2 Samuel 16King James Version
On the road, a man named Shimei throws stones and curses David as he passes. David's men want to kill him. David refuses: 'Let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David.' Absalom, meanwhile, enters Jerusalem and takes David's concubines on the roof, in the sight of all Israel, to make his rebellion public and unforgiven.
As David flees, Ziba brings him supplies and claims Mephibosheth has stayed to reclaim his grandfather's throne. David grants Ziba all of Mephibosheth's land. Shimei ben Gera, a Benjaminite from Saul's clan, curses David openly, throwing stones and dirt. Abishai wants to cut off his head; David restrains him. In Jerusalem, Hushai arrives and presents himself to Absalom. Ahithophel advises Absalom to sleep with David's concubines publicly, fulfilling Nathan's prophecy.
On David's worst day, his enemies curse him to his face and his own counselor publishes his humiliation. He absorbs it all without retaliation.
11: "And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him." David frames his humiliation as part of God's working, not just Shimei's hatred.
Around 979 BC, the day of the flight from Jerusalem. Shimei's village of Bahurim lay on the route down from the Mount of Olives toward the Jordan. Shimei had been waiting for this moment; he follows the road along the hillside throwing stones and shouting. The image of a king being pelted with dirt by a private citizen while his guards stand restrained is deliberately lowering.
Ziba, opportunistic and probably lying about Mephibosheth; Shimei, whose cursing is visceral and specific, calling David a man of blood; David, who refuses to silence him; Hushai, now embedded in Absalom's court; Ahithophel, advising Absalom to make his rebellion publicly irreversible.
Ahithophel's counsel to sleep with David's concubines is described as like receiving the word of God in its reliability. That makes his eventual failure more devastating and more theologically pointed. Hushai is the counterweight: an older, trusted figure who will undermine Ahithophel's brilliant advice with plausible-sounding slower counsel, buying David the time he needs.
For when you are running and someone stops to tell you everything they think is wrong with you. David keeps walking. He does not defend himself. He says the LORD told him to be cursed today.
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 meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king's 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 thy master's son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father.
4Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.
5And when king David came to Bahurim, 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.
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, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial:
8The LORD hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the LORD hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man.
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 thee, and take off his head.
10And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?
11And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more now may this Benjamite do it? let him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD hath bidden him.
12It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.
13And as David and his men went by the way, Shimei went along on the hill's side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust.
14And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.
15And Absalom, and all the people the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.
16And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David's 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 thy kindness to thy friend? why wentest thou not with thy friend?
18And Hushai said unto Absalom, Nay; but whom the LORD, and this people, and all the men of Israel, choose, his will I be, and with him will I abide.
19And again, whom should I serve? should I not serve in the presence of his son? as I have served in thy father's presence, so will I be in thy presence.
20Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.
21And Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Go in unto thy father's concubines, which he hath left to keep the house; and all Israel shall hear that thou art abhorred of thy father: then shall the hands of all that are with thee be strong.
22So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel.
23And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled 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.