>> Jen: Hello there, faithful listener. You've tuned in to season seven of the Bible explained podcast, so make sure to grab your cup of coffee because today we are going to be discussing the book of second Samuel. Howdy and good morning, faithful listeners. I am so thankful that you're here to share a cup of coffee with me on this lovely Monday morning as we read two Samuel 1918 through 30. This portion of scripture is going to be talking about a lot of things we actually discussed
in two Samuel 16. So we'll be flipping back and forth between two Samuel 19 and 16 today. So make sure to grab your Bible in the version that you prefer. I will be reading, the web version or the world in English Bible as I always do, and the reason I choose that version is because it is public domain. Just to let you guys know, that is the reason I choose the web. The other versions of scripture, unfortunately, are not public domain, and I could get in trouble for reading
them. Yes, I could get in trouble for reading them on air to you guys. So that's why I choose the web, but also because it's a pretty good version. I do like the web as well. All right, guys, let's read two Samuel 19: 18-30, a ferry boat went to bring over the king's household and to do what he thought was good. Shimei, the son of
Gera, fell down before the king. When he had come over the Jordan, he said to the king, don't let my lord impute iniquity on me, or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart, for your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king.
But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, answered, shouldn't shemay be put to death for this because he cursed Yahweh's anointed? David said, what have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Shall any man be put to death today in Israel? For don't I know that I am, um, king over Israel today? The king said to Shimei, you will not die. The king swore to him.
Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king, and he had neither groomed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day that the king departed until the day he came home in peace. When he had come to Jerusalem to meet the king. The king said to him, why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth? He answered, my lord, o king, my servant deceived me. For your servant said, I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go with the
kingdom, because your servant is lame. He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is an angel of God. Therefore do what is good in your eyes. For all my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I that I should yet cry any more to the king? The king said to him, why do you speak any more of your matters? I say you and Ziba divide
the land. Mephibosheth said to the king, yes, let him take it all, because, my lord the king has come in peace to his own house. So in order to understand what is going on here, we have to go back in the bible a little bit to two Samuel 16. When David was first fleeing from his son Absalom, David was trying to get out of the city of Jerusalem because he knew Absalom was going to try to kill
him. And David meets both Mephibosheth's servant Ziba, and also this guy Shema, both of which are mentioned in two Samuel 19, what I just read today. So let's talk about Shema first, because he's the first one mentioned. It says a ferry boat went to bring over all the king's household and to do what he thought was good. So David had already crossed the Jordan river. He was getting welcomed back into Jerusalem and into Israel after Absalom
had died. Right? Because all of Israel, other than the tribe of Judah, pretty much was fully in support of Absalom. They were behind him. In fact, they actually anointed Absalom as king, even though David had not died yet. David actually wasn't very close to death at this point. Like, he was a little bit older, but he was certainly, he still had many
years left to rule. And so Israel decided that Absalom would be a better king because Absalom was very charming and very good looking and, really caused some divisiveness within Israel. So Israel sided almost completely with Absalom and rejected King David. But now that Absalom died in battle, David is welcomed back as the king, which I feel like should be pretty embarrassing for Israel. But one guy in particular that was very embarrassed was this
Shema guy. Shemay the son of Gera, it says, he fell down before the king when he had come over the Jordan. And he said to the king, don't let my lord impute iniquity on me. Or remember that which your servant did perversely on the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem. So let's go back to two Samuel 16 to see what Shema is talking about here. So this is the day that David is leaving Jerusalem with all of his family members and servants and whoever else
wanted to go with David. And David is leaving, like I said, because Absalom was trying to kill him. So it says in verse five of two, Samuel 16. When king David came to Pahuraim, behold, a man of the family of Saul's house came out whose name was Shema, the son of Gera. Okay, so this is the same shimei that is bowing down before David. Now, in two Samuel 19. But in two, Samuel 16, here's what he does. He
came out and cursed. As he came, he threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king and all the people and all the mighty men who were on his right hand and on his left. Shimei said, when he cursed, be gone. Be gone, you man of blood. And you wicked fellow, Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of Saul's house, in which place you have reigned. Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom,
your son. Behold, you are caught by your own mischief because you are a man of blood. So Shimei was acting like a complete and total douchebag. He was throwing stones. He was throwing dust. He was cursing David, who was still God's anointed king. Like God had chosen David. He did not choose Absalom. But Shema was cursing at David because Shema was clearly still a supporter of
King Saul. And there were many people actually in Israel that still supported Saul's house because Saul was the first king of Israel. And he had a lot of the Benjamites on his side. And Shema himself was not only a Benjamite, but he was also of the family of Saul. So Shema was clearly still a Saul supporter and was very angry that David had usurped the throne from Saul, even though God had given the Saul's throne to David. So Shema is acting like a complete
and total jerk. He's throwing stones. You know, David and all of his m men and everybody are very weary and very tired of and discouraged and distraught and thinking that their lives are going to come to an end because of Absalom. In fact, David himself was, like, giving up at this time. He was truly thinking that Absalom was going to take the throne from him. And Shimei is taking advantage of all of this and calling David all sorts of nasty names. He calls him wicked. He calls him a man of
blood. He tells him to get out of Jerusalem. So imagine if you were being treated the same way as David. Like you were being completely rejected by everybody that you knew your own child was trying to kill you. And then some person decides to throw stones at you and add insult
to injury. Can you imagine? But David was very cool and collected when Shema was acting like this because Abishai, who was Joab's brother, he said to the kingdom, why should this dead dog curse my lord, the king, please let me go over there and take off his head. And the king says, no, what business is it of yours? He curses because Yahweh has said to him, curse David. Who then shall say, why have you done so? So David is basically like, Shema was told by God to curse me. I have
been cursed by God. So if I have been cursed by God, then clearly Shema is not in the wrong to curse me. And so David just keeps walking. Shimei keeps cursing and following after them and throwing all sorts of stones and dust and saying all sorts of nasty curses and whatever else. But now in two Samuel 19, which is what we read today, um, Shimei is taking a whole new tune, okay? He is bowing down to David. He's calling David, my lord, the king.
And he's apologizing. And he's being very flowery to King David and being very kind and saying, oh, I sinned so greatly, David, for cursing you before. I am so sorry. Now, why would Shema do this? Because he didn't want to die. That's why Shema didn't want to die. Because in two Samuel 16, it looked like Absalom was winning. All of Israel had already anointed Absalom. Absalom was in Jerusalem posing as the king. David was in exile. It looked like Absalom was winning by every human metric. And
Shemay thought that Absalom was going to win. So he had no problem cursing David to his face back when it looked like Absalom was winning. But now that Absalom has clearly fallen and is dead, Shemay decides to suck it up. To the king, however, he does admit fault, which is very good. But I think also Shimei was probably only admitting fault because he did not want to die. So he says, don't let my lord impute iniquity to me or remember that which your servant did perversely the day that my
lord the king went out of Jerusalem. So he says, please, King David, don't punish me for what I did the day you had to go out of Jerusalem. I am sorry because I have sinned very greatly. And so I am coming here before you humbly. In fact, I am the first person from all of the house of Joseph to go down and meet you, my lord the king. Now, there is something a little bit interesting in here. Chimeh calls himself of the
house of Joseph. And this actually confused me because in two Samuel 16, it specifically said that Shema was a benjamite and the tribe of Benjamin was not the tribe of Joseph. The tribe of Joseph was Manasseh and Ephraim. So this confused me really bad. I'm like, what is the house of Joseph? So the house of Joseph and the tribe of JoSEph are two separate things. In fact, the house of Joseph, back in the days of King David probably referred to all of the tribes except for the tribe of
Judah. I found that interesting because I didn't realize that before that, uh, israel, other than Judah, called themselves the house of JosEph. So that's an interesting little historical fact for you guys. The house of JosEph were all the tribes other than Judah. So abishai says to david, and abishai, once again, is Joab's brother. He says to david, shouldn't shemay be put to death for this? Because he cursed yahweh's anointed. And this is exactly how abishai responded to Shema back in two
Samuel 16. Abishai wanted to go over and cut off Shemay's head. And david was like, no, don't do that. Because if he's cursing, it's possible that God told Shimei to curse me. So same exact response from abishai. He says, shema deserves to die for how he treated you, King David. And David says to Abishai, what business is it of yours? He says, why are you my adversary today? You know, David is getting really sick and
tired. I feel like of both Joab and Abishai, he fired Joab in the passage we talked about on Friday, and now he's getting pretty upset at Abishai as well here. So he says, abishai, it's none of your business. He says, no man shall be put to death today. And I'm guessing David is referring to the fact that this is a joyous occasion. This is a joyous day because David is being allowed back into Jerusalem. So why should anybody be put to death on such a joyous day? He says, don't I know
that I am king over Israel today? So in other words, David is saying, this isn't worth my time. You know, somebody cursing me is not worth my time. I am the king, you know, I have more important things to worry about. So David forgives Shimei, and he says to him, you will not die. The king swore to him. And that's exactly what Shema
wanted to hear. Now, after this, it says, Mephibosheth, the son of Saul, came down to meet the king, and he had neither groomed his feet nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes from the day that the, the king departed until the day he came back home in peace. Now, this means that Mephibosheth was going through a mourning period because he wasn't taking care of himself. He wasn't trimming his fingernails or his toenails. He wasn't trimming his beard or taking care of his clothes.
He was in a state of mourning. So he comes to see King David, it says, and when the king sees him, he says to him, why didn't you go with me, Mephibosheth? Now, once again, the origin story of this is found in two Samuel 16. So if I turn there and go to
verse one, here's what it says. When David was a little past the top, behold, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, met him with a couple of donkeys saddled, and on them 200 loaves of bread and 100 clusters of raisins, and 100 summer fruits and a container of wine. The king said to Ziba, what do you mean by all these? Ziba said, the donkeys are for the king's household to ride on, and the bread and the summer fruit are for the young men to eat, and the wine that those who are faint in the
wilderness may drink. The king said, where is your master's son? Meaning, where is Mephibosheth? Ziba says to the king, behold, he is staying in Jerusalem. For he said, today the house of Israel will restore me the kingdom of my father. Then the king said to Ziba, behold, all that belongs to Mephibosheth is now yours. Ziba said, I bow down. Let me find favor in your sight, my lord. O king. So Ziba was Mephibosheth's servant,
head servant, I should say. And it looks like in two Samuel 16 that Ziba is showing this great kindness to king David by bringing these two donkeys absolutely saddled to the brim with all of this food and bread and fruits and wine, all of this wonderful stuff for David and for his household to eat. But David is like, well, where's Mephibosheth, Ziba? Why isn't he here with you? And Ziba tells the story that Mephibosheth decided to stay in
Jerusalem. Because Mephibosheth apparently was looking to gain from Absalom's takeover of David's throne. Because Mephibosheth also was related to King Saul. He was actually king Saul's grandchild. So Ziba tells the story that Mephibosheth is trying to gain power for himself through Absalom's reign. So that was Ziba's story. And David actually granted everything that Mephibosheth had to Ziba. And so Ziba was like, thank you so much, my lord, and bows down before David.
But now Mephibosheth has a completely different story in two Samuel 19. So David asks, why didn't you come with Ziba and Mephiboshethe looking like he was in a state of mourning, you know, because he didn't wash himself or anything. He says to David, my lord, o king, my servant deceived me, Ziba, for your servant said, I will saddle a donkey for myself, that I may ride on it and go to the king, because your servant is lame. So don't forget the mephibosheth was lame in both of
his feet. And so Ziba had to take care of mephibosheth. So Mephibosheth apparently told Ziba, hey, go saddle my donkey, because I want to go with David. And apparently Ziba did saddle the donkeys. But instead of putting mephibosheth on one of them, Ziba put a whole bunch of food on both the donkeys and took them to David and made it look like mephibosheth was just trying to gain, uh, control or gain power or something like that through Absalom's supposed
reignite. But mephibosheth goes on to say, Ziba has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is an angel of God. Therefore, do what is good in your eyes. So basically, Mephibosheth says to David, you know, I wanted to come to you, but I know that you are not going to listen to Ziba. I know that you are like an angel of God when it comes to doling out judgment on people. So I trust that you will do the right thing if you hear my story. And if you hear Ziba's story as well,
then he thanks David. He says, for all of my father's house were like dead men before you, my king. Yet you set your servant, Mephibosheth, among those who ate at your own table. What right therefore have I that I should cry anymore to the king? So Mephibosheth says, whatever you decide to do, David, I'm going to accept, because you have shown me so much kindness. Even though I'm from the house of Saul, you've shown me so much kindness that I'm not going to ask for a single more
thing from you. King David hears Mephibosheth's story, and he says, you know what? You and Ziba divide the land, because I promised it to Ziba back in two. Samuel 16. But now you tell me a different story. So you guys split the land. And so Mephibosheth says to the king, yes, let him take it all, because, my lord, the king has come in peace to his own house. Now, scripture doesn't specifically say who told the truth here and who didn't tell the truth. But based upon another story we
have that is similar to this. In one kings, we can deduce that Mephibosheth was the one who is telling the truth. Because in one kings, there's a story where two women came to Solomon, and they told this story that they both had a baby, but one of the woman's babies had died. And this woman decided to steal this other woman's baby and claim it as hers. So these two women come to Solomon, and Solomon is trying to determine who this little baby belongs to. So he says, you
know what? Let's go ahead and divide that baby in half and just give a piece to each woman, and this entire thing will be solved. And the woman who had her baby die, who was very bitter about that, and who had stolen this other woman's baby, she was like, okay, cool, go ahead and divide the baby up. That sounds fair to me. And the other woman who that baby truly belonged to, she was devastated. She's like, no, no, no. Let her have the baby. Do not divide my baby. Do not kill that
baby. Just let her have it. So Solomon figured out that it was the woman who was very upset about it. It was her baby. So it's possible that David was kind of doing the same thing here. To see who was telling the truth, he decides to divide the land to both Ziba and to Mephibosheth. And when Mephibosheth is like, you know what? I'm just happy, David, that you're home. Let Ziba have all that land. It's possible that David then figured
out that Mephibosheth was the one telling the truth. And maybe, though scripture doesn't say this, this is my own speculation. Maybe David gave all of that land back to Mephibosheth. But it could also be that David decided to part the land because he truly didn't know who was telling the truth here and who wasn't. Because Ziba did show David a lot of kindness. And Mephibosheth also, his story sounded plausible. So it's possible that's the reason why David decided to divide Mephibosheth's land
between Ziba and Mephibosheth. But if that's the case, I personally think it would have been wise for David to try to get to the bottom of this issue, because somebody was getting ripped off, somebody was getting lied about, somebody was getting cheated, and it wasn't fair to the person who was getting their land taken away. So scripture does not go any more into detail about this particular story.
But I do think it would have been wise for David to get to the bottom of who was lying and who wasn't lying before deciding how to break up this land. Well, anyway, faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed this episode. We'll talk more about David's return into Jerusalem on Wednesday. There's a, uh, funny part coming up in this story, something that I find really interesting and funny. We'll talk about that on
Wednesday. But also, don't forget that we are in the book of Romans on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but we are going to be moving into the book of first Corinthians very, very quickly. I want to say we only have two or three more chapters left in Romans before we're going to be in first Corinthians. So that is a very big deal, because that means you guys, if you were listening along the whole time, would have read through the entire book of Romans with me.
So you can, um, pat yourselves on the back for that. Faithful listeners, have a fantastic rest of your Monday. I'll see you guys all tomorrow. Happy listening. And God bless.