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.
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 David said to Abishai, and all his servants,.... In order to make them easy, and reconcile them to this usage of him: behold, my son, which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life; meaning Absalom: how much more now may this Benjamite do it?
Let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him - No soul of man can suppose that ever God bade one man to curse another, much less that he commanded such a wretch as Shimei to curse such a man as David; but this is a peculiarity of the Hebrew language, which does not always distinguish between permission and commandment.