Gathering in South Jersey

In the book of First Samuel, David goes from the heights of success to the depths of defeat before our very eyes.

The sea change takes place in the twelfth chapter where David has murdered Uriah the Hittite in order to conceal the fact that he stole Uriah's wife, Bathsheba.

In this single night's misstep, David's entire monarchy begins to unravel.

We see some of the threads of this unwinding in 1 Samuel 16,... ...where a man named Shimei pelts the king with dirt clods and rocks, hurling as many curses as clods as the sorry train of refugee rulers walks in defeat out of the city.

Dumbstruck by this crude treatment, David's companions offer to destroy the "dog" Shimei, but David refuses, saying rather that God may in fact have sent him.

"No," David says. "Leave him alone."

Why is this passage in Samuel? What part does it play in the drama? Since Samuel's great goal is to communicate the glory of the David, we might suspect that it is out of place in a PR piece for David's dynasty.

Unless we recognize that the Holy Spirit has a Greater Dynasty in mind when revealing to us that David is, in the end, little more than the Wizard of Oz: a little man hiding behind a curtain pretending to be a big man.

David breaks covenant with God. His household management is breaking down piece by piece. Among David's "issues" are adultery, poor fathering, many wives, passive patenting, selfish ambition, vanity, lying, murder, theft, abuse--to name a few.

I think this text is about Gods judgement of David and Davids ministry. God obviously uses odd or incorrect means. Just because Shimei was wrong doesn't mean God didn't send him--a fact that David acknowledges himself. David says, "the Lord told Shimei to curse me."

This text shows David acknowledging Gods divine discipline even though the charges Shimei makes are basically (though not totally) false.

David choses not to exercise his authority and instead leave Shimei to God.

This reminds me in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, where Paul's actions are brought before the council of elders and Gamaliel, a Pharisee, concludes that it is best to leave Paul alone: "What if you find yourselves opposing God?!"

David also doesn't care to find himself opposing God. But, in a twist of irony, the parameters laid down for Shimei are not follwed and later in David's reign, he is executed for leaving the city. (Presumably this has something to do with the city of refuge concept found in the Jewish law.)

There was only one Shimei: only one mocker of the anointed king. But while David was guilty of great sin, David's Greater Son, Jesus, was mocked by soldiers, religious leaders, and the people of God--rejected and despised, even--and yet he had never sinned.

Luke even tells us he was numbered with the transgressors.

How about you? Have you ever been mocked unjustly?

A believer is united to Christ by faith and as such, we're told in Matthew's Gospel, that if they persectued Jesus, they will also persecute Jesus' followers.

Too often, however, our persecution is more like David's than Jesus'. It is because we've sinned and God is calling us out. To oppose such persecution (whether by lawsuit, or simply by festering about it) is to oppose God. Not a good idea.

The next time you face someone who is mocking you, remember what Jesus did in bearing such insults as part of His suffering and death on the cross. His blood was ultimately shed to ransom you from the debt you owed to the wrath of God.

In what is the greatest tragic irony of all time, God became a Shimei to Jesus that we might be accepted by God.

May all other insults in your life pale by comparision to this Good News. No matter how difficult the circumstances, take strength in the obedience and righteousness and love of Jesus. He has not abandoned you to your enemies. Even when you deserve it, He loves you and nothing can separate you from His care.