“Moreover, the king said to Shim‘i, ‘You know in your own heart all the terrible things you did to David my father; therefore Adonai will bring back your wickedness on your own head. But King Shlomo will be blessed, and the throne of David will be established before Adonai forever.’ So the king gave the order to B’nayah, the son of Y’hoyada, and he went out and struck him down, so that he died.”-1 Kings 2:44-46
King Solomon’s sentencing of Shimei has begun.
He goes into this long, formal speech, like a judge handing down a verdict.
And in that moment, he reveals the real reason why Shimei is going to die:
“It is because of all the terrible things you did to David, my father.”
This echoes the time when Adoniyah told Bathsheba the real reason why he wanted Avishag to become his bride.
It was because he still felt the throne belonged to him.
Solomon concludes his speech with more elaborate words about how the throne of David will be greatly blessed and never end.
The implication here is that the people of Israel will view Solomon’s execution as a just decision, and Solomon will be praised for what he did.
These words would’ve pierced Shimei’s heart like a dagger.
Why?
Because it was always his greatest hope that his own tribe, Benjamin, the tribe which gave Israel its first king, would again take the throne.
Solomon was assuring Shimei that not only was that never gonna happen in his lifetime…
It was never gonna happen at all.
And then he ordered B’nayah to strike him down.
Okay, so today, instead of a takeaway, I wanna end with a quiz question, which I will answer tomorrow.
So here’s the thing.
Per the traditions and customs of the day, what Solomon did was normal.
A king is expected to take revenge on and dispose of his enemies.
However, from God’s perspective and His Torah, was Solomon just in executing Shimei?
Let me know in the comments, and we’ll explore the answer to this question the next time we meet.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Shabbat.
First things first, when you said according to cutoms, etc., what Shimie did was right, I think you meant to say Solomon?
As for the way God sees it, that is a tough one to answer (any question about how God sees things is tough to answer since no one here is God).
After all, David was the one who was insulted and attacked (throwing stones is an treasonous attack), and David was the one to justifiably kill Shimei for the treason he committed.
But David gave him his life, so to me that is sort of like when David gave Avner safe conduct.
By asking Solomon to see that Shimei is punished was, I believe, David going back on his word.
Solomon gave an order to Shimei to remain in Jerusalem, and when Shimei left, that should have been the reason for his being put to death. To bring up the treason, which had been forgiven, should not have been the reason for his death.
So, in my opinion, I do not think God would have seen that reasoning as valid, although since Shimei DID disobey the King’s order to remain in Jerusalem, that execution was valid according to Man’s law, but I do no think God would see that as a good thing.
The whole Shimei situation was a set-up in which David was, through Solomon, going back on his word to Shimei.
God allows death for certain things, but as I recall throwing stones at the king is not one of them, and it certainly can’t be good in God’s eyes to create the conditions under which someone would die.
I am beginning to think that Solomon created the same conditions to kill Shimei that David did to kill Uriah: like father, like son.
Maybe the only reason Solomon waan’t punished was because, in fact, Shimei did disobey the king’s order, so in that way his execution was validated.
Validated, but not correct.
Thanks. I corrected the typos. That’s what happens when you’re operating on a rushed schedule.
You say that David asking Solomon to punish his father was going back on his word. I get your point, but technically speaking, David never did break his word. David promised that he himself would not put Shimei to death. That didn’t exclude anyone else from putting Shimei to death. Sneaky, I know, but still technically accurate.
For the most part, I agree with you that Solomon was not just in executing Shimei. I’ll expound more on this in my next post.