1 Kings 2:5-11

C. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS 2:5-11

TRANSLATION

(5) And also as for you, you know that which Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, which he did to two captains of the hosts of Israel, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa the son of Jether both of whom he slew. He shed the blood of war in peace, and thereby put the blood of war on his girdle which is upon his loins, and on his sandals which are upon his feet. (6) Now act in your wisdom, but do not allow his gray head to go down in peace to Sheol. (7) But to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite show kindness, and let them be among those who eat of your table, for thus they rallied unto me when I fled from before Absalom your brother. (8) And behold Shimei son of Gera, a Benjaminite from Bahurim is with you. Now he cursed me with a vicious curse in the day I went to Mahanaim, but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, saying, I will not slay you with the sword. (9) But now do not consider him to be innocent, for you are a wise man. So take note of that which you shall do to him and bring down his gray hair in blood to Sheol. (10) Then David slept with his fathers and they buried him in the city of David. (11) Now the time that David ruled over Israel was forty years. In Hebron he ruled seven years, and in Jerusalem he ruled thirty-three years. (12) And Solomon sat on the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was firmly established.

COMMENTS

Certain obligations which David had neglected to fulfill, or had promised to fulfill, now devolve upon his son and successor. First, there was Joab who had literally gotten by with murder during the reign of David. Solomon was reminded of the two great crimes which Joab had committed against the crown, viz., the slaying of Abner and Amasa, two generals of the army of Israel. Abner was murdered in the city gate at Hebron (2 Samuel 3:22-27) in retaliation for his slaying of Joab's brother Asahel who had been slain in war and in self-defense (2 Samuel 2:12-23). It would appear that jealousy was the prime motive in the murder of Amasa some thirty years later (2 Samuel 20:4-10). No doubt Joab rationalized his crimes on the basis that Abner and Amasa were threats to David and therefore must be eliminated. While it is true that both generals at one time commanded armies which fought against David, there is no evidence to suggest that either one of them had any hostile intentions toward the king at the time Joab decided to kill them. Joab's ruthlessness is described by David in the words, He shed the blood of war in peace, i.e., in a time of peace he shed blood that only ought to flow in time of war. The ruthlessness of these crimes is further indicated in the reference to Joab's girdle and sandals being spattered with the blood of war (1 Kings 2:5). It was while feigning friendship and while moving close so as to plant the kiss of greeting up their cheeks that Joab smote these unsuspecting comrades beneath the fifth rib.[111]

[111] Blood on the girdle and sandals might also have symbolic meaning: the girdle about the loins might suggest that Joab had brought blood guiltiness upon his progeny; blood on the sandals suggests that the unrequited blood would dog the steps of Joab until it was avenged. Cf. Gray, OTL, p. 98.

David's instruction regarding Joab does not appear to have been motivated by personal revenge. He excluded all mention of personal grievances against his general. He might have mentioned how Joab had disobeyed a direct order of his king and had slain Absalom in battle. He might also have mentioned the fact that Joab had backed Adonijah's bid for the throne. But these incidents were ignored. It is true that David says in 1 Kings 2:5 what Joab did to me, but that phrase is then immediately explained as referring to the murders of Abner and Amasa. Both of these murders deprived David of able officers and at the same time caused David to be suspected of complicity (2 Samuel 3:28; 2 Samuel 3:37). Furthermore, at the time they were slain Amasa was head of David's army and Abner was in negotiation with the king. For this reason David may have felt personally responsible for their deaths.

The heinous deeds of Joab cried out for judicial revenge. As king of the nation David should have ordered Joab executed when he slew Abner thirty-three years previously. But David at that time was weak, not having yet gained the recognition of the Northern tribes. In exasperation, David could only invoke divine retribution upon the head of Joab (2 Samuel 3:29). At the time Amasa was slain, David had just come through the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba, and the authority of the crown was at low ebb. Undoubtedly David had intended to punish Joab for his dastardly deeds, but procrastination had robbed him of any further opportunities to deal with his general. It can only be regarded as somewhat cowardly of David to instruct Solomon to do what he had been unwilling to do for thirty-three years! Nevertheless, the instruction is given: Let not his gray hairs (indicative of Joab's age) go down to Sheol (abode of the dead) in peace. Joab must not be allowed to die a natural death. He must pay for his crimes with his life. Yet, David warned, your wisdom must be your guide (1 Kings 2:6). The execution of such a powerful man as general Joab could trigger a rebellion in the army which appears to have been quite loyal to its commander. Therefore, Solomon must find a plausible pretext for bringing Joab's just deserts upon him.

The situation is completely different with the sons of Barzillai. Barzillai and his sons[112] had befriended David by bringing him food and supplies when the king had been forced to flee across the Jordan during the Absalom revolution (2 Samuel 17:27 ff; 2 Samuel 19:32 ff). David felt that he owed Barzillai a debt which he could never fully repay. There is no way of knowing how many sons Barzillai had. It is likely, though not certain, that the Chimham of 2 Samuel 19:37 was his son.[113] From Ezra 2:61 it would appear that the family of Barzillai was still in existence in the days of the restoration from captivity. David encouraged Solomon to allow Barzillai's family to be included among those who ate at his table (1 Kings 2:7). Some interpret this phrase literally; others see it as a technical term for receiving an allowance from the king.[114]

[112] That Barzillai's sons assisted him is reasonable in view of the fact he was eighty years old at the time.

[113] Some identify Chimham with Chemoham of Jeremiah 41:17 which speaks of the habitation of Chemoham near Bethlehem. From this some have drawn the inference that David or Solomon must have given Chimham land near Bethlehem.

[114] Completely far-fetched is Gray's suggestion that this entertainment might have been designed to hold these men as hostages for allegiance of Israelites in Transjordan (OTL, p. 99).

While Barzillai and his sons befriended David in his hour of distress, Shimei had taken malicious delight in the king's humiliation and worse, had vehemently cursed him (2 Samuel 16:5-8). Shimei, a Benjamite, was of a family of the house of Saul and for this reason he detested David, regarding him as a usurper and illegitimate king. Shimei lived in the village of Bahurim just north of Bethany on the east slope of the Mt. of Olives on the way to Jericho.[115] The phrase you have Shimei with you is puzzling and capable of more than one interpretation. David may mean nothing more than that Shimei lives in the vicinity and that Solomon would easily have access to him. On the other hand it is possible to interpret with you as meaning that Shimei was backing Solomon, supporting his claims to the throne. Reference has already been made to Shimei who supported Solomon during the Adonijah revolt (1 Kings 1:8). Shimei was a leader of considerable influence in the tribe of Benjamin (cf. 2 Samuel 19:16 f.) and it may have been a matter of critical importance which of the two princes he supported. If he did come out in support of Solomon, he undoubtedly would have been given favorable treatment by the young king and would no doubt have ranked among his inner circle of friends.[116]

[115] Bahurim was alluded to earlier in the David narratives, 2 Samuel 3:16; 2 Samuel 17:18.

[116] Hammond, PC, p. 27.

In spite of the fact that Shimei was a supporter of Solomon, David reminded his son that it was this man who cursed him vehemently in the day he was forced to flee across the Jordan to Mahanaim. One of David's officers would have executed Shimei on the spot, but the king, depressed and confused by recent events, restrained him. When David defeated the insurrection of Absalom, Shimei was one of the first to come down to the Jordan to greet him and beg his forgiveness. Not wishing to mar the joy of his reinstatement by an act of punishment, David took an oath that he would not slay Shimei (1 Kings 2:8; cf. 2 Samuel 19:23). But in taking this hasty and inadvised oath, David had pardoned what he had no power to pardon, viz., a sin to which the Law of Moses attached the death penalty (Exodus 22:28). Shimei had yet to suffer the penalty for his crime, and in fact on two occasions he had had his life spared by order of the king, the one who was charged with upholding and enforcing the Law of God. As David lay in his death chamber, the guilt of this negligence weighed heavily upon his mind. David felt that his oath prevented him from taking action against Shimei. But Solomon was under no such obligation. Therefore, David exhorted his son not to hold Shimei guiltless, i.e., not leave him unpunished. Solomon, being a wise man, knew what, according to law, had to be done. As king it would be his responsibility to execute Shimei for his capital crime of blasphemy against the Lord's anointed. Even though Shimei was now an old gray-haired man, the punishment which had so long been delayed must now overtake him (1 Kings 2:9).

The morality of David's injunction concerning Shimei and Joab has been called into question. No hint of malice or vindictiveness is evident in this passage; he was not bequeathing to Solomon a dark legacy of hate as one writer puts it. While unscrupulous men like Joab and Shimei might constitute a threat to the young king, David's primary concern is not the safety and security of Solomon's kingdom. 1 Kings 2:2-4 set the tone for these special instructions. What was uppermost in David's mind was strict observance to the Law of God including the stipulated punishments therein. In asking his son to execute the murderer and the blasphemer, David is tacitly admitting to failure on his own part in enforcing that law. He himself was now too old and sickly to execute the sentence against Joab and Shimei. It would give David a great deal of comfort in his final hour to know that his son would perform those unpleasant legal tasks which he had neglected.

Following his instructions to Solomon, David slept (lit., lay down) with his fathers, i.e., he died. Since David was not buried in his family tomb at Bethlehem, the phrase with his fathers would seem to indicate an awareness of reunion with one's relatives in Sheol, the abode of the dead. The king's body was laid to rest in the city of Davidthat part of Jerusalem which his personal troops had conquered from the Jebusites. (1 Kings 2:10). His sepulcher on Mt. Zion still existed in the time of Christ (Acts 2:29). Josephus records two occasions when his tomb was plundered, once by John Hyrcanus and once by Herod the Great.[117] David's tomb is thought to have been identified through recent excavations.[118] David had reigned a total of forty years over his people. The figure seven years for David's reign of Judah alone is a round figure. He actually reigned there six months longer than that (cf. 2 Samuel 5:5).

[117] Ant. VII, 15.3; XIII, 8.4; XVI, 7.1.

[118] de Vaux, AI, p. 58.