:50
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ויחזק בקרנות המזבח. הנה כבר נתבאר בתורה כי המזבח קולט אלא אם בא שם רוצח מכה נפש בזדון ובערמ' והנה אדוניה לזה בא שם כי שם לא היה מפחד שיהרגנו שלמה ויהיה המקום ההוא לו למקלט עד שיבטיחהו המלך שלמה שלא ימיתהו:
Ralbag 50:1
and caught hold of the horns of the altar: It was already explained in Torah that the altar shelters only if a murderer who killed with malice and cunning comes there. Thus Adonijah came there because there he would not fear that Solomon would kill him, and the place would be a shelter for him until Solomon the king should promise not to put him to death.
נענה ר"ע ואמר (שמות כא, יד) וכי יזיד איש על רעהו וגו' מעם מזבחי תקחנו למות מעם מזבחי ולא מעל מזבחי ואמר רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן לא שנו אלא להמית
then a fortiori saving a life overrides Shabbat. Rabbi Akiva answered and said that it is stated: “And if a man comes purposefully upon his neighbor to slay him with guile, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die” (Exodus 21:14). The phrase “take him from My altar” implies that if the murderer is a priest and comes to perform the service, one does not wait for him to do so but takes him to his execution immediately. But one should not take him from on top of My altar. If he already began the service and is in the midst of it, one does not take him down from the altar immediately but instead allows him to finish his service. And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: They taught only that a priest is not removed from the altar in order to execute him for murder,