2 Samuel 16

2Sa 16:1-4.

ZIBA, BY

FALSE

SUGGESTIONS,

CLAIMS

HIS

MASTER'S

INHERITANCE.

1. Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him--This crafty man,

anticipating the certain failure of Absalom's conspiracy, took steps to

prepare for his future advancement on the restoration of the king.

a bottle of wine--a large goatskin vessel. Its size made the supply

of wine proportioned to the rest of his present.

2. The asses be for the king's household to ride on--The royal

fugitives were moving on foot, not from inability to procure

conveyances, but as being suitable to their present state of

humiliation and penitence.

3. To-day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my

father--Such a hope might not unnaturally arise at this period of

civil distraction, that the family of David would destroy themselves by

their mutual broils, and the people reinstate the old dynasty. There

was an air of plausibility in Ziba's story. Many, on whom the king had

conferred favors, were now deserting him. No wonder, therefore, that in

the excitement of momentary feeling, believing, on the report of a

slanderer, Mephibosheth to be among the number, he pronounced a rash

and unrighteous judgment by which a great injury was inflicted on the

character and interests of a devoted friend.

2Sa 16:5-19.

SHIMEI

CURSES

DAVID.

5-12. when king David came to Bahurim--a city of Benjamin

(2Sa 3:16; 19:16).

It is, however, only the confines of the district that are here meant.

Shimei, . . . a man of the family of Saul--The

misfortune of his family, and the occupation by David of what they

considered their rightful possessions, afforded a natural, if not a

justifiable cause for this ebullition of rude insults and violence. He

upbraided David as an ambitious usurper, and charged him, as one whose

misdeeds had recoiled upon his own head, to surrender a throne to which

he was not entitled. His language was that of a man incensed by the

wrongs that he conceived had been done to his house. David was

guiltless of the crime of which Shimei accused him; but his conscience

reminded him of other flagrant iniquities; and he, therefore, regarded

the cursing of this man as a chastisement from heaven. His answer to

Abishai's proposal evinced the spirit of deep and humble

resignation--the spirit of a man who watched the course of Providence,

and acknowledged Shimei as the instrument of God's chastening hand. One

thing is remarkable, that he acted more independently of the sons of

Zeruiah in this season of great distress than he could often muster

courage to do in the days of his prosperity and power.

13. went along on the hill's side over against him--as he descended

the rough road on the eastern side of the Mount of Olives, "went along

on the hill's side"--literally, "the rib of the hill."

threw stones at him--as a mark of contempt and insult.

cast dust--As if to add insult to injury, clouds of dust were thrown

14. refreshed themselves there--that is, in the city of Bahurim.

15-19. Hushai said unto Absalom, God save the king--Hushai's devotion

to David was so well-known, that his presence in the camp of the

conspirators excited great surprise. Professing, however, with great

address, to consider it his duty to support the cause which the course

of Providence and the national will had seemingly decreed should

triumph, and urging his friendship for the father as a ground of

confidence in his fidelity to the son, he persuaded Absalom of his

sincerity, and was admitted among the councillors of the new king.

2Sa 16:20-23.

AHITHOPHEL'S

COUNSEL.

20. Give counsel among you what we shall do--This is the first cabinet

council on record, although the deference paid to Ahithophel gave him

the entire direction of the proceedings.

21. Ahithophel said unto Absalom--This councillor saw that now the

die was cast; half measures would be inexpedient. To cut off all

possibility of reconciliation between the king and his rebellious son,

he gave this atrocious advice regarding the treatment of the royal

women who had been left in charge of the palace. Women, being held

sacred, are generally left inviolate in the casualties of war. The

history of the East affords only one parallel to this infamous outrage

of Absalom.