“Shim‘i the son of Gera, the Binyamini from Bachurim, hurried and came down with the men of Y’hudah to meet King David.”-2 Samuel 19:17
When David arrived at the riverbank of the Jordan, he was greeted by none other than Shimei, the cantankerous old man who had cursed David when he was fleeing Jerusalem.
Interestingly, Tziva also shows up.
Recall he was the steward who was responsible for looking over Mephibosheth’s estate.
When David was departing Jerusalem, Tziva brought David food and wine for his journey.
He also informed David that Mephibosheth was too busy to come out and pay his respects to David.
This would have been seen as an act of betrayal and a sign that Mephibosheth had decided to place his bets with Absalom.
David was so offended and angry that he officially turned over Mephibosheth’s estate to Tziva.
Obviously, this would have pleased Tziva to no end.
We get the sense that Tziva was scheming for this to happen all along.
Anyway, let’s get back to Shimei.
So the tables had turned.
The man who had leveled terrible curses against the King now found himself in a very weakened position.
The rebellion he had so openly supported had come to a complete failure.
So aggressively violent were the insults Shimei hurled at David that one of David’s senior men volunteered to go ahead and behead Shimei for his curses.
However, David decided against it.
David figured if what was happening to him was the result of God’s judgment, it made no sense to kill the person who was basically carrying out God’s Will.
Yet, Shimei was now bowing and scraping before the king, asking for forgiveness for having cursed him.
Now, in our day and age, you’re probably thinking, big whoopee frickin’ doo.
So David was cursed.
Big deal.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me…as the adage goes.
I get what you’re saying.
But here’s the thing.
In the Bible, a curse was a severe thing.
It was proclaimed in God’s name and thus considered a divine utterance that carried the intention of causing real, physical damage in a person’s life.
Cursing wasn’t some casual undertaking due to losing your temper.
It only happened in the most extreme of circumstances.
If someone went out of their way to curse you in the Lord’s name, it was believed that the curse would come to pass.
The fact that Shimei so boldly cursed the king to his face and wasn’t put to death is a testament to how much grace David extended to this man.
But not only that.
Shimei was unnerved immeasurably when David returned victoriously.
Why?
Because at that moment, he realized his curses held no power over David.
This leads to our takeaway for today.
David was God’s anointed, and thus under special protection.
This meant the only person capable of cursing David was God Himself.
No one else would be able to harness negative energy to impact David’s life supernaturally.
And the same applies to you…
If you’re the Lord’s, that is.
If you belong to God…
And you remain in His Will…
No force in this universe can do you harm without the Lord allowing it.
Ya feel me?
I’ll leave you with these words from the prophet Isaiah:
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue that rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.”
-Isaiah 54:17
See ya next time!
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