CHAPTER 16

(1023 B.C.)

ZIBA LIES ABOUT MEPHIBOSHETH

¹And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine.

²And the king said unto Ziba, What do you mean by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the kings household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink.

³And the king said, And where is your masters son (speaking of Mephibosheth)? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abides at Jerusalem: for he said, Today shall the House of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father (Ziba lied about Mephibosheth).

⁴Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, you are all that pertains unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech you that I may find grace in your sight, my lord, O king. (This man Ziba lies and schemes to effect a gain of property. At this time of all times, every man in Israel should have been crying to God for help; however, some would take advantage of the crisis as opportunity for personal gain. Im afraid that Ziba is too much akin to so many in the modern Church.)

SHIMEI CURSES DAVID

⁵And when king David came to Bahurim (the Holy Spirit uses the word king, as it refers to David, to portray the fact that, even though many of the people were claiming that Absalom was now king, the Holy Spirit said otherwise), behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera: he came forth, and cursed still as he came (cursed David! The words given in this Verse do not mean that this man was a near relative of Saul, but that he was a member of the Tribe of Benjamin).

⁶And he cast 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.

⁷And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, you bloody man, and you man of Belial (he refers to David as one worthless):

⁸The LORD has returned upon you all the blood of the house of Saul (the man was lying! David had not shed any of the blood of this particular house), in whose stead you have reigned; and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son: and, behold, you are taken in your mischief, because you are a bloody man (in effect, Shimei was accusing David of being the murderer of Saul; that was wholly untrue! However, David could not resent it, because he was the murderer of Uriah).

⁹Then said Abishai the son of Zeruiah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray you, and take off his head.

¹⁰And the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD has said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore have you done so? (David evidently suffered this as a part of the chastening of God for his sin with Bath-sheba. His answer to Abishai expressed a deep and humble resignation to the course of providence. Insults such as this are very difficult to endure, but not for David, as he fully recognized himself as under the Divine Hand of chastening for his sin. For the balance of his life, he was mindful of this cursing by Shimei, but he was determined never to avenge it in his lifetime. He left the matter to the wisdom of Solomon, with it being one of the last things he mentioned in his dying hour [I Ki. 2:8-11].)

¹¹And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeks my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD has bidden him (evidently, the Lord spoke this to Davids heart).

¹²It may be that the LORD will look on my affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day (so I should accept it without recourse).

¹³And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hills side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust (in front of all the people, as would be overly obvious, this was a great insult to the king of Israel and, in fact, one worthy of death).

¹⁴And the king, and all the people who were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.

ABSALOM ENTERS JERUSALEM

¹⁵And Absalom, and all the people the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him (advising Absalom as to what he should do).

¹⁶And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, Davids friend, was come unto Absalom, that Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king, God save the king.

¹⁷And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your kindness to your friend? why went you not with your friend? (Absalom knew that Hushai was a very close friend of his father, David.)

¹⁸And Hushai said unto Absalom, No; but whom the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide (while there had been general lamentation at Davids departure [15:23], yet the citizens had admitted Absalom without a struggle, and submitted to him).

¹⁹And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in your fathers presence, so will I be in your presence. (Hushai was not telling the truth! While the cause was right, the method was wrong. God cannot sanction lying. But yet, the Grace of God, as it has with all of us at one time or the other, overrode the wrong direction, and brought it all out to a successful conclusion; however, He could have done so in a much better way, had David looked to the Lord exclusively, instead of praying, and then trying to answer his own prayers [15:31-37].)

AHITHOPHEL

²⁰Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.

²¹And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto your fathers concubines, which he has left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that you are abhorred of your father: then shall the hands of all who are with you be strong. (This fulfilled what the Lord said would happen [12:11]. Ahithophels counsel was abominable, even though the deed would not be regarded by any of the Israelites as incestuous. A king inherited his predecessors harem, and Absaloms act was a coarse and rude assertion that Davids rights were at an end, and that crown and lands and property, even unto his wives, now all belonged to the usurper. So, Ahithophel, for his own selfish purposes, led Absalom on to a crime which rendered a reconciliation with David impossible, and which pledged all the conspirators to carry out the matter to the bitter end.)

²²So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his fathers concubines in the sight of all Israel (it was when walking on this very roof that David had given way to guilty passion, and now it is the scene of his dishonor).

²³And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counseled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom. (As stated, Ahithophel was Bath-shebas grandfather. Why in the world did he do what he was doing? Why did he have such a hatred for David, who, in fact, had given him everything that he presently had? Considering that this man was perhaps the wisest man in Israel, he should have known better.

To every great gift there is a drawback. Ahithophel obviously trusted his own wisdom instead of looking to the Lord for guidance. As wise as he was, he simply wasnt wise enough, and neither is any other man.)