be glad to make use of God’s ordinances for their advantage. Miserable Joab! what help canst thou expect from that sacred pile? Those horns, that were sprinkled with the blood of beasts, abhor to be touched by the blood of men. That altar was for the expiation of sin by blood, not for the protection of the sin of blood. If Adonijah fled thither and escaped, it is murder that pursues thee more than conspiracy. God hath no sanctuary for a wilful homicide.—Bishop Hall.
1 Kings 2:30. “Nay; but I will die here.” The sullen stubbornness of crime.
1. It gloomily accepts the inevitable.
2. It expects no mercy.
3. Is indifferent about desecrating the most sacred place.
4. Seeks, in dying, to throw the utmost odium on those who inflict the punishment.
1 Kings 2:31. “That thou mayest take away the innocent blood.” David had never formally pardoned Joab; and, indeed, it may be questioned whether by the law there was any power of pardoning a murderer (see Numbers 35:16-34; Deuteronomy 19:10). The utmost that the king could do was to neglect to enforce the law. Even in doing this he incurred a danger. Unpunished murder was a pollution to the land (Numbers 35:33), and might bring a judgment upon it like the famine which had been sent a few years before this on account of Saul and of his bloody house, “because he slew the Gibeonites” (2 Samuel 21:1). Or the judgment might fall upon the negligent monarch, or his house, as punishment fell upon Eli and his house, fur not chastising the wickedness of his sons (1 Samuel 3:13).—Speaker’s Comm.
1 Kings 2:32. “Who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he”—who had done Joab no wrong, nor meant him any, and, had they lived, might probably have done David better service. If the blood shed be not only innocent but excellent, the life more valuable than common lives, the crime is the more heinous. Joab is put to death for the murder of Abner and Amasa, rather than for his treasonable adherence to Adonijah.
1 Kings 2:34. “So Benaiah went up and slew him.” Joab must have been old and infirm at this time; and now he bleeds for Abner, he bleeds for Amasa, and he bleeds for Uriah. The two former he murdered; of the blood of the latter he was not innocent. Yet he had done the state much service, and they knew it; but he was a murderer, and vengeance would not suffer him to live.—Dr. A. Clarke.
1 Kings 2:35. The reward of a tried fidelity.
1. That there are crises when fidelity is severely tried.
1. In times of national distress and rebellion.
2. In times of personal affliction and helplessness.
3. In times of secret temptation and outrageous threatening.
2. That the maintenance of fidelity in times of trial has a good influence on the unstable.
1. Rebellion is more easily suppressed.
2. The authority of government is more firmly established.
3. It is an education to fit for nobler and more important service.
3. That fidelity severely tried is sure to meet with reward.
1. It secures the satisfaction of an approving conscience for duty done.
2. It wins the confidence and generosity of the highest authorities.
3. It conducts to positions of high honour and responsibility. A faithful man makes himself indispensable.
4. It exalts the character of the office disgraced by the unfaithfulness of others.