2 Samuel 16:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Samuel 16:10
And 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?
a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sons
בְּנֵ֣יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Zeruiah
צְרֻיָ֑הtze.ru.Yah
H6870
Tserujah · proper noun, a woman's name
curse
יְקַלֵּ֗לye.ka.Lel
H7043
to be (causatively · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
said
אָ֤מַר'A.mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Curse
קַלֵּ֣לka.Lel
H7043
to be (causatively · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
David
דָּוִ֔דda.Vid
H1732
David · proper noun, a man's name
say
יֹאמַ֔רyo.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
so
עָשִׂ֥יתָה'a.Si.tah
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Samuel 19:22 And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put t…
Romans 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
John 18:11 Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
2 Samuel 3:39 And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me: the LORD shall reward the doer of evil a…
Daniel 4:35 And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabit…
Matthew 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God…
1 Peter 2:23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 16:5-14
We here find how David bore Shimei's curses much better than he had borne Ziba's flatteries. By the latter he was brought to pass a wrong judgment on another, by the former to pass a right judgment on himself. The world's smiles are more dangerous than its frowns. Observe here,
I. How insolent and furious Shimei was, and how his malice took occasion from David's present distress to be so much the more outrageous. David, in his flight, had come to Bahurim, a city of Benjamin in or near which this Shimei lived, who, being of the house of Saul (with the fall of which all his hopes of preferment fell), had an implacable enmity to David, unjustly looking upon him as the ruin of Saul and his famil…
SHIMEI CURSES DAVID. (Sa2 16:5-19)
when king David came to Bahurim--a city of Benjamin (Sa2 3:16; Sa2 19:16). It is, however, only the confines of the district that are here meant.
Shimei, . . . a man of the family of Saul--The misfortune of his family, and the occupation by David of what they considered their rightful possessions, afforded a natural, if not a justifiable cause for this ebullition of rude insults and violence. He upbraided David as an ambitious usurper, and charged him, as one whose misdeeds had recoiled upon his own head, to surrender a throne to which he was not entitled. His language was that of a man incensed by the wrongs that he conceived had been done to his house.…
Because the Lord hath said - The particle וכי vechi should be translated for if, not because. For If the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David, who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so!
John Gill on 2 Samuel 16:10
And the king said, what have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?.... It seems as if Joab, the brother of Abishai, joined with him in this request to have leave to take off the head of Shimei; and though David had to do with them as his relations, his sister's sons, and as they were generals in his army; yet in this case he would have nothing to do with them, would not take their advice, nor suffer them to take revenge on this man for his cursing him: or "what is it to me, or to you" (u)? what signifies his cursing? it will neither hurt me nor you:
so let him curse; go on cursing after this manner; do not restrain him from it, or attempt to stop his mouth: or, "for he will curse" (w); so i…
The Church Fathers
Have recourse, O Lord, always to your mercy, and sustain the weakness of my flesh by your divine assistance. "What have I to do," he says, "with you also, you sons of Zeruiah? Let Shimei curse. The Lord has bidden him to curse David. And who shall say to him, 'Why have you done so?' " For the will of God is not to be discussed but kindly accepted.… Therefore, the commandments of God are possible, which we know David had kept; and, yet, we find holy people growing weary in maintaining justice forever.
By this patience we are supported even when we are in sound health, for, amid the stumbling blocks of this world, our true happiness is deferred.… With this patience holy David endured the insults of one abusing him, and, though he could easily have wreaked vengeance on him, he not only did not do this but even calmed another who was grieved and disturbed on his account and used his royal power to forbid rather than to exercise vengeance. He was not then suffering from any bodily disease or wound. But he did recognize the time of humility and accepted the will of God for whose sake he drank in the bitter reproach with the utmost patience.
So that from this also it is shown that what God does not do, but permits to happen, he is said to have done. It is agreed, then, that the uprising of Absalom, and the reviling of Shimei, and his throwing stones at David, were not God's work. And David makes what I say clearer by saying, "Let him curse, because the Lord has told him to, so that he may look upon my humiliation, and the Lord will repay me good things in return for his cursing on this day." For it is evident that what was happening did not please God; and what did not please him, he would not have commanded to be done.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Meekness — A calm temper of mind, not easily provoked (James 3:13). Peculiar promises are made to the meek (Matt. 5:5; Isa. 66:2). The cultivation of this spirit is enjoined (Col. 3:12; 1 Tim. 6:11; Zeph. 2:3),…
Providence — Literally means foresight, but is generally used to denote God’s preserving and governing all things by means of second causes (Ps. 18:35; 63:8; Acts 17:28; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). God’s providence…
Shimei — Famous. (1.) A son of Gershon, and grandson of Levi (Num. 3:18; 1 Chr. 6:17, 29); called Shimi in Ex. 6:17. (2.) A Benjamite of the house of Saul, who stoned and cursed David when he reached Bahurim…
Clemency · .Shimei — .Shimei
Enemies · The lives of, to be spared — The lives of, to be spared
Shimei · .Curses David; David’ s magnanimity toward — .Curses David; David’ s magnanimity toward
Zeruiah · Mother of three of David’ s great — Mother of three of David’ s great
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Abishai wanted to put an end to this cursing (on the expression "dead dog," see Sa2 9:8). "Let me go," said he to David, "and take away his head," i.e., chop off his head. But David replied, "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?" Joab probably joined with Abishai. The formula "what to me and you?" signifies that a person did not wish to have anything in common with the feelings and views of another (cf. Kg1 17:18; Jos 22:24; and τὶ ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, Joh 2:4. For the thing itself, comp. Luk 9:52-56). "If he curses, and if Jehovah hath said to him, Curse David, who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?" For יה וכי יקלּל כּי (Chethib), the Masoretes give us the Keri, יה כּי י…
If the Lord has told him to curse me: David felt it might have been punishment for past sins. • David was—contrary to Shimei’s charges—reducing the violence that surrounded him.
Rashi on 2 Samuel 16:10
He should curse [me] like this. He should curse like this.
God told him. Is it possible that a man like him who is head of the Sanhedrin would curse the king if he were not told [to do so] by God?
