The Talmud records a missing dialogue in the assassination narrative of Yoav (Joab) in 1 Kings 2. I'll give the text in a second by here's a little of the back story. I'll use Artscroll's note because I think it's pretty good. My comments are in brackets.
After King David passed the throne to Solomon, Solomon set out to kill Yoav, the first commander of David's army. The motivation for this was twofold: First, Yoav had years earlier killed two rightous men - Avner ben Ner and Amasa ben Jether - and David had asked Solomon to kill Yoav for this (1 Kings2:5,6). [In addition David cursed Yoav saying that he was destined to have decendents who would die by the sword]. Secondly, Yoav had supported Adoniyah in his attempt to usurp the throne (ibid 1:7; 2:28) and thus he was deemed a mored b'malchut, a traitor to the crown...When Yoav heard of the plan to kill him, he fled to the Alter of Jersualem and grabbed hold of it's horn [this gives temporary immunity]. There, a messenger of King Solomon by the name of Benayahu approached him and commanded him to leave the Altar. Yoav, however, refused and told the messenger: No, I will die here. (48b3 - note 30)Here's is the text of the exchange. Notice in bold that there is a lacuna in the text. What was the actually said?
And the tidings came to Joab; for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the Tent of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told king Solomon: 'Joab is fled unto the Tent of the LORD, and, behold, he is by the altar.' Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying: 'Go, fall upon him.' And Benaiah came to the Tent of the LORD, and said unto him: 'Thus saith the king: Come forth.' And he said: 'Nay; but I will die here.' And Benaiah brought back word unto the king, saying: 'Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.' (1 Kings 2:28-30, JPS)The Talmud brings the answer. It explains that Yoav said to him "Go tell King Solomon: You cannot do two things at once to me. If you kill me (for causing the deaths of Avner and Amasa) you must accept the curse that your father uttered against me. If you do not want to accept the curse you must leave me alone so that I will remain with the curses your father placed upon me."
As I wrote before, the curse against Yoav was that his decendents would die by the sword. However, if Solomon kills him, Yoav's line will be cut off and he will have no decendents (he was childless at the time). Commenting on this, the Maharal explains that the reason that Solomon was in such a tough situation was that curses are dangerous. If I curse someone and for some reason the curse cannot come true (in this case, Yoav is killed before having children), then I will inherit the curse from him. This is why David's line was so afflicted with disease, death, and poverty throughout the book of Kings.
I imagine the Maharal's comment as akin to Karma. Although it's not a perfect parellel, I see this statement as dealing with balance and unity in the universe. We can think about it this way: when David cursed Yoav a debt was created in the universe. Someone's children had to die. When Yoav was killed, someone had to pay this debt. David's line was the obvious choice. Only through the death and suffering of people like Rehoboam, Uziyahu, and Yoshiahu could this divine debt be paid.
Or if eastern religion doesn't do it for you, there's a great parallel in the movie "Drag me to Hell." For the premise and the link to this post, click here.
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