Assassination
Assassination in scripture is the killing of a man — often a man of rank — by stealth, by trust abused, or by the hand of one already inside the house. The Sinai code curses the act, David recoils from those who profit by it, and the historical books carry a long file of named cases: a left-handed envoy in a king's upper room, a captain stabbed in the gate "to speak quietly" with him, a man taken by the beard for a kiss, sons of Rimmon at noonday, a king's own slaves at the house of Millo, an Assyrian struck down in the house of his god. The wisdom and prophetic strands set the temper of the act — the patient adversary who bides his time, the friend who lifts up the heel — and the New Testament keeps the same vocabulary when it names the betrayal of Jesus. What follows is the UPDV record, arranged by the topic's natural movement: the law against it, David's repudiation of it, the named instances, and the inner habit of mind that makes it possible.
The Law Against the Secret Striker
The Sinai cycle reaches its most direct word against assassination in the Shechem curses: "Cursed be he who strikes his fellow man in secret. And all the people will say, Amen" (De 27:24). The Decalogue itself states it without elaboration — "You will not kill" (Ex 20:13) — and the older code in Exodus joins it to a death penalty: "He who strikes a man, so that he dies, will surely be put to death" (Ex 21:12). Leviticus repeats the formula (Le 24:17). The covenant rationale stands at Genesis 9: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man will his blood be shed: For in the image of God he made man" (Ge 9:6).
The legislation distinguishes wilful killing — the kind that lies behind every assassination — from accidental manslaughter. Numbers fixes the test by instrument: "But if he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer will surely be put to death" (Nu 35:16), and the same chapter forbids commutation of the sentence — "Moreover you⁺ will take no ransom for the soul of a murderer, who is guilty of death; but he will surely be put to death" (Nu 35:31). Deuteronomy describes the assassin's profile precisely: "But if any man hates his fellow man, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and strikes him in the soul so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities..." (De 19:11). Proverbs renders the man's destination as flight: "[A] man who is laden with the blood of a soul Will flee to the pit; let no man uphold him" (Pr 28:17).
The New Testament writers carry the same prohibition forward without softening it. Paul folds "You will not kill" into the love commandment (Ro 13:9). Peter brackets "murderer" with thief and evildoer as the things a Christian must not suffer as (1Pe 4:15). And John tightens the definition inwardly: "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you⁺ know that any murderer does not have eternal life staying in him" (1Jn 3:15).
David's Abhorrence
When the sons of Rimmon brought the head of Ishbosheth to Hebron expecting a reward, David answered them with the language of judicial blood-guilt. "And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Yahweh lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, when one told me, saying, Look, Saul is dead, and he was a bearer of good news in his own eyes, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his good news. How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your⁺ hand, and take you⁺ away from the earth?" (2Sa 4:9-11). The execution and exposure of the bodies follow at once: "And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the grave of Abner the son of Ner in Hebron" (2Sa 4:12).
The same David later carries an unfinished account against Joab for the killings of Abner and Amasa, and at the end of his life passes the account to Solomon: "Moreover you know also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war on his belt that was about his loins, and in his sandals that were on his feet" (1Ki 2:5). Solomon's verdict is delivered at the altar: Joab is reached there by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada (1Ki 2:29), "And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell on him, and slew him; and he was buried in his own house in the wilderness" (1Ki 2:34).
Ehud and Eglon
The Judges-cycle assassination is the work of a deliverer rather than a conspirator. "But when the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh, Yahweh raised them up a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab" (Jg 3:15). Ehud's preparation is a concealed weapon designed for the left hand: "And Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length; and he girded it under his raiment on his right thigh" (Jg 3:16). After delivering tribute he dismisses the bearers, returns alone, and asks for a private hearing: "But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret message to you, O king. And he said, Keep silent. And all who stood by him went out from him" (Jg 3:19). The killing follows in the closed upper room: "And Ehud came to him; and he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from God to you. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body: and the handle also went in after the blade; and the fat closed on the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his body; and it came out behind" (Jg 3:20-22). Ehud escapes through the quarries to Seirah (Jg 3:26), and Israel has rest until "the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, when Ehud was dead" (Jg 4:1).
Abner
Abner had been Saul's captain (1Sa 14:51, 1Sa 17:55) and the strong arm of Saul's house in the war with David (2Sa 3:6). His killing comes after a private summons in the gate of Hebron: "And when Abner had returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and struck him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother" (2Sa 3:27). The motive named is blood-vengeance for Asahel; the method is the abuse of a private audience.
Amasa
Amasa, set by Absalom over the host in place of Joab (2Sa 17:25) and afterward summoned by David to the same office (2Sa 19:13, 2Sa 20:4), is killed in the highway by the same Joab and by the same kind of private gesture. The detail is the kiss that Joab pretends and the hidden sword: "And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with you, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him" (2Sa 20:9). "But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he struck him with it in the body, and shed out his insides to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. And Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri" (2Sa 20:10). The body is left in view of the people: "And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still" (2Sa 20:12).
Amnon at the Sheep-Shearing
Absalom's killing of his brother Amnon is set out as a planned ambush at a feast. "And Absalom commanded his attendants, saying, Now watch⁺, when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I say to you⁺, Strike Amnon, then kill him; don't be afraid; haven't I commanded you⁺? Be courageous, and be valiant" (2Sa 13:28). "And the attendants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got up on his mule, and fled" (2Sa 13:29). Absalom flees to his maternal grandfather, Talmai king of Geshur, "And [David] mourned for his son every day" (2Sa 13:37). The career that follows — the gate-side flattery (2Sa 15:2-3), the conspiracy against the king (2Sa 15:13-14), the counsel to pursue David by night (2Sa 17:1) — ends in the oak of the wood, where Absalom is caught by his head (2Sa 18:9) and dispatched by Joab: "Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with you. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak" (2Sa 18:14).
Ish-bosheth
The killing of Saul's surviving son matches the law's profile of the secret striker exactly. The assassins time the entry to noonday and disguise it as an errand: "And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ishbosheth, as he took his rest at noon. And, look, they came there into the midst of the house, as though they would have fetched wheat; and they struck him in the body: and Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. Now when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, they struck him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night" (2Sa 4:5-7). David's response — see "David's Abhorrence" above — is to require their blood and to bury Ishbosheth's head with Abner.
Joash at the House of Millo
Joash had been hidden as a child by Jehosheba "from among the king's sons who were slain" (2Ki 11:2-21) and reigned forty years in Jerusalem (2Ki 12:1). He "did that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest" (2Ch 24:2). After Jehoiada's death the princes of Judah turned the king (2Ch 24:17), and Joash repaid Jehoiada's kindness by slaying his son Zechariah, who said in his dying word, "Yahweh look at it, and require it" (2Ch 24:22). The Syrian raid that follows is read as judgment: "So they executed judgment on Joash" (2Ch 24:24). The account in Kings names the agent of his death as his own household: "And his slaves arose, and made a conspiracy, and struck Joash at the house of Millo, [on the way] that goes down to Silla" (2Ki 12:20).
The House of Ahab and the Purge of Jehu
Jezebel is identified in the historical books with the killing of Yahweh's prophets. "Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and as well how he had slain all the prophets with the sword" (1Ki 19:1); "Jezebel cut off the prophets of Yahweh, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water" (1Ki 18:4). Her message back to Elijah is itself a contracted oath of assassination: "Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I don't make your soul as the soul of one of them by tomorrow about this time" (1Ki 19:2). The Naboth episode runs through her hand by forgery: "So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, [and] who dwelt with Naboth" (1Ki 21:8); the bought witnesses do the rest — "the base fellows bore witness against him... saying, Naboth cursed God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones" (1Ki 21:13).
The countermove is Jehu, anointed by an Elisha-sent prophet at Ramoth-gilead with an explicit commission to "strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of my slaves the prophets, and the blood of all the slaves of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel" (2Ki 9:2-24). The scene at Naboth's portion ends with Joram's late recognition and Jehu's bow: "And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and struck Joram between his arms; and the arrow went out at his heart, and he sunk down in his chariot" (2Ki 9:2-24). Jezebel's death follows from the same chariot-rider, called up to her window, with two or three eunuchs delivering the throw: "And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down; and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trod her under foot" (2Ki 9:30-35). Jehu then writes letters to Samaria and the seventy sons of Ahab fall (2Ki 10:1-35). Hosea's later word reads even this commissioned purge as itself attracting blood-guilt: "Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease" (Ho 1:4).
Sennacherib in the House of Nisroch
The Assyrian who came up against the fortified cities of Judah (2Ki 18:13, 2Ch 32:1, Is 36:1) and "stretched forth his hand against Zion, And blasphemed God in his pride" (Sir 48:18) does not die in battle. The notice in Kings is brief: "And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead" (2Ki 19:37). Isaiah preserves the same scene with the relationship made explicit: "And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons struck him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead" (Is 37:38). Ben Sira recalls the Sennacherib episode with the angelic deliverance also in view: "O Lord, when those who were sent by King Sennacherib blasphemed you, an angel went out, and slew of them a hundred and eighty-five thousand" (1Ma 7:41).
The Treacherous Kiss and the Inner Habit
The historical instances share a single repeated gesture — the abuse of nearness. Joab takes Abner aside "to speak with him quietly" (2Sa 3:27) and Amasa "by the beard with his right hand to kiss him" (2Sa 20:9); Absalom himself, building his following, "put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him" (2Sa 15:5). Proverbs names the pattern: "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; But the kisses of an enemy are profuse" (Pr 27:6). The Gospel passion narrative carries the same idiom: "And when he came, immediately he came to him, and says, Rabbi; and kissed him" (Mr 14:45). Jesus names the gesture aloud — "But Jesus said to him, Judas, do you deliver up the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Lu 22:48) — and the warning that precedes it leaves no doubt about its weight: "For the Son of Man indeed goes, as it has been determined: but woe to that man through whom he is delivered up!" (Lu 22:22).
The wisdom literature describes the mind that sustains such a gesture. Ben Sira sketches the patient adversary, biding his time: "With his lips, an adversary tarries; But with his heart, he considers deep pits. And even though he weeps with his eyes; When he finds the [right] time, he will not be filled with blood" (Sir 12:16); "If evil meets you, he is found there; As a man who [pretends] to uphold you, he will take hold of your heel" (Sir 12:17); "He will wag his head and wave his hand; And with much whispering, he will change his face" (Sir 12:18). The whisperer's small craft is a setting of "a conspiracy for your pleasant things" (Sir 11:31). The Psalmist's lament fits the same shape from the victim's side: "Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, Who ate of my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me" (Ps 41:9); "For it is not an enemy who reproached me; Or I could have borne it: It is not one who hated me who magnified himself against me; Or I would have hid myself from him" (Ps 55:12). Micah generalizes: "a man's enemies are the men of his own house" (Mi 7:6).
The Pattern in the Maccabean Histories
The first book of Maccabees is dense with politically motivated killings carried out under the form of a friendly visit, a peace offer, or a banquet. Tryphon, traveling with the boy-king Antiochus, "treacherously slew him" (1Ma 13:31). The same Tryphon's deception of Jonathan runs through several scenes: the offer to release Jonathan for silver and hostages is itself a lie (1Ma 13:15-19), and the body is left at Bascama: "And when he approached to Bascama, he slew Jonathan, and he was buried there" (1Ma 13:23). Earlier, Jonathan's entry into Ptolemais ends in the closing of the gates: "Now as soon as Jonathan entered into Ptolemais, those of Ptolemais shut the gates of the city, and took him: and all those who came in with him they slew with the sword" (1Ma 12:48). The murder of Simon and his sons at Dok matches the same form — a feast prepared with men hidden in the room: "And the son of Abubus received them deceitfully into a little fortress that is called Dok, which he had built: and he made them a great feast, and hid men there" (1Ma 16:15); "And when Simon and his sons had drunk freely, Ptolemy and his men rose up, and took their weapons, and entered into the banqueting place, and slew him, and his two sons, and some of his servants" (1Ma 16:16). The runner who brings the news to John in Gazara warns him in the same breath that "he has sent men to kill you also" (1Ma 16:21). Alexander Balas dies by the hand of an ally: "And Zabdiel the Arabian took off Alexander's head, and sent it to Ptolemy" (1Ma 11:17). Bacchides, returning to Jerusalem, "took many of those who had fled away from him, and some of the people he killed, and threw them into a great pit" (1Ma 7:19). Nicanor "took sixty of them, and slew them in one day" (1Ma 7:16). The lament-couplet of 1Ma 2:9 sets the temper for the whole period: "The vessels of her glory are carried away captive: Her infants are murdered in the streets, And her young men have fallen by the sword of the enemies."
The wisdom verdict on this kind of life is delivered in Sirach: "Do not harden your forehead with one who is given to anger; And do not ride with him in the way. For blood is as nothing in his eyes; And where there is none to deliver, he will destroy you" (Sir 8:16). And on the man who feigns loyalty for profit: "As long as he profits, he will deceive you; Three times he will strip you. And then he will see you and be furious with you; And he will wag his head at you" (Sir 13:7).
A Footnote: Cain
The first killing in the canon — placed before any of the named instances above — is itself an ambush "in the field": "And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Ge 4:8). Genesis 9:6 reads as the answer to it. The pattern that runs from Abel through Ishbosheth to the kiss in Gethsemane is one pattern: the man who is near, and the soul whose blood is required.