2 Samuel 16

2 Samuel 16 continues the narrative of 2 Samuel 15. It alternates between the flight of David, who has left Jerusalem to escape Absalom's rebellion, and the actions of Absalom's party in the city David has abandoned.

Outline

• Verses 1–4 Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, meets David with two donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine. Ziba reports that Mephibosheth expects the kingdom to be restored to him. On hearing this, David gives all of Mephibosheth's property to Ziba.
• Verses 5–14 At Bahurim, Shimei, a member of the house of Saul, curses David and throws stones at him. Abishai asks permission to cut off his head. David tells him to leave Shimei alone, saying that the LORD has bidden him to curse.
• Verses 15–19 Absalom enters Jerusalem with Ahithophel. Hushai, David's friend, comes to Absalom and declares that he will serve him.
• Verses 20–23 Following Ahithophel's counsel, Absalom lies with his father's concubines in a tent pitched on the roof, in the sight of all Israel.

Key Verses

• 2 Samuel 16:11, "let him alone, and let him curse": shows David's refusal to retaliate in the face of insult.
• 2 Samuel 16:12, "the LORD will requite me good": David entrusts the judgment of the wrong done to him to God.
• 2 Samuel 16:22: read as the fulfillment of the judgment announced by Nathan (2 Samuel 12:11–12).

Characters and Places

• Mephibosheth: the son of Jonathan and grandson of Saul.
• Ziba: a servant of the house of Saul who managed Mephibosheth's estate.
• Shimei: a member of the house of Saul, the son of Gera, of the tribe of Benjamin.
• Abishai: the son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab.
• Hushai: David's friend, an Archite. In chapter 15, David sent him back to Jerusalem to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel.
• Ahithophel: a counselor (an adviser who devises strategy) who sided with Absalom.
• Bahurim: a village on the road from Jerusalem toward the Jordan.

Points for Reflection

• This chapter does not confirm whether Ziba's report is true. In 2 Samuel 19, Mephibosheth says that Ziba slandered him.
• The text does not specify what Shimei means by "the blood of the house of Saul." Interpretations therefore differ: some take it to refer to the deaths of Ish-bosheth and Abner, others to the execution of Saul's descendants in 2 Samuel 21.
• David's response is read by some as faith that accepts God's sovereignty and by others as resignation under a sense of guilt. His refusal to return insult for insult is sometimes read alongside 1 Peter 2:23.
• Shimei is pardoned in chapter 19 but executed in 1 Kings 2.
• The view that Ahithophel was the grandfather of Bathsheba is an inference drawn by connecting 2 Samuel 11:3 and 23:34; the text does not state it directly.

In Korean Churches

The account of David enduring Shimei's curses is frequently used as a sermon text on patience and humility in suffering.