Shimei Pardoned

Shimei comes down with Benjaminite support, serves the king’s crossing, falls before David, and confesses his sin. He asks that his earlier wrongdoing not be remembered.

T¹⁶hen Shimei son of Gera, a Benjamite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David, ¹⁷along with a thousand men of Benjamin, as well as Ziba the steward of the house of Saul and his fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹⁸They rushed down to the Jordan before the king and crossed at the ford to carry over the king’s household and to do what was good in his sight. ¹⁹When Shimei son of Gera crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king and said, “My lord, do not hold me guilty, and do not remember your servant’s wrongdoing on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. May the king not take it to heart. ²⁰For your servant knows that I have sinned, so here I am today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.”

Abishai calls for Shimei’s death, but David rejects the demand and insists that no one should die in Israel on this day. He swears that Shimei will live.

²¹But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?” ²²And David replied, “Sons of Zeruiah, what have I to do with you, that you should be my adversaries today? Should any man be put to death in Israel today? Am I not indeed aware that today I am king over Israel?” ²³So the king said to Shimei, “You shall not die.” And the king swore an oath to him.