6; Luke xxiii, 9). "When Shimei railed on him, he held his peace, and, though he had me.nv nrmed men about him, yet did he not retort aught savouring of revenge, yea, repelled with the high courage of a patient spirit the instigation of the son of Gero. He went, therefore, as one dumb and humbled to the dust; he went as one mute and not moved at all . . . . Consider not what ill rendered by others, keep thou thy place, preserve thou the simplicity and purity of thine own heart. Answer thou not the angry man according to his anger, nor the unwiRe man according to his indis- cretion; one fault. quickly Frovoketh another. If thou strikest two flints toaether, doth not fire. break lorth?" (Ambrose, • De Officiie '), 2. RepresBive of resentme~t, not only in himself, but also in others. "Answer him not" (Isa. xxxvi. 21; xxxvii. 3, 4). 3. Self-accusing, Although guiltless of the crimes imputed to him, he feels himself guilty of others not lees heinous. " Conscience in that hour had her own tale to tell, of the Almighty Disposer of events, who speaks to us by the reproaches of men as well as by his own blessings, Had he not merited from God, if not from men, whatever disaster could befall the murderer of Uriah? David feels within him that destitution of the Divine presence of which the absence of the ark is but an outward type" (R. Williams), " Pure from the blood of Saul in vain, He dares not to the charge reply ; Uriah's doth the charge maintain, Uriah's doth against him cry. Let Shimei curse: the rod he bears For sins which mercy had forgiven; And in the wrongs of men reveres The o.wful righteousness of Heaven." (C. Wesley.)
4. Reverential; looking devoutly (as others did not) beyond Shimei to the All-seeing, All-holy, and Almighty One, by whom he was permitted to be an instrument of retri- bution, and even employed as such, although not thereby exonerated from guilt (eh. xix. 18-20). "Abishai looked only to the stone (as it were), an instrument; but David looked higher, to the hand that was the supreme caster, and chastiser of him, as all the godly do (Gen. I. 20; Job i. 21); which is the ground of their patience under sufferings " (Guild). His vision of the supreme Judge fills him with holy awe and lowly penitence; his conscious offences against God make him reluctant to punish Qffences against himself; his dependence upon mercy disposes him to show mercy (Matt. v. 44; vi, 14, 15; Rom. xii. 19-21). 5. Submissive; humbly accepting the chastisement of God; and deeming this to be his proper business now, rather than seeking to execute justice on another (Micah vii 9). "Behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good to him" (eh. xv. 26). "The ways of Providence interlace, not only in capacity", but in retribution; one thing is set over against another. Yet the payment comes, not in the manner nor at the time we might expect, it seems not in the connection we think due; but it comes, like doom. Call Absalom thankless, Shimei brutal, etc. All these things read half a. riddle, unless we own that God, in whose counsels these are all a.s instruments in the hand of a. ma.n of war, is just. He gave us wine, let us take also the gall from his hands. If it is not due to us now, nor for this, it was for something else at some other time." 6. Palliative. "Behold, my son seeketh my life," etc. (ver. 11). 1 He makes light of present wrongs by comparing them with other and greater. "It is the advantage of great crosses that they swallow up the less." 7. Hopeful. "It may be that Jehovah will look upon my guilt [tears]," etc. (ver. 12). "This consciousness of guilt nlso excited the assurance that the Lord would look upon his sin. When God looks upon the guilt of a humble sinner he will also, as a just and merciful God, avert the evil and change the suffering into a blessing. David founded upon this the hope that the Lord would repay him with good for the curses with which Shimei pursued him" (Keil). '' Ziba's gifts did more harm than Shimei's curses; for those betrayed him into o.n act of injustice, but these proved his patience" (T. Fuller). They also had the effect of making him more humble, pure, prayerful, and filling him with now confidence and joy in God (Ps. cix. 30, 31). "a cui-se is like a cloud, it passes." "All things work together for goou," etc. 412 T1IE SEOOND BOOK. OF SAMUtL. (oR. Xvt. 1-28.
"'Lord, I adore thy righoooaa will; Throagh every instrument of ill My Father's goodness 11ee; Aroept the oomplice.ted wrong Of Shimei's he.ad e.nd Shimei's tongue A.a kind rebukes from thee." (0. Wesley.) REMARKS. 1. The beet of men have been maligned; of the Son of God himself it WA8 siud, " He hath a devil." Can we expect to escape insult and provocation? 2. The maledictions of the wicked can do us no harm unless we suffer ourselves to imbibe their spirit. "No man is ever really hurt by any one but himself" (Chrysostom). 3. When reviled of men, instead of considering how little we have deserved their dis- pl011Sure, we should rather consider bow much we have deserved the displeasure of God. 4. We should also consider how little. in comparison with God, do we endure at their hands I 5. "Bless, and curse not" (Prov. xxv. 21, 22; xvi. 32). 6. Imitate "the meekness 11-nd !!entleness of Christ" (2 Cor. x. 1). 7. So what is meant for evil will turn to good.-D.