Context No. 2347 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 19:15-20: in context

15So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan. 16Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hurried and came down with the men of Judah to meet King David. 17There were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of Saul’s house, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king. 18A ferry boat went to bring over the king’s household, and to do what he thought good. Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he had come over the Jordan. 19He said to the king, “Don’t let my lord impute iniquity to me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. 20For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.”

Second Samuel catches David returning to Jerusalem after Absalom's revolt collapses. On the road comes Shimei, the same man who had cursed David and thrown stones at him when the king fled in disgrace. Now Shimei hurries down with a thousand men, falls at David's feet, and says plainly that his servant knows he has sinned.

He does not minimize it or explain away the mood he was in. He names the wrong and puts himself first among those coming to welcome the king back. Whether his repentance is pure fear or real sorrow the text leaves open; what it shows is a man who, when the tide turns, chooses to come out and confess rather than hide. The cursing is not undone, but it is owned.

Is there someone I have wronged whom I keep avoiding, when the honest move is to come out and say plainly that I sinned?

Sources

2 Samuel 19:20: For your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
Proverbs 28:13: He who conceals his sins doesn't prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Psalm 51:4: Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.