1 Kings 1:50

(50) And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

God's altar was considered, in the wilderness state of the church, the refuge for sinners. No doubt, with an eye to Jesus, who in the gospel church is our altar himself. The presumptuous man-slayer, was, however, to find no shelter there. See Exodus 21:13.