“Avishai the son of Tz’ruyah said to the king, ‘Why allow this dead dog to curse my lord the king? Just let me go over and remove his head!’ The king said, ‘Do you sons of Tz’ruyah and I have anything in common? Let him curse. If Adonai tells him, ‘Curse David,’ who has the right to ask, ‘Why are you doing it?’”-2 Samuel 16:9-10
Shimei continues to hurl insults at the king.
But then things get violent when he starts throwing rocks and dirt at David.
At that point, Avishai, David’s nephew and one of his military commanders, loses patience.
He tells David he’s going to behead this old man for even daring to curse the King of Israel.
But David stops him and scolds him for being so quick to turn to the sword to settle matters.
Right here, we get another glimpse of the old David from times past when he remained calm and humble, even amid chaos.
The truth was, David felt like he deserved every insult Shimei was hurling at him.
He sensed the Lord was using this old man to express out loud what others were already thinking.
So what was the use in silencing him?
If it was God’s Will, then let Shimei insult him to his heart’s content.
David knew his only hope of being delivered lay in the Lord anyway.
If it was God who had cursed him in the first place, there was nothing he could do to avoid the current situation.
This also brings to mind a scene from the New Testament.
Recall when Yeshua was traveling to Jerusalem near the end of his earthly ministry.
Just like King David and his men, Yeshua and his disciples had wandered into hostile territory.
Yeshua was insulted by Samaritan villagers, and his followers wanted to retaliate with violence.
Here’s what went down:
“And it came about, when the days
were approaching for His ascension, that He
resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem;
and He sent messengers on ahead of Him.
And they went and entered a village of the
Samaritans, to make arrangements for Him.
And they did not receive Him,
because he was journeying
with His face toward Jerusalem.
And when His disciples
James and John saw this,
they said, “Lord, do You want us
to command fire to come
down from heaven and consume them?”
But he turned and rebuked them, and said,
“You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;
for the Son of Man did not come
to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”
And they went on to another village.
-Luke 9:51-56
The villagers of Samaria were quite unwelcoming.
Yet this was what was prophesied long ago.
So Yeshua was not about to use violence to put a stop to them.
Again, it was the same situation as when Shimei insulted the king.
Since it was prophesied as part of a divine curse, David sensed he had no right to intervene.
Just as the Messiah came to save and not to kill, so too did David leave Jerusalem to save people’s lives.
So, why resort to violence now?
When Yeshua’s followers wanted to call down fire on some Samaritans, they were rebuked.
They had not yet surrendered to the Holy Spirit inside of them.
Yet Yeshua, filled with the Spirit, had no hate for the Samaritans and wasn’t about to take their lives because they insulted him.
There are many parallels here.
Just as Yeshua scolded his disciples for being so hot-headed, so too did David scold his nephews, the sons of Tz’ruyah for being so willing to trade insults with swords.
That wasn’t David’s way, and it wasn’t Yeshua’s way.
Again, you can see how David’s character foreshadows the Messiah, who is aptly also called a “Son of David” in the New Testament.
It’s all about the patterns, folks!
Psalms 69:4
[4]Those who hate me without cause
outnumber the hairs on my head.
Many enemies try to destroy me with lies,
demanding that I give back what I didn’t steal. There are few things worse in life than being accused of a crime you didn’t commit and for which you are unable to prove your innocence. There may not be rock solid proof of your guilt, but circumstantial evidence coupled with a prior criminal history may well convict you in the court of public opinion if not a court of law. People who resented you for your prior offense might at some point seize the opportunity to frame you for a new alleged crime and that can turn into a never ending nightmare. Ironically our court system may forgive an offender to some degree, perhaps with an expungement or pardon, but embittered individuals who never forgave the offender may seek to bring about vigilante justice, feeling the courts did not execute adequate justice. I’m not sure if this is what David meant by having to pay back what he did not steal but it sounds like it. We’re told that ultimately David will one day rule over the twelve tribes of Israel but there may be many who will take God to task over that and some may choose the lake of fire rather than serve a God who would wield that brand of justice. And yes I speak from experience in all of this.