Bahurim
was a village located on the east of Mount Olives and David and his men on the
run now came to this village. There Shimei, a Benjamite from Gera, came cursing
and casting stones at the exiled king franked by his men. Since Shimei was a
member of the tribe of Benjamin and the house of Saul, it was understandable
for him to be a supporter of the dead king Saul. He was cursing and yelling at
David with these words, “Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and
worthless fellow! The LORD has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the
house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has
given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you
are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!”
Shimei
felt that the misfortune that had come upon David was his just desert from the
LORD for what he had put the
house of Saul through. Obviously, the stones that he used to pelt David and his
men were probably small stones and did not really hurt. But what was more
hurtful were the words he hurled at the deposed king.
Meanwhile
Abishai, who was with David, could not bear the insults of Shimei. Being an
impetuous man, he offered to confront Shimei to decapitate him. Abishai as we
know was the brother of Joab, a son of Zeruiah, the sister of David.
Hence, Abishai would be David’s cousin. He and his brother Joab were men of war
and their reaction to every provocation was to wield the sword. Now in the face
of Shimei’s curse, Abishai again rashly wanted to rush out to take down his
head. David however, stopped him, for he felt that this was part of
God’s judgment he had to endure. He reasoned that if he could not even prevent
his own son from usurping the throne, what right had he got to take Shimei
down. David accepted his situation as coming from God and would rather yield
his life to Him.
Shimei’s
insults suggested that David was responsible for Saul’s downfall. We all know
that it was God who had ordained Saul’s outcome. The words that Shimei hurled
at David were demeaning. Any person with the smallest modicum of self-respect
would find those words difficult to stomach. How did David endure it? David’s
key was revealed in Psalm 3 which he wrote during this period. In that Psalm,
he gave his secret. It was his
trust in God. In adversity, he learned to take his refuge in God, the glory and
lifter of his head. As he did so, he was assured that he felt God’s protection.
His confidence was not in sword but in the availability of his God. Like
David, we must keep faith with God when we face our trials and difficulties. We
too must learn to stay confident in the Lord. He is our refuge and we can be
assured that He will hear our cry, and deliverance will come from the very
presence of God. Be confident in God!
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