I think we can safely assume (and it is the opinion of a number of mainstream Bible scholars) that David's former general Joab and Abiathar the priest were still working to replace Solomon with Adonijah. If that were not the case, it's difficult to explain why Solomon suddenly treats them as he does after Adonijah's request reveals he has not changed his heart toward Solomon. We are not told exactly what these men were doing to help Adonijah at this time but Solomon calls for Abiathar the priest because, no doubt, he has some information that the priest has been advising and encouraging Adonijah in his efforts to overthrow Solomon.
As we closed yesterday's study we found Benaiah, the captain of the king's guard, striking down Adonijah for treason upon Solomon's orders. Solomon next turns his attention to the priest Abiathar who helped Adonijah in his attempted coup of Chapter 1 by anointing him king against the Lord's will and against David's will. I believe Abiathar was aware of and involved in Adonijah's latest plans against Solomon in Chapter 2, which is why Solomon pronounces this judgment upon him: "To Abiathar the priest the king said, 'Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father's hardships.' So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli." (1 Kings 2:26-27)
Abiathar is guilty of treason but because he was of great help to David in times past, Solomon banishes him instead of executing him. Another reason Solomon shows him mercy is because of his respect for the office of priest and his respect for the Lord and for the ark of His covenant. Rather than putting Abiathar to death for his crimes, he exiles him to one of the cities of the priests and expects him to remain there and stay out of trouble. If he does not stay out of trouble, Solomon reserves the right to put him to death at a later time.
In 1 Samuel 2 we found an unnamed prophet coming to the high priest Eli and rebuking him for the sins he was allowing his sons Hophni and Phinehas to commit. These men were very corrupt priests who were defrauding the people who came to the house of God. They were also sleeping with some of the women who served at the house of God. Eli was aware of their sins but had only taken them to task with words and not with actions. If they were not willing to listen to his words and change their ways, he had a sacred duty to remove them from the priesthood but he did not. So the Lord said that both his sons would die soon on the same day and that in time the Lord would no longer allow a man from Eli's family line to serve as high priest. Abiathar is descended from Eli who was descended from the first high priest Aaron through Aaron's son Eleazar. Solomon's removal of Abiathar as high priest is going to disqualify any of Abiathar's descendants from serving as high priest, thus fulfilling the prophecy of 1 Samuel 2. The priesthood will now follow only the family line of Zadok who has been serving for many years as co-high priest with Abiathar. Zadok is also a descendant of Aaron but not through the Eleazar/Eli line. He is of the family tree of Aaron's son Ithamar.
When Joab hears that Adonijah is dead and that Abiathar has been demoted and banished, he thinks he's the next person Solomon will be looking for. "When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah though not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the Lord and took hold of the horns of the altar." (1 Kings 2:28) He flees to the altar for refuge and I think his need for refuge is further proof that he has continued to be involved in a plot with Adonijah and Abiathar to help Adonijah usurp the crown. When the author says he "conspired" with Adonijah, I don't think he means Joab conspired with Adonijah only on the day Adonijah attempted to have himself declared king. I think it means he's been continuing to conspire with him. Solomon previously extended mercy to Adonijah, Abiathar, and Joab by taking no action against them. We were told that Adonijah and all of David's officials bowed to Solomon and pledged their allegiance to him, so I'm assuming those officials included Joab and Abiathar. Solomon was willing to leave them alone if they were sincere in their loyalty and could be trusted to make no further threats against him. But their pledges of loyalty were lies and their continued support of Adonijah broke the terms of the asylum that was previously granted to them.
Something interesting to consider is that Solomon may not have known for certain that Joab was still conspiring with Adonijah until Joab fled to the altar. It doesn't seem as if Solomon had men out looking for Joab until he hears that Joab is seeking refuge in the house of the Lord. Seeking sanctuary indicates that Joab is guilty of a crime worthy of death and, if Solomon did not already know for sure that Joab was still trying to overthrow him, Joab's own actions testify against him that he has committed further acts of treason. It's ironic that the very act of seeking sanctuary proves Joab's guilt and seals his fate. It was a common custom in ancient Israel and in other ancient cultures for a person to take hold of the horns of a religious altar as a way to obtain asylum, but this asylum was only guaranteed until the person's legal case was heard and judged. If the king or judge ruled in his favor, his life was spared. But if the evidence showed he was guilty of the capital crime for which he was standing trial, he was executed. Grabbing hold of the horns of the altar at that time would not protect him from the consequences of his crime. If Joab were not guilty of treason (for the second time) he would not have fled to the altar. He has always been a very brave man and if he were innocent of any further wrongdoing after the incident in Chapter 1 then I believe he would have had no fear of being accused of crimes he didn't commit. But the fact that he runs to the altar, when no one appears to be seeking him or accusing him of anything, proves he is guilty. (As Solomon will say later in Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.") Solomon judges Joab's case accordingly. "King Solomon was told that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord and was beside the altar. Then Solomon ordered Benaiah son of Jehoiada, 'Go, strike him down!'" (1 Kings 2:29)
Benaiah goes but he doesn't want to shed any blood inside the sanctuary. "So Benaiah entered the tent of the Lord and said to Joab, 'The king says, 'Come out!' But he answered, 'No, I will die here.' Benaiah reported to the king, 'This is how Joab answered me.' Then the king commanded Benaiah, 'Do as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so clear me and my whole family of the guilt of the innocent blood that Joab shed. The Lord will repay him for the blood he shed, because without my father David knowing it he attacked two men and killed them with the sword. Both of them---Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army---were better men and more upright than he. May the guilt of their blood rest on the head of Joab and his descendants forever. But on David and his descendants, his house and his throne, may there be the Lord's peace forever.'" (1 Kings 2:30-33) Joab killed Abner and Amasa in cold blood while they were on David's side. Previously they had not been on David's side but after they began fighting for David's army Joab waited for an opportunity to carry out calculated, premeditated murder. This is why Solomon can say that Abner and Amasa were better men than Joab; they would not have done what Joab did. The only men Abner and Amasa ever killed were in battle, not in cold blood.
"So Benaiah son of Jehoida went up and struck down Joab and killed him, and he was buried at his home out in the country. The king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the army in Joab's position and replaced Abiathar with Zadok the priest." (1 Kings 2:34-35) Benaiah wasn't seeking Joab's position as general over King Solomon's army. He was just carrying out the orders of his king faithfully, as usual. But Solomon is a rewarder of those who are faithful to him and he promotes Benaiah from his job as captain of the king's guard to commander of the entire army.
The bloodshed is not over yet. Just as David advised Solomon not to allow Joab to go down to the grave in peace (in other words, to die in his old age of natural causes), David advised Solomon to take care of another discontented scoundrel: Shimei. This is the man who cursed David and threw rocks and dirt on him on a day of deep distress for David. Shimei is a Benjamite of the clan of the late King Saul and although he later apologized to David and begged for mercy, David knew he could be trusted to be obedient to Solomon.
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