Week 82, Day 1: David’s flight
Today’s Reading: 2 Samuel 16:1-23
Some thoughts from today’s reading…
As David is fleeing before Absalom he is met by a couple different people. One of them was from the house of Saul. He verbally and physically attacked the caravan as it traveled along the road. He slung curses at David calling him a man of bloodshed. He claimed that God was repaying the bloodshed David had inflicted on the house of Saul. But the only bloodshed that David had directly inflicted on Saul’s household was to slay the seven sons of Saul as punishment for Saul’s attack against the Gibeonites and that had not happened yet. This also was not an act of vengence by David but justice for wrongs done by Saul. So either Shimei is just blaming David for all the calamity that befell Saul’s household since David is now king or perhaps he is blaming him for Ish-bosheth’s death. Either way it is an unfounded claim of wrong doing against David. And yet David feels so low because he is being driven out and punished for his sin with Bathsheba. He wonders if God wants this man to curse him. Notice how this man doesn’t just meet David and say something to him about how he deserves this, he follows him down the road hurling stones and continuing to rant at David. I believe that we see an amazing amount of restraint by David when he does not punish this man upon his return to be king.
Question: How should we react when someone is cursing us or assaulting us? What can our response show others?
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