2 Samuel 16:12

12 Perhaps the LORD will see my distress; perhaps the LORD will repay me with good for this cursing today."

2 Samuel 16:12 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 16:12

It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction
Through the rebellion of his son, and now aggravated by the cursing of Shimei; that is, with an eye of pity and commiseration, and deliver him out of it: or "look upon my eye" F24; for there is a various reading; the tear of mine eye, as the Targum; so Jarchi and R. Isaiah; the tears in it, which fell plentifully from it, on account of his troubles, and particularly the curses and reproaches of Shimei:

and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day;
he does not speak with assurance, yet with hope; he knew his sins deserved such treatment, but also that God was gracious and merciful, and pitied his children, and resented all ill usage of them; and therefore hoped he would favour him with such intimations of his love as would support him, comfort, refresh him, and do him good, see ( Romans 8:28 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (ynyeb) "in oculum meum", Montanus; "oculum meum lachrymantem", Munster.

2 Samuel 16:12 In-Context

10 But the king said, "My problems aren't yours, you sons of Zeruiah. If he is cursing because the LORD told him to curse David, then who is to question, ‘Why are you doing this?'"
11 Then David addressed Abishai and all his servants: "Listen! My own son, one of my very own children, wants me dead. This Benjaminite can only feel the same—only more! Leave him alone. And let him curse, because the LORD told him to.
12 Perhaps the LORD will see my distress; perhaps the LORD will repay me with good for this cursing today."
13 So David and his men kept walking, while Shimei went along on the hillside next to him, cursing as he went, throwing rocks and dirt at him.
14 The king and all the people who were with him reached the Jordan River exhausted, and he rested there.
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible