2 Samuel 16:1-14
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 humbly 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, 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 bloody 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, 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, 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 cast dust. 14 And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary, and refreshed themselves there.
Charles Spurgeon once said “Whenever God means to make a man great, he always breaks him in pieces first.” The people that God has used greatly over the years have all encountered great shares of trials and tears. It is because the key to the Christian life, the life walking with God, is trust. Trials have a way of removing our trust in ourselves and bringing us to humble ourselves and put our trust in the Lord. This was certainly true in David’s life. While David was a great man of faith and wrote perhaps more about trusting in the Lord than anyone else, that trust had to be forged in the furnace of trials time and again. 2 Samuel 15-18 was such a time in David’s life. It was the lowest point of the man’s life and it occurred near the end of his life. His own sons had brought turmoil into his house as a result of his own sin and his son Absalom led an all-out rebellion to take the kingdom from him. While in exile during Absalom’s rebellion, David would be humbled and brought to the place where he had to look up once again to put his trust in the Lord. While he and his entourage traveled and wept, they had some friends join them and promise aid to them. Those friends were Ittai, Zadok, Abiathar, and Hushai in 2 Samuel 15. Now, in 2 Samuel 16, David would encounter two more individuals with not so helpful motives. In trials, the Lord will not only provide us help through our circumstances, but He will also test and teach us. What lessons do we need to learn as we are weathering the storm of a trial. We find three lessons that we can draw out of David’s life from his interactions with Ziba and Shimei.
The first thing we must learn to do in trials is to seek discernment. After being met by some friends in chapter 15 in exile, David would be joined by another figure who posed as a friend. Ziba is a man we have already been introduced to back in 2 Samuel 9. He was the servant of Saul’s household that David inquired of to discover Mephibosheth. Ziba and his large household ended up being made servants of Mephibosheth, who inherited all that belonged to Saul and was given a seat at David’s table. Here, in 2 Samuel 16:1-4, Ziba came to David with gifts and supplies saddled on two donkeys. These gifts were very welcome to the tired entourage that David had with him. However, David asked Ziba about Mephibosheth. Ziba told David that Mephibosheth had chosen to stay in Jerusalem and seize the opportunity to claim the throne for himself. Without searching out the matter to discover what was actually true, David promised all of the inheritance that he had originally given to Mephibosheth to be given to Ziba instead. While Scripture never tells us explicitly whether Ziba lied here or not, it seems that Ziba’s acceptance of the inheritance here revealed his true motives. Later on, in 2 Samuel 19 when David returned to Jerusalem and met Mephibosheth, Mephibosheth would appear as though he had been mourning over all that had transpired with David. In addition, he would give the explanation as to why he stayed behind. He would tell David that Ziba had deceived him and told him to stay behind because of his lameness. In response, David made the decision to divide the inheritance between the two men and Mephibosheth would reply with “Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house” (2 Samuel 19:30). It seems that Ziba was kind to David to benefit from the king and that Mephibosheth was content with the king himself. Ziba accepted the inheritance, but Mephibosheth was fine to give it all up. Because David failed here to search out the matter, he made a rash decision. During trials, you and I must exercise discernment, especially when it comes to whom we trust for help. Discernment is not some whimsical or mystical feeling about a person. Instead, discernment is acting according to revealed truth. When it comes to trials and difficulties, our decisions should never be guided by our own emotions or the manipulative actions of others (like Ziba’s false kindness and flattery here). Instead, our actions should always be guided by truth and wisdom.
The second thing we must learn to do in trials is to seek humility. In verses 5-11, we are introduced to another figure, a member of Saul’s extended family named Shimei. Shimei encountered David and his entourage while they traveled and he hurled rocks and insults at them as they traveled along. He cursed David and told David that everything that was happening to him was as a result of his guilt for all that had happened to the household of Saul. In response, Abishai, Joab’s brother and David’s nephew, wanted to “take off his head” (v. 9), but David responded by forbidding Abishai from acting and saying “so let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?… 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” (v. 10-11). David recognized that even if Shimei’s motives and reasoning were all wrong, he knew that he justly deserved every bit of what he was receiving. Twice in verses 10 and 11 he attributed what he received from Shimei as being from “the Lord.” David willingly endured insults and absorbed blows from rocks being thrown at him in humility because he recognized that everything he endured during this exile was ultimately from the disciplinary hand of his heavenly Father. R. C. Sproul once wrote, “When I think I’m unfairly hated. I try to remember that I’m unfairly loved” and Charles Spurgeon said, “If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him. For you are worse than he thinks you to be.” There are clearly times where we are mistreated or we endure things from others who are wrong in their motivation and thinking, but we are always required to respond to trials and mistreatment with humility. Our goal as we endure trials is not to come out ahead, make ourselves great, to receive sympathy, or even to be vindicated. Instead, our goal with everything that we go through is to model the character of Christ who did no wrong, yet suffered the wrath of God willingly for our sin. Throughout his life, there is one area that David did not compromise and that was lashing out at enemies that were from Saul’s family. This remained true with Shimei. He faithfully endured all that Saul’s household would bring against him because he trusted that ultimately the Lord would accomplish His will in his life. Here is one of those moments where David displays great humility and submission to the Lord. Pain and sorrow may be brought on us by others, but we can rest assured that our Lord takes even that and works it for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). Our Lord Jesus submitted Himself to the vilest mistreatment at the hands of men, yet He had done no wrong. He subjected Himself to suffering for what all of us have done. He calls us to faithfully represent Him as we endure trials of this life. The key to being able to do that is humility. Humility is putting ourselves aside.
The third thing we must learn to do in trials is to seek hope. In verses 12-14, David reveals something profound and that is that trials serve a purpose of redirecting our hope in the Lord. Our hope in life is not getting what we want. It is not in getting our way. It is not in getting even with enemies. Instead, our hope must be directed upward in the Lord and His sovereign purposes. David trusted that the Lord would look on his difficulty with Shimei and exile and return “good for his cursing” (v. 12). Either God would relent some of the consequences that David endured or the Lord would work good from what David endured. Either way, David knew that his only hope was not in the changing circumstances themselves, but in the God who directed them and was sovereign over them. Verse 13 reveals that Shimei didn’t give up. Instead, he just kept on cursing and throwing stones. Verse 14 tells us that David and his people didn’t feel any better, but were still “weary.” However, they found refreshment when they came to the place in Bahurim. The point was that Shimei was allowed to continue on doing what he did, but the Lord would faithfully deliver David and his people through it all to where the Lord willed them to go. David trusted that the Lord would work the ultimate good from this painful situation. The purpose of the trial then and the trials of our lives now as believers is to direct our hope and focus to the Lord. Trials then become a joy to the believer, not because they are pleasant, but because of what they produce. Charles Spurgeon once said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that threw me against the Rock of Ages.” There was hope in what transpired with Shimei and the exile. While both were unpleasant, painful, and the result of the sinful actions of wicked enemies, they were reminders to David that the Lord had not forgotten or abandoned him. They were proofs that the Lord loved and disciplined David as a son. The same is true for trials in our lives.
Trials are never fun. No type of testing usually is. However, trials are invaluable to the believer to grow and become like Christ. God has promised to work “all things together for good” to those that are His (Romans 8:28). That “good” is to make all who are His like Christ (Romans 8:29). Trials and difficulty are means that God uses to achieve that “good.” You and I are not always responsible for our circumstances, but we are always responsible for our responses to them. How are we to respond to trials? Are we acting on truth or feelings? Are we humbly submitting or pridefully demanding? Are we directing our hope to the Lord or focusing on how we might find hope by fixing our circumstances? We must seek discernment, seek humility, and seek hope.