"The king answered Benaiah, 'Do as he says, and fall upon him and bury him; thus you will remove from me and from my father's house the innocent blood which Joab shed without cause.'" — Solomon commands Benaiah to execute Joab *even at the altar*: *ya'as lo kedasber ve-harak otho ve-qebartar* (do as he says, strike him down and bury him). The phrase *le-hasir mimeni... et-dam ha-naki* (to remove from me... innocent blood) invokes David's own deathbed charge: Joab shed innocent blood (Abner, Amasa) and Solomon must answer for it. Yet the *violation of sanctuary*—executing a man clinging to the altar—is itself a transgression against sacred law. Solomon chooses to *override sacred asylum in the name of justice*; the *innocent blood* (Abner and Amasa) takes precedence over the *sanctuary violation*.

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