Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Solomon executes David’s deathbed decree against Joab through his commander Benaiah, immediately after securing the throne and before appointing new military and priestly leaders.
The words — The Hebrew verbs וַ/יַּ֗עַל (va/i.Ya.'al, "and he went up") and וַ/יִּפְגַּע (va/i.yif.ga', "and he fell") describe Benaiah’s approach and Joab’s sudden collapse, followed by וַ/יְמִתֵ֑/הוּ (va/y.mi.Te./hu, "and he put to death him") and וַ/יִּקָּבֵ֥ר (va/i.yi.ka.Ver, "and he was buried").
The thread — This execution fulfills the conditional judgment in 1 Kings 2:33 and parallels Benaiah’s earlier strike against Adonijah in 1 Kings 2:25, while the wilderness burial location appears in Joshua 15:61 as a geographic marker and in Matthew 3:1 as a preaching region.
Why it lands — The text records a completed political and covenantal transition, requiring the reader to observe how royal authority enforces divine judgment without embellishment or evasion.
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
So Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and slew him: and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness.
Cross-references
- Joshua 15:61 These were in the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,
- 1 Kings 2:25 So King Solomon gave orders to Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he struck down Adonijah and he died.
- Matthew 3:1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea
- 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 2:46 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.
- 2 Kings 21:18 And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in his palace garden, the garden of Uzza. And his son Amon reigned in his place.
- 2 Chronicles 33:20 And Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried at his palace. And his son Amon reigned in his place.