2 Sam. 16
The circumstances David is passing through test the state of hearts; so too, the various characters of the men who come to the king are very instructive for us in this respect.
We have seen Ittai, a heart born but yesterday for David and by this very fact a simple heart. The king, whose servant he has become, is everything for him. When one has such an object one is always well directed. Zadok and Abiathar are not wrong in esteeming that the ark ought to be with the king; they have a general understanding of God's mind but take His ways with David less into account. David himself teaches them this by sending them back. He must count entirely on God to bring him back, for he has merited this discipline; and were he even to be completely rejected, David submits, for all that God does is good.
Hushai has another character, one just as beautiful in its way as that of Ittai and, indeed, he is much better acquainted with God's thoughts. Hushai is David's intimate friend; a great love unites them and they have no secrets from one another but yet Hushai in contrast to Ittai consents to be separated from his friend for a time. This is painful for this man who had come to David to express his sympathy, but he chooses the best way to serve him and returns to Jerusalem. With his deep, calm love for his friend Hushai has an understanding that not even the high priests had. This understanding is communicated to him by David himself: Thou shalt "defeat the counsel of Ahithophel." It is in intimacy with Christ that we receive the communication of His thoughts.
2 Sam. 16 tells us first of Ziba who is prompt to act and prompt to serve. He saddles the asses and loads them with all that is necessary for the king's companions in flight: he spares himself no trouble. What beautiful zeal, the lovely result of grace at work in his heart, for nothing obligated him to do this. Nevertheless this zealous heart lacks uprightness, or to say the least, it imputes to Mephibosheth motives foreign to him. I do not believe that he lies knowingly; he does not say that Mephibosheth had told him of his plans, but since he noticed delay in his master's decisions he attributed intentions to him that, as we see in 2 Sam. 19, were far from his heart. Nothing is as dangerous as to pretend to read the thoughts of others in order to know their motives. A certain keenness of judgment joined with a certain knowledge of the human heart easily leads us to do this. Our conclusions are always lacking in charity. We have little interest in discerning another's good intentions, insisting rather on those that are evil. But God reserves for Himself the right to judge hearts; He alone knows what is in them and He judges their secrets. The Lord tells us: "Judge not, that ye may not be judged" (Matt. 7:11Judge not, that ye be not judged. (Matthew 7:1)); let us therefore refrain from exposing ourselves to being judged by others. This is what later happened to Ziba in Mephibosheth's presence. David, who is not a type of Christ here, seems to lack a certain sharp-sightedness. He changes his decision later (2 Sam. 19:2929And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land. (2 Samuel 19:29)); notwithstanding here he affords us a beautiful example of the One who will reward what is done for him a hundredfold, however weak His servants may be: "Behold, thine are all that pertained to Mephibosheth" (2 Sam. 16:44Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king. (2 Samuel 16:4)).
After this example of devotion we find an example of hatred. God allows this for it is part of His discipline toward David, but it was also Christ's portion: "They hated Me without a cause" (John 15:2525But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. (John 15:25)). How could it be otherwise for His disciples? But He alone could say: "Without a cause." The motives for Shimei's hatred were doubtless unjust and David had in no wise given occasion for them, but the humbled king looks upon his enemy's judgment as true. Shimei maligns David: "Away, away, thou man of blood and man of Belial! Jehovah has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and Jehovah has given the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and behold, thou art taken in thine own evil, for thou art a man of blood" (2 Sam. 16:7-87And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial: 8The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. (2 Samuel 16:7‑8)). Unworthy calumny! So David was accused—David who had spared Saul when he slept in the cave and in the midst of his camp, who had returned Saul only good for evil, and who had shown himself righteous, patient, and holy in all his ways (1 Kings 15:55Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. (1 Kings 15:5)). David had never avenged himself, had always respected Saul as the Lord's anointed, and had honored his enemy's death with a funeral lamentation!
All of David's integrity might rise up against such an accusation and yet indeed he was a bloody man! Shimei did not know it, but God knew it. This wicked man was a divine instrument to remind David of his fault: "So let him curse, for Jehovah has said to him, Curse David!" (2 Sam. 16:1010And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? (2 Samuel 16:10)). David accepts the curse; his broken heart seeks neither defense nor excuse nor compensation of any kind for his past righteousness. For him this is God's judgment and his only recourse is grace: "It may be that Jehovah will look on mine affliction, and that Jehovah will requite me good for my being cursed this day" (2 Sam. 16:1212It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day. (2 Samuel 16:12)). Isn't this once again a striking type of the Jewish remnant: integrity, practical righteousness, and humiliation caused by the murder of the Just One—of whom they had said: "His blood be on us and on our children"—united in one and the same heart?
Abishai, Zeruiah's honorable son, tries to turn David aside from humble submission to God's ways in discipline. "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head." We cannot expect Abishai to call himself a dead dog as Mephibosheth does or as David did before Saul. Despicable as Shimei might be, he and Abishai are equal in God's eyes. The realization of our unworthiness preserves us from using insulting words against the race to which we belong. A misanthrope is always a man who considers himself better than others. Yet the occasion seemed to justify these words. God had been despised and insulted. Shouldn't Abishai have taken sides against this violent man? This is what Peter did when Judas the traitor's band led his Master away. Was Peter right when it was a matter of One greater and more worthy than David? "Return thy sword to its place," Jesus tells him, "for all who take the sword shall perish by the sword." (Matt. 26:5252Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:52)). Besides, Abishai's words display a complete incapacity to enter into David's sufferings under God's discipline, to understand his humble submission as well as his unswerving resolution to walk in this path. How can the flesh, whose will being at enmity with God can never submit to Him, understand perfect dependence that has no other will but that of the Father? Peter again provides us with an example. After the Lord had shown His disciples that He must suffer much from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and that He must be put to death, "Peter taking Him to him began to rebuke Him, saying, God be favorable to Thee, Lord; this shall in no wise be unto Thee!" What does the Lord say to him? "Get away behind Me, Satan: thou art an offense to Me: for Thy mind is not on the things that are of God, but on the things that are of men" (Matt. 16:22-2322Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:22‑23)). David says to Abishai: "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?" Their thoughts could only be produced by the flesh and came from the enemy. David accepts the cup from God's hand, as Jesus did later in Gethsemane. "It may be that Jehovah will look on mine affliction, and that Jehovah will requite me good for my being cursed this day." What a statement! We can well be assured that God is the God of grace and that cursing is not the end of His ways toward those whom He loves any more than cursing was the end of His ways with regard to Christ!
Hushai is welcomed by Absalom. He does not oppose Ahithophel's counsel as to David's concubines. His intimacy with David is a great help to him for he could not be ignorant of what God had told the king and he must let the divine decree run its course (2 Sam. 12:11-1211Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. (2 Samuel 12:11‑12)). Ahithophel, thinking to strengthen Absalom's hands in this way, only worked out the accomplishment of God's word, advanced the goal of His ways, and hastened the restoration of the man he thought to destroy. This wicked man will soon be caught in his own snare. Ahithophel, who seems to have had no motive for doing evil but simply the desire to do evil, ends up like Judas whom he resembles: this "familiar friend" who lifted up his heel against David (Psa. 41:99Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)) hangs himself and dies.