1 Kings 2:36-46

Shimei Executed

36 Now the king sent and called for ¹Shimei and said to him, "Build for yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there, and do not go out from there to any place.

37 "For on the day you go out and ²cross over the brook Kidron, you will know for certain that you shall surely die; ³your blood shall be on your own head."

38 Shimei then said to the king, "The word is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do." So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.

39 But it came about at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away ⁴to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, "Behold, your servants are in Gath."

40 Then Shimei arose and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to look for his servants. And Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.

41 It was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and had returned.

42 So the king sent and called for Shimei and said to him, "Did I not make you swear by the LORD and solemnly warn you, saying, 'You will know for certain that on the day you depart and go anywhere, you shall surely die '? And you said to me, 'The word which I have heard is good.'

43 "Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD, and the command which I have laid on you?"

44 The king also said to Shimei, "⁵You know all the evil which you acknowledge in your heart, which you did to my father David; therefore ⁶the LORD shall return your evil on your own head.

45 "But King Solomon shall be blessed, and ⁷the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever *."

46 ⁸So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and fell upon him so that he died. ⁹Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.

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1 Kings 2:36-46 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST KING 2

This chapter gives an account of the charge David gave to his son Solomon, a little before his death, to walk in the ways of the Lord, 1Ki 2:1-4; and of some instructions delivered to him concerning some particular persons he should either show favour to, or execute justice on, 1Ki 2:5-9; and the next account in it is concerning his death and burial, and the years of his reign, 1Ki 2:10,11; after which it relates an address of Bathsheba to Solomon in favour of Adonijah, which was refused, and the issue of it was his death, 1Ki 2:12-25; and the deposition of Abiathar from the priesthood, 1Ki 2:26,27; and the putting of Joab to death for his treason and murders, 1Ki 2:28-34; in whose post Benaiah was put, as Zadok was in the place of Abiathar, 1Ki 2:35; and lastly the confinement of Shimei in Jerusalem, who had cursed David, 1Ki 2:36-38; who upon transgressing the orders given him was put to death, 1Ki 2:39-46.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 9

1. 2 Samuel 16:5; 1 Kings 2:8
2. 2 Samuel 15:23; 2 Kings 23:6; John 18:1
3. Joshua 2:19; 2 Samuel 1:16; Ezekiel 18:13
4. 1 Samuel 27:2
5. 2 Samuel 16:5-13
6. 1 Samuel 25:39; 2 Kin 11:1, 12-16; Psalms 7:16
7. 2 Samuel 7:13; Proverbs 25:5
8. 1 Kings 2:25, 34
9. 1 Kings 2:12; 2 Chronicles 1:1

Footnotes 3

[a]. Or "wadi"
[b]. Lit "commanded"
[c]. Lit "your heart acknowledges"