Context No. 2826 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 16:9-14: in context

9Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please let me go over and take off his head.” 10The king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” 11David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my son, who came out of my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite, now? Leave him alone, and let him curse; for the LORD has invited him. 12It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me good for the cursing of me today.” 13So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went, threw stones at him, and threw dust. 14The king and all the people who were with him arrived weary; and he refreshed himself there.

David is fleeing Jerusalem during his son Absalom's revolt, at the lowest point of his life, when a man named Shimei walks along the ridge above him, cursing, hurling stones and dust. Abishai has had enough: why let this dead dog curse the king? Let me go over and take off his head. But David stops him.

Let him curse, David says. If the LORD has told him to curse David, who am I to ask why? My own son seeks my life; why not this man too? Perhaps the LORD will see the wrong done to me and repay me with good for his cursing today. At rock bottom, David receives even a stranger's abuse as something that might come from God's hand. He will not lash out or let Abishai avenge him. He holds his humiliation quietly, entrusts the verdict to God, and leaves room to hope for good on the far side of it.

When someone reviles me, do I reach for the sword like Abishai, or hold still like David and leave the outcome to God?

Sources

2 Samuel 16:12: "It may be that the LORD will look on the wrong done to me, and that the LORD will repay me good for the cursing of me today."
1 Peter 2:23: "Who, when he was cursed, didn't curse back... but committed himself to him who judges righteously."
Matthew 5:11: "Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake."