Why Joab Was Slain at the Altar and David's Curse Upon His House

(Numbers 35:11:) "Where a slayer may flee who has killed a person by mistake" — and not deliberately. If a person goes and kills deliberately and then says, "I killed by mistake," and flees to the cities of refuge, the Holy One, blessed be He, says: Even if he enters and flees to My altar, kill him, as it is said (Exodus 21:14): "But if a man acts presumptuously, etc., you shall take him from My altar, etc." And who was it that fled to the altar and was slain? This was Joab, as it is said (1 Kings 2:28): "And the report came to Joab, etc., and he seized the horns of the altar." You find that Joab was a great sage and the head of the Sanhedrin, as it is said (2 Samuel 23:8): "He who sits in the seat of wisdom." Did he not know that it is written in the Torah, "you shall take him from My altar to die" (Exodus 21:14), that he went and seized the horns of the altar? Rather, Joab said: Those put to death by the court are not buried in the graves of their fathers, but apart by themselves. Better to die here, so that I may be buried with my fathers. "And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying: Thus has Joab spoken, and thus has he answered me. And the king said to him: Do as he has spoken, and strike him down and bury him" (1 Kings 2:30–31). Why was he slain? Because David his father had commanded him: "Moreover, you also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, etc." (1 Kings 2:5). What did he do to him? You find that when David wrote to Joab, "Set Uriah in the front of the fiercest fighting" (2 Samuel 11:15), he did so, and he was slain. All the commanders of the army gathered against Joab — of whom it is said, "Uriah the Hittite," one of all the thirty-seven (2 Samuel 23:39) — and he showed them the letter. Therefore it is said, "[You know] what [Joab son of Zeruiah] did to me, and what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Abner son of Ner, etc." (1 Kings 2:5). They had supposed that David had commanded him to kill him, for Abner was the cousin of Saul; therefore David arose and cursed Joab, and said, "May the house of Joab never be cut off from, etc." (2 Samuel 3:29). And all Israel was appeased, and they knew that it had not been from David. And he commanded Solomon his son to slay him, for Joab was the son of David's sister, and he wished to bring him near to the world to come. When Solomon sought to slay him, Joab said to Benaiah: Go, say to Solomon — do not judge me with two judgments. If you slay me, remove from me the curses with which David your father cursed me; and if not, leave me in his curses. Immediately, "the king said to him: Do as he has spoken, and strike him down and bury him" (1 Kings 2:31). Rabbi Judah said: All the curses with which David cursed Joab were all fulfilled in David's offspring. "May the house of Joab never lack one with a discharge, a leper, one who grasps the spindle, one who falls by the sword, and one lacking bread" (2 Samuel 3:29). "One with a discharge" — in Rehoboam son of Solomon: "And King Rehoboam mustered strength to mount the chariot (merkavah)" (1 Kings 12:18); and it is written concerning the one with a discharge, "and every saddle (merkav) on which the one with the discharge rides" (Leviticus 15:9). "A leper" — in Uzziah, as it is said, "And he was a leper until the day of his death" (2 Kings 15:5). "One who grasps the spindle" — in Asa, as it is written, "Only in the time of his old age he became diseased in his feet" (1 Kings 15:23), for gout seized him. "One who falls by the sword" — in Josiah, as it is written, "And the archers shot King Josiah" (2 Chronicles 35:23); and Rav Judah said in the name of Rav: They thrust into him three hundred iron lances, until they perforated him like a sieve. "One lacking bread" — in Jehoiachin, as it is said, "And as his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king" (2 Kings 25:29), from the table of Evil-merodach. And you find that as long as Jehoiada lived, Joash did the will of his Creator, as it is said, "And Jehoash did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, as Jehoiada the priest instructed him" (2 Kings 12:3). "And after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and bowed down to the king; then the king listened to them" (2 Chronicles 24:17) — for he took it upon himself to make him a god; therefore, "they executed judgments upon Joash" (2 Chronicles 24:24). And for what was Abner punished? Because he made the blood of the young men into sport, as it is said, "And Abner said to Joab: Let the young men now arise and play before us; and Joab said: Let them arise" (2 Samuel 2:14). And some say: because he put his own name before the name of David, as it is said, "And Abner sent messengers to David in his place, saying: To whom does the land belong?" (2 Samuel 3:12). And the sages say: because he did not wait for Saul to be reconciled with David, and it was in his power to protest at Nob, the city of the priests, and he did not protest.