Verses 5-14
David Is Cursed By A Member Of The House Of Saul (2 Samuel 16:5-14 ).
We will have noted that up to this point each person who had approached David had been evidence to him that YHWH was with him:
· The coming of the Ark and its setting up on the mount had been evidence that YHWH was watching over their departure.
· The coming of Hushai had been evidence that YHWH had heard David’s prayer concerning Ahithophel.
· The coming of Ziba had been evidence that YHWH would continue to provide for David and his people in the wilderness.
· But now he would be met by a Saulide who would curse him to his face, and yet instead of punishing him David would take it as evidence that YHWH would turn the curse to his good, for he had already recognised that what was happening to him was in fact due to YHWH’s chastening because he had become so complacent and sinful, and it was now his hope that because it was now he who was being wronged YHWH would act on his behalf and against the one who was doing the wrong.
It is one of the signs of the true man of God that when tribulation comes on him he recognises it as being from the hand of the Lord to do him good, and that was what was happening to David. David had been asleep spiritually, but now he was once more wide awake, recognising the hand of God in all that was happening.
Analysis.
a And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera (2 Samuel 16:5).
b He came out, and cursed still as he came. And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left (2 Samuel 16:6).
c And this is what Shimei said when he cursed, “Begone, begone, you man of blood, and base fellow, YHWH has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead you have reigned, and YHWH has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son, and, behold, you are taken in your own mischief, because you are a man of blood” (2 Samuel 16:7-8).
d Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray you, and take off his head” (2 Samuel 16:9).
e And the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah?” (2 Samuel 16:10 a).
d Because he curses, and because YHWH has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’ ”
c And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, “Consider the fact that my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my life, how much more may this Benjaminite now do it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for YHWH has bidden him. It may be that YHWH will look on the wrong done to me, and that YHWH will requite me good for his cursing of me this day” (2 Samuel 16:11-12).
b So David and his men went by the way, and Shimei went along on the hill-side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust (2 Samuel 16:13).
a And the king, and all the people who were with him, became weary, and he refreshed himself there (2 Samuel 16:14).
Note that in ‘a’ David comes to Bahurim, and in the parallel he refreshes himself there. In ‘b’ Shimei curses David and throws stones at him and his men, and in the parallel he does the same. In ‘c’ he is being cursed by a Saulide as a man of blood, and the Saulide rejoices over the fact that YHWH has delivered the kingdom into the hands of his son, and in the parallel David declares that in view of the fact that his own son seeks his life, it is hardly surprising that ‘this Benjaminite’ does the same. In ‘d’ Abishai asks why ‘this dead dog’ should be allowed to curse the king, and in the parallel David declares that it is because YHWH has told him curse him. Central in ‘e’ David distinguishes himself from the bloodlust of ‘the sons of Zeruiah’.
‘ And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out, and cursed still as he came.’
Bahurim was the place to which Paltiel had come weeping when his wife Michal was taken from him by Ishbosheth and returned to David, the place at which Abner had curtly commanded him to go back to his home (2 Samuel 3:15-16). It was also the place where the spies who would leave Jerusalem would also hide (2 Samuel 17:18). It was just beyond the Mount of Olives on the way to the wilderness. That there were many in Israel, especially among the Benjaminites, who also resented David comes out in this incident. In some ways Shimei must have been a very brave man, for he alone of all of them expressed their feelings about David to him personally, and that in the face of David’s bodyguard. As a member of the house of Saul and therefore in some way related to Saul he had come out in order to express the bitterness of the house of Saul against David, and he did it by cursing him. David must have thought, ‘first Mephibosheth and now this man’. It was a reminder to him that although YHWH had raised him up over the house of Saul, he himself had failed too. The sight of the man standing on the hillside was a reminder of his own failure to obey YHWH. It is probable that Shimei was on a ridge overlooking the road where he felt himself safe from David’s men.
‘ And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left.’
The man then began to hurl stones towards the royal party. They were symbolic rather than intended to cause harm, a symbolic indication that David was dirt, and was not wanted in Israel. Indeed as David was surrounded on all sides by his most valiant warriors, they were unlikely to reach him. But the very fact that the man did it under those circumstances demonstrated how deeply he felt, for he had little protection against the swords of David’s men if they did try to reach him.
‘ And this is what Shimei said when he cursed, “Begone, begone, you man of blood, and base fellow, YHWH has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead you have reigned; and YHWH has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son, and, behold, you are taken in your own mischief, because you are a man of blood.”
The words of his curse are now described for us. It was a call on David to be gone because he was a man of blood and a base fellow. This was one heart that he had certainly not won. His view was that David had come to the throne of Israel by trampling over the blood of the Saulides. They had given their lives for Israel, and then David had taken advantage of it in order to seize the throne, trampling them out of the way. It was, of course a caricature of what had happened, for David had gone out of his way not to harm the house of Saul, but to a member of the family grief stricken at what had happened to his family it did not seem that way. All he had seen was that Saul and his three eldest sons had died gloriously, shedding their blood on Mount Gilboa, that his fourth son Ishbosheth had been cruelly murdered in his own bed, and that Abner his cousin had been assassinated at Hebron. And that was the way in which ‘this man’ had become king. Well, now ‘he’ was himself learning what it was like, for it was clear that even his own son had no longer been able to stand his ways and had rebelled against him, and had taken over his kingdom (Absalom’s propagandists had done a good job). And it was furthermore clearly YHWH Himself Who had done it to him because of his sinful behaviour and especially because of his bloodthirsy and murderous methods. To Shimei, looking in from the outside and not knowing the true facts, David was a bloodthirsty tyrant who was getting what he deserved. It is often the lot of God’s servants to be misunderstood.
‘ Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray you, and take off his head.” ’
Shimei’s words understandably angered David’s men. To curse the king was treason. And Abishai, David’s nephew and one of his generals, turned to David and said, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray you, and take off his head.” To a man of Abishai’s experience climbing up to a ridge would have caused him little difficulty. What he did not realise was that he was in fact by this exemplifying the very attitude which had given David his bad reputation, and indeed that he was himself one of the two men (along with Joab) who were mostly responsible for that bad reputation (2 Samuel 3:39).
The description ‘dead dog’ was a regular indication of someone who was powerless, unimportant and incapable of doing any harm (2 Samuel 9:8; 1 Samuel 24:14). Dogs were seen as a nuisance and a scourge as they hovered around the edges of cities, but a dead dog had ceased even to be that. It no longer counted as it lay there in the dust until someone dragged away its carcase and cast it into the waste pit. And that would be David’s whole point, that Shimei was harmless and was to be pitied. He was just barking. He was not worthy of notice.
‘ And the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because YHWH has said to him, ‘Curse David’? Who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’ ” ’
David then turned to Abishai and declared that he wanted nothing to do with the bloodthirsty attitudes of ‘you sons of Zeruiah’ (compare 2 Samuel 3:39). He did not look kindly on the ways of the sons of Zeruiah who were only too ready to remove the opposition by killing them. And he pointed out that all that the man was doing was cursing because he thought that YHWH had told him to curse David. Who were they to question his reasons? Did he not, a least in his own eyes, have some justification? David was clearly not concerned about a curse that was not justified because the one who cursed had got his facts wrong. He was more concerned not to kill men for little adequate reason. It is a reminder here that although David could slaughter men in battle with the best of them, and could carry out any measures that were seen as necessary without cringing, he was not into killing helpless people just because they displeased him. Essentially he was a humane man.
“What have I to do with you.” Literally ‘what is there to you and to me?’ For this phrase compare 1 Kings 17:18; John 2:4; and see Joshua 22:24; Luke 9:52-56.
‘ And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, “Consider the fact that my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my life, how much more may this Benjaminite now do it? Let him alone, and let him curse, for YHWH has bidden him. It may be that YHWH will look on the wrong done to me (or ‘on my iniquity’), and that YHWH will requite me good for his cursing of me this day.” ’
Then David revealed something of the grief that was tearing at his own soul, for he called on Abishai to consider what his own true born son was doing to him. Forgetting the ties of blood he was intent on seeking his life because he had been offended, and in order to further his own advantage. At least this man Shimei was demonstrating his loyalty to his own family. How much more right he had than Absalom to curse David, for he was a Benjaminite of the house of Saul. So let him be left alone, and let him curse. It was obvious that YHWH had bidden him to do it.
David was acknowledging by this the fact that it was coming home to him that he himself had displeased YHWH. But in view of the fact that the main charge was not true (even though it may have appeared to be true to a Saulide who had only heard rumours) it could not hurt him. Indeed his hope was that YHWH would look on the wrong accusations which resulted from a false view of the facts, and would, rather than cursing David, return good to him as a result of the cursing that he was receiving. In other words that He would give him blessing for cursing because the cursing had been unfair.
Alternately we may see David as recognising his own sin (‘it may be that YHWH will look on my iniquity’) and praying that as YHWH did look at his sin He might have pity because David was also being blamed and cursed for what he had not done, and as a result might ‘do good’ towards him, as a result of the fact that David was seen to have ‘paid sufficient price’ for his great sin.
‘ So David and his men went by the way, and Shimei went along on the hill-side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.’
So leaving Shimei to his own devices David and his men went on their way, while Shimei walked along on a ridge above them, cursing David, throwing stones, and casting dust. In this way all the pent up anger of years was being revealed, and there would have been many others who felt similarly. That Shimei was in fact a wealthy man and a man of influence among the Benjaminites able to do considerable harm comes out later in that he was able to bring ‘a thousand’ Benjaminites to David. See 2 Samuel 19:16-23; 1 Kings 2:8-9; 1 Kings 2:36-46. He was thus a man who had to be regarded and watched.
‘ And the king, and all the people who were with him, became weary (or ‘came to ‘Ayephim’) , and he refreshed himself there.’
The hurried flight from Jerusalem with all the organisation and rushing around that it had involved had clearly taken its toll on them, and the king’s group therefore decided to take a rest break once they had passed Bahurim (or we may translate once ‘they came to ‘Ayephim’). They now felt safer and were beginning to feel the strain of the flight and were already weary. The fact that they did so indicated that David was keenly aware of Absalom’s movements and knew that as yet there was no danger. (Messengers were no doubt constantly arriving from loyal supporters). And there they refreshed themselves before proceeding on towards the fords of the Jordan.
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