2 Samuel 16:1-23
1 And 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.
2 And 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.
3 And 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.
4 Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humblya beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.
5 And 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,b and cursed still as he came.
6 And 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.
7 And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloodyc man, and thou man of Belial:
8 The 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,d because thou art a bloody man.
9 Then 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.
10 And 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?
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.
12 It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction,e and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.
13 And 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 castf dust.
14 And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.
15 And Absalom, and all the people the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him.
16 And 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.
17 And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy kindness to thy friend? why wentest thou not with thy friend?
18 And 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.
19 And 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.
20 Then said Absalom to Ahithophel, Give counsel among you what we shall do.
21 And 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.
22 So 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.
23 And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the oracleg of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
And when David was a little past the top of the hill, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys that were loaded down with bread, raisins, summer fruits, a bottle of wine. David said, What do you mean by all these things? And Ziba [lied to him,] he said, The donkeys are for the king's household to ride on; the bread and the summer fruit are for the young men to eat; and the wine, so that those that are faint in the wilderness may drink. The king said, And where is Mephibosheth? And Ziba said to the king, Behold, he abides at Jerusalem: because he said, Today they'll restore the kingdom back to me (2 Samuel 16:1-3).
In other words, he's lying to David about Mephibosheth declaring that Mephibosheth was looking to this and saying, "Hey, I'm going to get the kingdom back." That's not true. That's a lie of Ziba.
So David said,
Well everything that I gave to Mephibosheth is yours if we ever get back (2 Samuel 16:4).
Of course later on David found out that he was lying to them.
As he was going along, another relative of Saul, a cousin of sorts, Shimei, the guy's name.
And Shimei came out and began to curse David, running along and throwing rocks at David, throwing dirt in the air, and cursing him. Now Abishai said to David, David that dirty dog, he has no right doing that, let me go take his head off. And David said, No let him go. Maybe God's put it in his heart to curse me (2 Samuel 16:5-10).
David has no fire, just you know, "Maybe God wants him to curse me. Maybe that's what's in God's heart." David is so broken at this point, realizing that this is the fruit of my sin, and yet there is a beautiful submission to David unto God, and unto the will of God, and even unto the judgment of God that which made David a man after God's own heart. He was willing to just commit himself now totally to God, to the judgment of God, "God, if You want to wipe me out, if You want to destroy me, if You want to curse me, whatever You want to do God, do what You want to me."
David isn't resisting any longer. His life now is one of total and complete commitment. He was brought to that place of brokenness. Which so often is necessary in order that we might enter into that place of complete and total submission unto the will of God. Though it is sort of sad to see the fire gone, yet in another way it's beautiful to see now no more resisting, no more defending himself, but just that total commitment, "whatever God wants, let it be."
So Absalom came into Jerusalem, [and David had left ten of his concubines to keep his palace.] And so Ahithophel said to Absalom, Look, put up a tent on the roof of the house, and take the ten concubines in the sight of all the people and take them into the tent. And there in a sense, humiliate them (2 Samuel 16:15; 2 Samuel 16:21).
Now this was showing that a breech was being created between Absalom and David that could not be healed. In other words, the people would feel secure now in following Absalom, because they feel, "Wow, there's no way David could ever forgive this sin." Also, this was a common practice for a king who took over the kingdom from his predecessor, one of the acts of taking the kingdom from his predecessor was taking the king's wives. Even as David took Saul's wives. Taking of the wives of the predecessor again was a part of the succession in the kingdom. So Absalom was really taking this position of superseding David as king, and also creating a breech irreparable between himself and his father.
This was the counsel of Ahithophel and Absalom followed it (2 Samuel 16:23).
The further prophecy of Nathan was fulfilled as we find the wives of David there in the sun before all the people, being publicly humiliated.
Next week we'll begin our lesson in chapter seventeen.
There was one thing I passed over, and I want to come back to it, in verse twenty-five of chapter fourteen it tells a little bit about Absalom, "And all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom, for his beauty. From the sole of his foot, to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him." He was a very beautiful person outwardly, but he was cunning, cruel, and all inwardly. Then it says that he pulled his hair annually. "Because his hair was heavy on him, therefore he pulled it, and the weight of his hair was about two hundred shekels after the king's weight." For every year he grew about three to four pounds of hair.
Now part of their pay was by the pulling of their hair. They would give them so much per shekel and so forth for the pulling of their hair. His weighed between three and four pounds annually, when they'd shave his head and weigh it, about three to four pounds. But it was interesting, it was his hair that led to his death. He was riding through the woods, and his hair got caught on a branch, and he was hanging there by his hair when Joab came along and threw the dart through his heart. So you know, there may be disadvantages but there can be advantages too.
Shall we stand?
Our Father we give thanks unto You for those lessons that can be learned as we study Thy Word together. Lord, enrich us in the knowledge of Thy purposes and Thy will. Help us Lord to grow in grace and in the understanding of Thy truth. Lord, we pray now that Thy Word will be hid in our hearts, and may we be cleaned, washed, through the Word that You have spoken. In Jesus' name, Amen. "