He threw stones at David and at all the servants of the king, though the troops and all the mighty men were on David’s right and left.
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.
Commenting on 2 Samuel 16:5-14
And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of King David,.... Not that he was within the reach of them, or could hurt them, by casting them at them; but this he did to show his contempt of them, and to intimate that they deserved to be stoned, and especially David, at whose adultery he might point by it: and all the...
And he cast 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. (d) That is, round about him.