”Now when King David came to Bahurim, there was a man from the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei the son of Gera, coming from there. He came out, cursing continuously as he came. And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. And all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. Also Shimei said thus when he cursed: “Come out! Come out! You bloodthirsty man, you rogue! The Lord has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son. So now you are caught in your own evil, because you are a bloodthirsty man!”“ II Samuel 16:5-8 NKJV
a. A man from the family of the house of Saul: Shimei was a distant relative of the former King Saul, and he still resented David for replacing the dynasty of Saul.
b. Cursing continuously…. threw stones…. “You bloodthirsty man, you rogue”: Shimei was about as offensive as a person could be. He wanted to destroy any shred of dignity or confidence that David had left.
i. There are always people ready to rejoice when a leader falls. Shimei had this heart against David for a long time, but he could only show it when David was down and out.
ii. “It is very hard to bear a cowardly attack. One is very apt to reply and use hard words to one who takes advantage of your position and deals you the coward’s blow. Only the coward strikes a man when he is down.” (Spurgeon)
c. The LORD has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul…. you are caught in your own evil: A quick look at the outward appearance of things seemed to confirm Shimei’s analysis, but Shimei was wrong. None of this came upon David because of what he did to Saul or Saul’s family.
i. Shimei was wrong because David actually treated Saul and his family with great love and graciousness.
ii. Shimei was wrong because David was not a bloodthirsty man. It is true that he was a man of war, but not a bloodthirsty man.
iii. Shimei was wrong because David did not bring Saul and his family to ruin – Saul himself brought the family to ruin.
iv. Shimei was right that the LORD had brought this upon David, but not for any of the reasons Shimei thought. (Guzik)
Cowardly Attack!
I have found it best not to respond to a cowardly attack and to let God defend me. When you use harsh words to defend yourself you bring yourself to their level and only make the situation worse. If you must say something, use the word of God for a rebuke but that too will deepen the cowardly attack unless the person is a practicing Christian and realizes their sin and repents.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of a cowardly attack but much harder to let go and let God defend you!
How would you respond to a cowardly attack?
Blessings
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