Bible Strands
1 Kings 2:25
So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Solomon issues a death order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada immediately after swearing by the Lord that Adonijah will be put to death that same day. The execution is recorded in the same narrative moment as Solomon’s parallel judgment against Abiathar.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיִּשְׁלַח (va.yishlach) literally means “and he sent” or “he dispatched,” marking Solomon’s formal command. The verb וַיִּפְגַּע (va.yifga) translates as “and he struck down,” describing the physical act carried out by Benaiah.
The thread — Benaiah’s function as royal executioner aligns with his earlier oversight of David’s Cherethites and Pelethites in 2 Samuel 8:18. The narrative structurally mirrors 1 Samuel 15:33, where Samuel executes a condemned king, while contrasting with Judges 8:20, where a son hesitates to kill.
Why it lands — The text states that Solomon’s spoken oath is immediately enacted through a delegated agent, leaving no gap between royal decree and its fulfillment. It requires the reader to recognize that political consolidation follows sworn judgment without narrative elaboration or moral commentary.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 8:18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priestly leaders.
- Judges 8:20 So he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword; he was fearful because he was still a youth.
- 1 Samuel 15:33 But Samuel declared: “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
- 2 Samuel 1:15 Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died.
- 2 Samuel 4:12 So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.
- 1 Kings 2:31 And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.
- 1 Kings 2:34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and killed him. He was buried at his own home in the wilderness.
- 1 Kings 2:46 Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was firmly established in the hand of Solomon.