Journal

Please use one of the prompts below to get your journaling started.

• Explore your fears and what’s behind them.
• Write about a relational conflict you are experiencing.
• List out all that you are grateful for.
• Recall a significant reaction, conversation or event.

Bible Text: 2 Samuel 16:1-14 (ESV)

¹ When David had passed a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of donkeys saddled, bearing two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred bunches of raisins, a hundred of summer fruits, and a skin of wine. ² And the king said to Ziba, “Why have you brought these?” Ziba answered, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who faint in the wilderness to drink.” ³ And the king said, “And where is your master’s son?” Ziba said to the king, “Behold, he remains in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will give me back the kingdom of my father.’” ⁴ Then the king said to Ziba, “Behold, all that belonged to Mephibosheth is now yours.” And Ziba said, “I pay homage; let me ever find favor in your sight, my lord the king.”

⁵ When King David came to Bahurim, there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera, and as he came he cursed continually. ⁶ And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷ And Shimei said as he cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of blood, you worthless man! ⁸ The Lord has avenged on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. See, your evil is on you, for you are a man of blood.”

⁹ Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.” ¹⁰ But the king said, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? If he is cursing because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David,’ who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” ¹¹ And David said to Abishai and to all his servants, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to. ¹² It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing today.” ¹³ So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. ¹⁴ And the king, and all the people who were with him, arrived weary at the Jordan. And there he refreshed himself.

Reflection Questions

2 Samuel 16:1-4

“David knew Mephibosheth not to be an ambitious man… yet David gives credit to the calumny, and, without further enquiry or consideration, convicts Mephibosheth of treason, seizes his lands as forfeited, and grants them to Ziba: …which afterwards he was ashamed of, when the truth came to light…” ^[1] 

•       David’s judgment seems to have been clouded by Ziba’s generosity towards David and his men.  He believed Ziba’s story of Mephibosheth’s disloyalty without investigating the truth.  What lesson is here for me regarding my sense of objectivity, fairness and seeking actual facts toward people who are generous or kind toward me?

•       Reflect on Ziba’s wicked conduct.  Is there something about his disloyalty, deceit, and opportunism that I need to guard against?

2 Samuel 16:5-13

“No man could be more innocent of the blood of the house of Saul than David was. Once and again he spared Saul’s life, while Saul sought his. When Saul and his sons were slain by the Philistines, David and his men were many miles off; and, when they heard it, they lamented it. … Innocency is no fence against malice and falsehood; nor are we to think it strange if we be charged with that from which we have been most careful to keep ourselves. It is well for us that men are not to be our judges, but he whose judgment is according to truth… See how forward malicious men are to press God’s judgments into the service of their own passion and revenge.” ^[2]

•       What sort of person is Shimei?  What is his view of how God works?  Have I ever attributed someone’s misfortunes to God’s judgment based on my ow n preferred interpretation on the matter?

•       Reflect on David’s response to Shimei. 

[1] Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume II (Joshua to Esther) at  http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc2.iiSam.xvii.html.

[2] Ibid.

Prayer