The Sovereignty in the Spitting
Introduction: The Age of the Digital Mob
We live in an age where every man has a stone in his hand and a megaphone at his lips. Ours is the generation of the perpetual outrage, the digital mob, and the flying accusation. A man's reputation can be dismantled in an afternoon by a swarm of anonymous Shimeis, casting their digital dust and stones from the cheap seats of social media. In such a world, the natural, carnal response is to armor up, to draw the sword, to meet fury with fury. The sons of Zeruiah are legion, and their counsel is always the same: "Let me go over and take off his head." It is the logic of escalation, of honor and revenge, and it is the default setting of the unregenerate human heart.
But the Christian is called to a different response, a response that appears to the world as either weakness or madness. It is a response rooted not in the defense of our own honor, but in the absolute, meticulous, and sometimes terrifying sovereignty of God. This passage is a master class in godly response to unjust affliction. David, at the absolute nadir of his life, fleeing from his own son, is met with the foulest kind of partisan cursing. And his reaction is a staggering display of theological depth. He sees past the instrumental cause, the snarling "dead dog" on the hillside, and he sees the ultimate cause, the hand of Yahweh.
This is not stoicism. This is not passive resignation. This is robust, masculine faith. It is the faith that understands that God is God not just when the choir is singing and the offerings are plentiful, but also when the curses are flying and the dust is in your eyes. This passage confronts our modern sensibilities head-on. It demolishes the therapeutic gospel that promises a life free of affliction, and it demolishes the worldly gospel that measures a man's strength by his capacity for retaliation. What we see in David is a stunning prefigurement of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return.
The Text
And King David came to Bahurim, and behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out cursing continually as he came. He also threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David; and all the people and all the mighty men were at his right hand and at his left. And thus Shimei said when he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and vile fellow! Yahweh has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and Yahweh has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!”
Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me pass over now and remove his head.” But the king said, “What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if Yahweh has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’ ” Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son who came forth from my body seeks my life; how much more now this Benjamite? Let him alone and let him curse, for Yahweh has told him. Perhaps Yahweh will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day.” So David and his men went on the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside parallel with him and as he went he cursed and cast stones and threw dust at him. Then the king and all the people who were with him arrived weary and he refreshed himself there.
(2 Samuel 16:5-14 LSB)
The Curses of a Dead Dog (vv. 5-8)
We begin with the appearance of this bitter partisan, Shimei.
"And King David came to Bahurim, and behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei... he came out cursing continually..." (2 Samuel 16:5)
Shimei is a Benjamite, from the clan of the deposed King Saul. He is the voice of the old, defeated regime. His hatred for David is not personal; it is political, it is tribal. He sees David's current calamity, fleeing from Absalom, as the perfect opportunity to kick a man when he is down. His cursing is not a one-off outburst; it is continual. He is throwing stones, not just insults. This is a visceral, venomous assault.
His accusation is specific: "Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed... Yahweh has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul" (vv. 7-8). Now, is this true? In one sense, David is a man of bloodshed. His sin with Bathsheba led directly to the murder of Uriah. The sword, as Nathan prophesied, would not depart from his house, and here is the proof, his own son seeking his life. But is he guilty of the specific charge Shimei lays? No. David had multiple opportunities to kill Saul and refused. He mourned the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. He dealt justly with the house of Saul. Shimei's accusation is slander. It is fake news, as we would say today.
But notice how Shimei theologizes his slander. He frames it as the justice of Yahweh. This is what makes such curses so potent and so wicked. He is taking the Lord's name in vain to sanctify his personal, partisan bitterness. He is claiming to be God's prosecuting attorney, but he is just a malicious heckler. And yet, as we will see, God in His sovereignty can use even a lying prosecutor to accomplish His holy purposes. God can write straight with crooked lines, and He can preach a true sermon through a false prophet.
The Sword of the Sons of Zeruiah (v. 9)
Next, we get the predictable, carnal, and worldly response from Abishai.
"Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, 'Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me pass over now and remove his head.'" (2 Samuel 16:9 LSB)
Abishai, along with his brother Joab, are consistently presented as the "sons of Zeruiah." This is a label that designates a particular mindset. They are men of action, fiercely loyal to David, but their solutions are always violent, swift, and worldly. They operate on the principle of honor and retribution. An insult must be met with death. A challenge must be met with the sword. Abishai is not wrong to be offended. Shimei is a "dead dog," a contemptible nobody, insulting the Lord's anointed. The insult is real.
But his solution is carnal. "Let me... remove his head." This is the logic of the flesh. It is the logic of self-preservation, of reputation management through violence. It is the logic that cannot see a divine purpose in affliction. It only sees a problem to be eliminated. Many of us have an inner Abishai. When we are slandered online, when our name is dragged through the mud, when we are insulted, that voice of the son of Zeruiah rises up and says, "Let's go get him." It is a righteous-sounding impulse, but it is often deeply unspiritual. It fails to ask the most important question: what is God doing here?
The Sovereignty in the Affliction (vv. 10-12)
David's response is one of the most profound displays of faith in the entire Old Testament.
"But the king said, 'What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if Yahweh has told him, "Curse David," then who shall say, "Why have you done so?"'" (2 Samuel 16:10 LSB)
David immediately rebukes the worldly wisdom of his general. "What have I to do with you?" He is saying, "Your way of thinking and my way of thinking are on two different planets." And then he lays down the axiom of divine sovereignty. He acknowledges that Shimei is the secondary cause, but Yahweh is the primary cause. If God has commissioned this curse, who is Abishai to countermand a divine order?
David is not saying that Shimei is a righteous prophet. He is not affirming the content of the slander. He is affirming the providence of God over the slander. God is using this foul-mouthed Benjamite as a rod of discipline. David connects the dots. "Behold, my son who came forth from my body seeks my life; how much more now this Benjamite?" (v. 11). David knows this entire disaster is the fruit of his own sin with Bathsheba. He sees this humiliation as part of the package of consequences that Nathan prophesied. Because he has a clear conscience about Shimei's specific charge, but a guilty conscience before God for his greater sin, he is able to receive this lesser, unjust affliction as part of God's just judgment on him.
And this leads not to despair, but to hope. "Perhaps Yahweh will look on my affliction and return good to me instead of his cursing this day" (v. 12). This is the logic of the gospel. David understands that when a repentant man humbly accepts the affliction God sends, God is pleased to turn that very affliction into a source of blessing. He is entrusting himself to the one who judges justly. By refusing to take matters into his own hands, he is leaving room for God to act. He is trading the temporary satisfaction of Abishai's sword for the possibility of God's "good." This is faith. It is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, even while stones and curses are flying.
The Long Walk of Endurance (vv. 13-14)
The scene concludes with a picture of weary, patient endurance.
"So David and his men went on the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside parallel with him and as he went he cursed and cast stones and threw dust at him." (2 Samuel 16:13 LSB)
This was not a brief encounter. Shimei kept at it, walking along the opposite ridge, a constant, screeching harassment. And David just kept walking. He and his men were weary. This is a picture of the Christian life. Sometimes, God does not deliver us from the trial immediately. He calls us to walk a long, weary road with the voice of the accuser echoing in our ears. The call is simply to endure, to keep putting one foot in front of the other, trusting that God's purpose is being worked out even in the weariness, even in the dust.
David's refusal to retaliate was not weakness. It was strength under control. He had his mighty men with him. One word from him and Shimei would have been silenced forever. But David's strength was in his submission to God's providence. True masculine strength is not the inability to be provoked; it is the refusal to be provoked for the wrong reasons. It is the strength to absorb a blow for the sake of a greater good, trusting in the final vindication of God.
The Greater David
This entire episode is a glorious pointer to the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. When we see Shimei on the hillside, cursing and throwing dust at the rightful king, we should see a preview of the crowds at Golgotha. They hurled their insults at the King of the Jews. They spat on Him. They mocked Him, crying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!"
And what was His response? Did He call for the sword of Abishai? He could have summoned more than twelve legions of angels. But instead, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Like David, He saw past the instrumental causes, the Roman soldiers, the jeering mob, the corrupt priests, and He saw the hand of His Father. "Shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" (John 18:11).
Jesus took the ultimate curse. Shimei's curse was unjust slander. The curse Jesus bore on the tree was the just and holy wrath of God against our sin. He became the "man of bloodshed," bearing the guilt for all our violence, all our rebellion, all our sin. He received the ultimate affliction so that God might return to us the ultimate good, eternal life. Because He endured the curse, we are set free from it.
Therefore, when we are insulted, when the dead dogs of this world bark at our heels, we are called to follow in the steps of David, and more importantly, in the steps of David's Son. We do not need to draw the sword of Zeruiah to defend our honor, because our honor is hidden with Christ in God. We can afford to be slandered because our justification has been secured by His blood. We can receive affliction with humility, not because we are sinless, but precisely because we know we are sinners who have been shown immeasurable grace. And we can trust that our Father is so sovereign and so good that He can take the bitterest curses of our enemies and, by the strange alchemy of the cross, turn them into blessings for our good and for His glory.