2 Samuel 19:16-23 – Be merciful like our Heavenly Father

Absalom’s death had brought about different reactions and responses from different people. The first sixteen verses described how the northern tribes squabbled about bringing David back to the throne. Recalling how he had brought them victory over the Philistines, some wonder why it took so long for the king to be restored to the throne. Then we saw how David on his part got Zadok and Abiathar to spur the nonchalant elders of the tribe of Judah to initiate some movement to bring him back to the throne. To achieve his objective, David also offered Amasa, his other nephew, the position of commander of the army which was held by the haughty Joab.

Now in 2 Samuel 19:16-23, two persons were particularly singled out. They came with their men to greet David at the Jordan with their people. One was Shimei from the clan of Saul who came with a thousand men from the tribe of Benjamin. Remember how he cursed David as he was making his way out of Jerusalem to escape from his son, Absalom. The other was Ziba who came with his fifteen sons and twenty servants. He was the one David had assigned to steward the property of Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan. He met the king with provision while he was escaping from Absalom. In that meeting, he also maligned his master Mephibosheth, giving the impression that the latter was ungrateful for what the king had done for him. Thinking what Ziba said was true, David had impulsively decreed all that was given to Mephibosheth to be given to him. Hence, we can understand why these two should now come anxiously to greet David. They wanted to placate their wrong with the hope of avoiding a severe punishment. In some sense, they came out of desperation.

Shimei came falling down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan, begging to be forgiven for what he had done. He acknowledged the wrong he had done to David, as the king, was making his way up Mount Olivet to escape from Absalom. He mitigated his wrong by pointing to the fact that he was the first to come and receive the king back to his throne in Jerusalem. Abishai, the brother of Joab, felt strongly that Shimei deserved to be executed for cursing the Lord’s anointed. But David refused to be vindictive and chided Abishai for his attitude. To David, this was a day of celebration and not a day to seek vengeance. He then swore an oath to spare Shimei for the treasonous crime that the latter had committed.

How David dealt with Shimei gives us a lesson on being merciful. He could have done a tip for tap and publicly humiliated Shimei for the way the latter had publicly humiliated him. He could have ordered his immediate death and Abishai would have gladly carried it out. But David refused to lower himself and behave beneath the dignity of his position. In so doing David, emulating God, was acting magnanimously. Like David, it is better for us to err being overly merciful than to err lacking it. In William Shakespeare’s book, The  Merchant of Venice, Portia asserted that mercy is twice blessed. It not only blesses the giver but also the receiver. We who have received mercy must also live and act mercifully. For Jesus, our Lord puts it this way in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.” And again in Luke 6:36, we are reminded to “Be merciful, just as your (Heavenly) Father is merciful.” Finally, James 2:3 tells us that “…judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” To be merciful is to display the trait of God. Without mercy and forgiveness, hell would be a place for the living. Let us remember that to err is human but to forgive is divine.