Bible Commentaries

Pine Traits In the Character of David

2 Samuel 19:4). He cried in a great wilderness. His lamentation sounded hollow in the dreary void. So long as a man can feel distress in this way, there is hope of him; he is not an utterly dead and lost man. Wherever human feeling exhibits itself we may take hope. A tear shows that the door of the heart is still open. If we catch from the worst of men one word of penitence, one sigh of contrition, one utterance of deep genuine grief, let us not blot the man's name out of the record: he yet may entertain the Son of God. Woe be unto him who is past feeling, who takes all tidings with equal indifference, who cares not whether the king be dead or the king be alive, how the battle has gone! He is past feeling; he has become a fool in Israel, and over his burial none will weep. Now that the judgment is passed, or that the clouds have ceased to pour down their wrath for one little moment, it is beautiful to see that the man who has been thus condemned, and justly 2 Samuel 19:5-7).

Joab was an arrogant and imperious 2 Samuel 19:8). He shook off his sorrow, and became the king again. He said: A king must not give way to private grief too long; the king has imperial duties, royal obligations, and his place is not the chamber of solitude for ever; he must go out now and again, and sit in the gate, and show himself to the people. So there the king sat.

"And they told unto all the people saying, Behold the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent" ( 2 Samuel 19:8).

This is the right exercise of influence. We must not allow personal griefs to last so long as to injure public or general responsibility. Sorrow may degenerate into a species of selfishness. We may urge that we are still mourning,—and the mourning in itself is not condemned: it may be right and proper; but life is larger than one hour of its duration; life has its duties; life is a battle-field; life is a continual controversy, and we miss the captain's presence, the eldest soldier's strong hand: we pine and perish because our leader is away. Thus the Bible has lessons for all circumstances and conditions of life: let those who need those lessons lay them wisely to heart.

Now the king was king again. The rebellion of Absalom was over, and the way was quite clear to the throne of Israel. Now it is the king's turn to avenge himself. We have just heard Shimei curse and rave and foam with madness; we have seen that base man throwing stones at the king and dust upon the king's servants;—now the king will be avenged. What does Shimei do now?

"And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David;.... And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king" ( 2 Samuel 19:16, 2 Samuel 19:19-20).

"But Abishai the son of Zeruiah, answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the Lord's anointed?" ( 2 Samuel 19:21).

Abishai would have gone forth, sword in hand, and decapitated the contrite coward, suspecting his contrition, and suspecting it justly. And David would say—Yes; this is our opportunity: the wheel goes round, the whirligig of time keeps moving: now let the hands of my friends be upon this son of Gera and blot him out from the earth? But David did not speak so: said 2 Samuel 19:22-23).

Was he not worth killing? Was he a sincere man? In a little time we shall see. Judgment overtook him, and crushed him, and he lives in history as a rebel and a liar. Let us not presume too much upon God's clemency. We have done evil to our King: we have defiled his house; we have abandoned his altar; we have spent our spite and contempt upon his servants; we have said, Who is the Lord that we should serve him, or the Almighty that we should come unto him? The whole white heaven is empty, and we will do as we please upon the earth. Whilst we are talking 2 Samuel 19:24).

Ziba had told lies to the king about Mephibosheth. Ziba had said: The lame dog tarries in Jerusalem, saying his chance has come now: the house of Saul will return to power; and Mephibosheth lies there in ambush, ready to seize the golden chance; I told thee before, at least suggestively, that 2 Samuel 19:25). A beautiful inquiry! The king is calm. His equanimity assists the expression of his justice. He is nobly generous. See him: fair, wrinkled, grave: grief written all over his face; a man who has seen life in its most troubled aspects, yet chastened, subdued, mellowed: a shepherd-boy turned into a comparatively and prematurely old man. Observe how he looks down upon the lame son of Jonathan, and says, "Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? "I expected to have found thee in my train: wherefore didst thou not come?

"And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame. And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes" ( 2 Samuel 19:26-27).

And the king was generous to Mephibosheth. He seemed to understand the case. He knew the plots of liars, the plans of astute and selfish empirics and adventurers, and he saw in the face of the son of Jonathan some flash of sincerity that reminded him of his fastest friend and of his own oath. These qualities are not to be overlooked in estimating the character of king David. It was right that he should be thundered upon, and that the darts of God's lightning should strike him; at the same time, it is right that we should depict all the finer features, all the more exquisite lineaments of this manifold character. "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." So said the Son of David! Surely the historical father, the lineal ancestor, was not short of the quality which expresses itself in these noble exhortations. Let us quicken our eyes to see fine features, noble excellences; as well as quicken our judgment to criticise with exasperating severity.

David was tender-hearted. In his following there was an old 2 Samuel 17:27). He was one of those who

"Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse, and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness" ( 2 Samuel 17:28-29).

"And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned unto his own place" ( 2 Samuel 19:39).

"But behold thy servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee" ( 2 Samuel 19:37-38).

A sudden temptation seized king David. A great wind smote his little boat on the lake and overturned it as it were without notice. The adversary the devil, who goeth about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, sprang upon king David, and the king gave way. He who killed the lion and the bear and the uncircumcised Philistine; he who was valiant beyond all soldiers and wise beyond all kings had his "vulnerable heel," and was brought to the dust of humiliation. But his good qualities were many and strong. Some of his critics are not so good as their victim. They should at least restrain judgment, and be made sorrowfully quiet in the presence of much of his iniquity. Let us hand the case over to the living God.

But character is not a question of points, and particular excellences, or special defects: character is a matter of spirit, purpose, aim, and tone of life. Separate actions are not to be viewed as if they included the whole case: the question 2 Samuel 18:3.

David was determined to go forth with the people, but they resisted and said, "Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us; but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore, now it is better that thou succour us out of the city."—This was a right estimate of human worth.—Whilst there is a sense in which one man is as good as another, there is a larger sense in which one man may be equal to ten thousand.—Caesar was greater than all his legions.—Sometimes a name carries with it magic.—To know that such a man is in the war or in the council, is to know precisely how war and council will end.—Sometimes it is better to serve a cause intellectually than in a military sense.—The sword will cut down the greatest as well as the meanest.—We may actually, therefore, be showing more bravery by devoting our attention to the moral aspect and the intellectual need of the case, than by going forth with sword and buckler and spear.—When some men are taken out of the way the hearts of other men are filled with dismay.—So long as men of magical name and influence live, their very life is an inspiration to their followers.—We should be careful not to expose our leaders to needless danger.—The people showed a true and philosophical economy by requesting David to keep out of the way of physical danger, and to help the nation by prayer and counsel and music and words of stimulus and inspiration.—The king accepted the position, saying, "What seemeth you best I will do," and he who was a leader of soldiers, the very captain and glory of the army, "stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by thousands."—We may be great in waiting.—We may serve most by doing least.—In the Christian warfare we must not abuse this doctrine; we must remember that the Christian warfare is throughout spiritual, not carnal, and that every man is called to go forth to this war to fight for himself and to fight for the general good.—This is not a battle in which some men may remain at home merely for the sake of giving counsel; they can give the best counsel by showing the best example.—Armour is provided for every man, exactly adapted to his stature, and to the conditions tinder which he is to do battle, and to the peculiarity of his temperament—"Take unto you the whole armour of God."—This does not destroy the difference between one Christian leader and another, nor between Christian leaders and their followers.—There are great men in the Church,—great psalmists, great expositors, great preachers, great defenders of the faith, men who are mighty in prayer and mighty in sympathy.—There is nothing monotonous in all the providence of God over his Church: even its commonplaces are miracles; even the smallest men in the Church are greater than the mightiest men outside.—Jesus Christ declared this to be the case in reference to John the Baptist—how much more so in reference to those who have neither John's intellectual capacity or intensity of spiritual consecration?