SHIMEI may throw dirt at King David, and so much the worse for Shimei, whom God will surely judge; but David deserves the dirt, or he would not be subjected to it. And how finely did David bear the pelting and the cursing; how wisely did he humble himself beneath his adversary! Well would it be for us if we, like King David, weary in his adversity, bore the evil words and hard speeches of the enemy. But there are too many who are ready to listen to the language of an Abishai in his love for David, yet in his ignorance of David’s God, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king,” ready, in other words, to fight their own battles and gain their own victories, instead of saying with the noble king in his grief, “So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David.’ Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?.... It may be that the Lord will look upon mine affliction.”