Synopsis of the Chapter
Ziba meets David as he flees, offering food. Then, verse 5, Shimei curses David; whereupon Abishai demands his death, but David forbids it. Then, verse 15, Absalom enters Jerusalem and publicly violates his father's concubines.
Verse 1: Ziba's Treachery ¶
1. ZIBA THE SERVANT OF MEPHIBOSHETH APPEARED. -- "Servant," that is, the attendant and steward who managed and administered all the property of Mephibosheth. This wicked servant, coveting the estates of his lame and wretched master, in order to obtain them from David, went out of Jerusalem, indeed preceded the fleeing David, and met David with abundant provisions, falsely accusing his master of treason.
Verse 4: David's Rash Judgment ¶
4. LET ALL THAT BELONGED TO MEPHIBOSHETH BE YOURS. -- Too quickly David believed Ziba when he accused his master Mephibosheth: and therefore stripped him, as if ungrateful, of his estates, and gave them to the greedy Ziba, who was coveting them. Therefore David sinned, since he rashly stripped Mephibosheth, who was innocent, unheard, and wretched, and the son of his beloved Jonathan, of all his goods.
Verse 5: Shimei Curses David ¶
5. NAMED SHIMEI. -- St. Jerome in the Hebrew Traditions says this Shimei was Nebat the father of Jeroboam, who made a schism from Rehoboam, David's grandson. But that this is false is clear from the fact that Shimei was the son of Jemini, and therefore of the tribe of Benjamin and a kinsman of Saul. But Jeroboam and his father Nebat were of the tribe of Ephraim.
AND HE CURSED AND THREW STONES AT DAVID. -- The Hebrews relate that Shimei hurled five atrocious curses and insults at David.
Verse 10: David's Patient Endurance ¶
10. AND THE KING SAID: WHAT IS IT TO ME AND TO YOU, SONS OF ZERUIAH? -- that is to say, What concern have I with your indignation and quarrel against Shimei? I do not wish it attributed to me, I do not wish to be a party to it.
LET HIM ALONE, LET HIM CURSE. -- Here the wonderful endurance of so great an injury by David shines forth.
FOR THE LORD COMMANDED HIM TO CURSE DAVID. -- David, conscious of his adultery and murder, from humility and penitence thought that God had sent Shimei and commanded him to reproach him with these crimes, and thus to punish him as he deserved.
Tropologically, let us imitate David who, when cursed by Shimei, was thinking about his sins by which he had deserved this, and therefore bore it patiently. So St. Gregory, book XXXI of the Morals: "Then we bear well the insults inflicted upon us, when in the secret of our mind we recall the evils we have committed, and see that we deserve worse." Let the patient and penitent person therefore say to himself: I have mortally offended God; I have deserved to burn eternally in hell. Shall I not therefore bear this little cursing word?
St. Ambrose, book I On Duties: "He went as if mute and humbled, he went in silence: nor was he moved, when he was called a man of blood, he who was conscious of his own gentleness. And so he who is quickly moved by an injury makes himself seem worthy of the insult, while he wishes to be proven unworthy of it. Better therefore is he who despises the injury than he who grieves over it."
Golden is the saying of St. Basil, sermon Against the Angry: "Not even in solitudes is an echo returned so intact to the one who uttered the voice, as insults return to the one who hurls them." Similar is that of Tertullian, book On Patience: "If I cannot hear with equanimity some insolent or wicked word said against me, I must either return the bitterness in kind, or I will be tortured by mute impatience. But he who has blocked his ears against such words will be freed from both inconveniences." So David blocked his ears.
St. Augustine explains how God "inclined" the will of Shimei: He held, directed, restrained the will already inclined toward cursing, and prevented it from directing itself against anyone other than David, and permitted it to pour out all its venom upon him. Just as one who holds a lion tied on a chain, when various dogs are presented does not permit it to spring upon them, but only upon a certain mastiff, and then loosens the rope -- this person is said to have sent the lion against the mastiff, even though he did not actively send it. In a similar way God here dealt with Shimei.
Verse 21: Absalom Violates the Concubines ¶
21. GO IN TO YOUR FATHER'S CONCUBINES. -- This is the fifth punishment of David, and one fitting the crime. For just as David himself had secretly violated Bathsheba; so Absalom violated his concubines, not secretly, but publicly in the sight of all the people; which was great impudence, impiety, and lust. The crafty but impious Ahithophel gave this counsel to Absalom.
22. THEY THEREFORE SPREAD A TENT FOR ABSALOM ON THE TERRACE -- that is, on the platform or roof (for roofs in Judea were flat like platforms), so that he could be seen by the entire people.
Verse 23: The Counsel of Ahithophel ¶
23. THE COUNSEL OF AHITHOPHEL WAS AS IF ONE CONSULTED GOD -- that is, it was considered by all to be most prudent and divine, as if to say: The counsel of Ahithophel was valued as an oracle.