Why does Solomon spare Abiathar’s life but have Adonias, Joab and Semei put to death?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He gives different reasons in each case. Abiathar carried the ark before David and shared his troubles, so Solomon spares him at that time but removes him from the priesthood. Solomon treats Adonias’s request as a request for the kingdom, names Joab’s killings of Abner and Amasa, and confronts Semei for breaking the oath and command to remain in Jerusalem.

Chapter breakdown

As David’s death draws near, he charges his son Solomon. He says he is going the way of all flesh and tells Solomon to take courage and show himself a man. Solomon is to keep the Lord his God’s charge, walk in his ways and observe his ceremonies, precepts, judgments and testimonies as written in Moses’s law, so he may understand all he does and wherever he turns. David recalls the Lord’s words: if his children heed their ways and walk before God in truth with all their heart and soul, he will not lack a man on Israel’s throne.

David reminds Solomon what Joab, Sarvia’s son, did to him and to two captains of Israel’s army: Abner, Ner’s son, and Amasa, Jether’s son. Joab slew them, shedding the blood of war in peace and putting that blood on the girdle about his loins and the shoes on his feet.

Challoner’s separate note says David’s instructions concerning Joab and Semei came from zeal for justice, so public and heinous crimes would not go unpunished, rather than rancour or private pique.

David tells Solomon to act according to his wisdom and not let Joab’s grey head go down to hell in peace.

Challoner explains separately that hell here means the place and state of the dead, not the place or state of damnation.

David tells Solomon to show kindness to the sons of Berzellai the Galaadite and let them eat at his table, because they met him when he fled from Absalom, Solomon’s brother. He also names Semei, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, from Bahurim, who cursed him grievously when he went to the camp. Semei later met him when he crossed the Jordan, and David swore by the Lord not to kill him with the sword. David tells Solomon not to hold Semei guiltless: Solomon is wise and knows what to do, and is to bring Semei’s grey hairs with blood to the grave.

David sleeps with his fathers and is buried in the city of David. His reign in Israel totals forty years: seven in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. Solomon sits on his father David’s throne, and his kingdom is strengthened exceedingly.

Adonias, Haggith’s son, comes to Solomon’s mother Bethsabee. She asks whether he comes peaceably, and he says he does. Given leave to speak, he says the kingdom was his and all Israel preferred him as king, but it has passed to his brother because the Lord appointed it to him. He asks one petition and asks her not to turn him away. He wants her to ask Solomon, who he says cannot deny her anything, to give him Abisag the Sunamitess as his wife. Bethsabee agrees to speak for him.

Bethsabee comes to speak for Adonias. Solomon rises to meet her, bows to her and sits on his throne. A throne is set for his mother at his right hand. She asks one small petition and asks him not to put her to confusion. He invites her to ask, saying he must not turn her away. She asks that Abisag be given to his brother Adonias as his wife. Solomon asks why she requests Abisag for Adonias and tells her to ask the kingdom for him too: Adonias is his elder brother and has Abiathar the priest and Joab, Sarvia’s son.

Solomon swears by the Lord, calling down God’s punishment on himself if Adonias has not spoken this word against his own life. By the living Lord who established him, placed him on his father David’s throne and made him a house as promised, he declares that Adonias will be put to death that day. He sends Banaias, Joiada’s son, who slays Adonias.

Solomon tells Abiathar the priest to go to his lands at Anathoth. He says Abiathar deserves death but will not be put to death at that time, because he carried the Lord God’s ark before David and endured trouble in all David’s troubles. Solomon removes him from being the Lord’s priest, fulfilling the Lord’s word concerning Heli’s house in Silo.

The news reaches Joab, who followed Adonias rather than Solomon. He flees into the Lord’s tabernacle and takes hold of the altar’s horn. When Solomon hears where he is, he sends Banaias, Joiada’s son, to kill him. Banaias tells Joab to come out at the king’s command, but Joab refuses and says he will die there. Banaias reports the reply. Solomon orders him to do as Joab has said, kill and bury him, and remove from Solomon and his father’s house the innocent blood Joab shed.

Solomon says the Lord will return Joab’s blood on his own head because he murdered two men who were just and better than he was, without David knowing it: Abner, Ner’s son, general of Israel’s army, and Amasa, Jether’s son, general of Juda’s army. Their blood will return on Joab and his seed forever, while peace from the Lord will remain forever with David, his seed, his house and his throne. Banaias goes up, slays Joab, and Joab is buried in his house in the desert. Solomon appoints Banaias over the army in Joab’s place and puts Sadoc the priest in Abiathar’s place.

Solomon calls Semei and tells him to build a house in Jerusalem and live there, going nowhere outside it. He warns that on the day Semei goes out and passes the brook Cedron, he will be put to death and his blood will be on his own head. Semei accepts the saying as good and promises to do what his lord the king has said. He lives in Jerusalem many days.

After three years, Semei’s servants run away to Achis, Maacha’s son, king of Geth. Semei is told they are in Geth. He saddles his ass, goes there to Achis to seek them and brings them back. Solomon is told that Semei has gone from Jerusalem to Geth and returned.

Solomon summons Semei and reminds him that he warned him by the Lord that going out and walking abroad anywhere would mean death, and that Semei accepted the warning as good. He asks why Semei has not kept the Lord’s oath and the command laid on him. Solomon says Semei knows in his heart all the evil he did to David, and the Lord has returned that wickedness on his own head. Solomon says he will be blessed and David’s throne established before the Lord forever. He commands Banaias, Joiada’s son, who goes out, strikes Semei and kills him.

The story inside

David’s last charge joins the Lord’s law and the condition for his children’s continued rule to named obligations concerning Joab, Berzellai’s sons and Semei. After David’s death, Solomon handles several distinct cases. Adonias asks through Bethsabee for Abisag as his wife; Solomon links that request to the kingdom and orders his death. Abiathar is sent to Anathoth and removed from the priesthood, but his past service with David is given as the reason to spare his life at that time. Joab refuses to leave the altar, and Solomon names the innocent blood of Abner and Amasa as the reason for killing him. Semei accepts a command to remain in Jerusalem, then leaves after three years to retrieve his servants. Solomon confronts him about the oath and command before ordering his death. Each case keeps its own stated reason rather than being reduced to one general claim about punishment.

Lessons worth keeping

1
David’s words about the throne include a condition: his children must heed their ways and walk before God in truth with all their heart and soul. Keeping that condition explains why the opening charge includes the ceremonies, precepts, judgments and testimonies in Moses’s law.
2
Abiathar’s case includes both judgment and restraint. Solomon says he deserves death, yet names carrying the ark and sharing David’s troubles as reasons not to kill him at that time. Removal from the priesthood and the fulfillment concerning Heli’s house are separate from that spared life.
3
Semei’s journey is tied to a command he has already accepted. He leaves Jerusalem to recover his servants after three years, returns, and is asked why he broke the oath and command. The reason for the journey is preserved, but the source does not say it created an exception to the restriction.

Test your recall

What reasons does Solomon give for sparing Abiathar at that time, and how do those differ from the reasons he states in Joab’s and Semei’s cases?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 34764–34783
3 Kings Chapter 2 David, after giving his last charge to Solomon, dieth. Adonias is put to death: Abiathar is banished: Joab and Semei are slain. 2:1. And the days of David drew nigh that he should die, and he charged his son Solomon, saying: 2:2. I am going the way of all flesh: take thou courage and shew thyself a man. 2:3. And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and observe his ceremonies, and his precepts, and judgments, and testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses: that thou mayst understand all thou dost, and whithersoever thou shalt turn thyself: 2:4. That the Lord may confirm his words, which he hath spoken of me, saying: If thy children shall take heed to their ways, and shall walk before me in truth, with all their heart, and with all their soul, there shall not be taken away from thee a man on the throne of Israel.
Lines 34785–34789
2:5. Thou knowest also what Joab, the son of Sarvia, hath done to me, what he did to the two captains of the army of Israel, to Abner, the son of Ner, and to Amasa, the son of Jether: whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.
Lines 34791–34794
Joab.... These instructions given by David to his son, with relation to Joab and Semei, proceeded not from any rancour of heart, or private pique; but from a zeal for justice, that crimes so public and heinous might not pass unpunished.
Lines 34796–34797
2:6. Do, therefore, according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoary head go down to hell in peace.
Lines 34799–34800
To hell.... This word hell doth not here signify the place or state of damnation; but the place and state of the dead.
Lines 34802–34814
2:7. But shew kindness to the sons of Berzellai, the Galaadite, and let them eat at thy table: for they met me when I fled from the face of Absalom, thy brother. 2:8. Thou hast also with thee Semei, the son of Gera, the son of Jemini, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse, when I went to the camp: but because he came down to meet me when I passed over the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Lord, saying: I will not kill thee with the sword: 2:9. Do not thou hold him guiltless. But thou art a wise man, and knowest what to do with him, and thou shalt bring down his grey hairs with blood to the grave.
Lines 34816–34823
2:10. So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. 2:11. And the days that David reigned in Israel, were forty years: in Hebron he reigned seven years, in Jerusalem thirty-three. 2:12. And Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was strengthened exceedingly.
Lines 34825–34842
2:13. And Adonias, the son of Haggith, came to Bethsabee the mother of Solomon. And she said to him: Is thy coming peaceable? He answered: It is peaceable. 2:14. And he added: I have a word to speak with thee. She said to him: Speak. And he said: 2:15. Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel had preferred me to be their king: but the kingdom is transferred, and is become my brother’s: for it was appointed him by the Lord. 2:16. Now therefore, I ask one petition of thee; turn not away my face. And she said to him: Say on. 2:17. And he said I pray thee speak to king Solomon (for he cannot deny thee any thing) to give me Abisag, the Sunamitess, to wife. 2:18. And Bethsabee said: Well, I will speak for thee to the king.
Lines 34844–34859
2:19. Then Bethsabee came to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonias: and the king arose to meet her, and bowed to her, and sat down upon his throne: and a throne was set for the king’s mother, and she sat on his right hand. 2:20. And she said to him: I desire one small petition of thee; do not put me to confusion. And the king said to her: My mother ask, for I must not turn away thy face. 2:21. And she said: Let Abisag, the Sunamitess, be given to Adonias, thy brother, to wife. 2:22. And king Solomon answered, and said to his mother: Why dost thou ask Abisag, the Sunamitess, for Adonias? ask for him also the kingdom; for he is my elder brother, and hath Abiathar, the priest, and Joab, the son of Sarvia.
Lines 34861–34870
2:23. Then king Solomon swore by the Lord, saying: So and so may God do to me, and add more, if Adonias hath not spoken this word against his own life. 2:24. And now, as the Lord liveth, who hath established me, and placed me upon the throne of David, my father, and who hath made me a house, as he promised, Adonias shall be put to death this day. 2:25. And king Solomon sent by the hand of Banaias, the son of Joiada, who slew him, and he died.
Lines 34872–34880
2:26. And the king said also to Abiathar, the priest: Go to Anathoth, to thy lands, for indeed thou art worthy of death: but I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou didst carry the ark of the Lord God before David, my father, and hast endured trouble in all the troubles my father endured. 2:27. So Solomon cast out Abiathar from being the priest of the Lord, that the word of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he spoke concerning the house of Heli in Silo.
Lines 34882–34897
2:28. And the news came to Joab, because Joab had turned after Adonias, and had not turned after Solomon: and Joab fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and took hold on the horn of the altar. 2:29. And it was told king Solomon, that Joab was fled into the tabernacle of the Lord, and was by the altar: and Solomon sent Banaias, the son of Joiada, saying. Go, kill him. 2:30. And Banaias came to the tabernacle of the Lord, and said to him: Thus saith the king: Come forth. And he said: I will not come forth, but here I will die. Banaias brought word back to the king, saying: Thus saith Joab, and thus he answered me. 2:31. And the king said to him: Do as he hath said; and kill him, and bury him, and thou shalt remove the innocent blood which hath been shed by Joab, from me, and from the house of my father:
Lines 34899–34913
2:32. And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head; because he murdered two men, just and better than himself: and slew them with the sword, my father, David, not knowing it; Abner, the son of Ner, general of the army of Israel, and Amasa, the son of Jether general of the army of Juda; 2:33. And their blood shall return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed for ever. But to David and his seed, and his house, and to his throne, be peace for ever from the Lord. 2:34. So Banaias, the son of Joiada, went up, and setting upon him slew him, and he was buried in his house in the desert. 2:35. And the king appointed Banaias, the son of Joiada in his room over the army; and Sadoc, the priest, he put in the place of Abiathar.
Lines 34915–34925
2:36. The king also sent, and called for Semei, and said to him: Build thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there: and go not out from thence any where. 2:37. For on what day soever thou shalt go out, and shalt pass over the brook Cedron, know that thou shalt be put to death: thy blood shall be upon thy own head. 2:38. And Semei said to the king: The saying is good: as my lord the king hath said, so will thy servant do. And Semei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
Lines 34927–34935
2:39. And it came to pass after three years, that the servants of Semei ran away to Achis, the son of Maacha, the king of Geth: and it was told Semei that his servants were gone to Geth. 2:40. And Semei arose, and saddled his ass, and went to Achis, to Geth, to seek his servants, and he brought them out of Geth. 2:41. And it was told Solomon, that Semei had gone from Jerusalem to Geth, and was come back.
Lines 34937–34953
2:42. And sending he called for him, and said to him: Did I not protest to thee by the Lord, and tell thee before: On what day soever thou shalt go out and walk abroad any where, know that thou shalt die? And thou answeredst me: The word that I have heard is good. 2:43. Why then hast thou not kept the oath of the Lord, and the commandment that I laid upon thee? 2:44. And the king said to Semei: Thou knowest all the evil, of which thy heart is conscious, which thou didst to David, my father: the Lord hath returned thy wickedness upon thy own head. 2:45. And king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord for ever. 2:46. So the king commanded Banaias, the son of Joiada: and he went out and struck him; and he died.