2 Samuel 16:5-8

Book of 2 Samuel, Chapter 16, and verses 5 through 8. When King David came to Baroam, behold there came out a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimeon, the son of Gara. He came forth and cursed still as he came. He cast stones at David, and at all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. Thus said Shimei, when he cursed, come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Beliol. The Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, and whose stead thou hast reigned. And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom, into the hand of Absalom thy son, and behold, thou art taken in thy mischief because thou art a bloody man. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. There was a bowman’s son who was being trained in the use of a bow, and the son said that he had a bow that would always be connected with his age and his strength. Started out with a smaller bow with less force needed to pull it back. But he says, I grew in age and strength. The bows got stronger and stronger until, of course, later he became an expert crossbowman. In a similar manner, there is an increase in your trials as a Christian as you grow in grace. From abatim Christ, the trials you will face then will be different than the trials you will face when you are a veteran soldier in Christ army. God, as a wise father, trains you slowly. As you were able to bear it, he increases the difficulty of the trial or the circumstance you find yourself in. such seems to be the case with David here in our text. This is a very severe test that David undergoes here. As David and his followers are fleeing from Jerusalem because of Absalon’s rebellion, you recall, they passed through Benjamin territory. Now, this was the area where Saul, of course, grew up. This is where his father had his farm and so forth. And a man who belonged to his farm. to the family of the House of Saul here, came out to curse David and charge him with a terrible crime. Now, David was not a man who naturally, uh, speaking, suffered such indignations to pass, uh, unnoticed. Remember with the nabal that he strapped on the sword. He was ready to put somebody to death when he was insulted earlier. Why then does he endure this slanderous assault or attack so patiently here? If anything, we see the bright side of David’s character coming through in some of the darkest moments that he has in his life, and all his previous training by God has prepared David to handle this most provoking aspect. or test that comes along. I want to speak tonight on how to deal with slanderous attacks, because I think that’s what we have in our text. I’ll begin by saying as a believer, you may face slanderous attacks. You’ll notice that people often attacked you in your weakest condition. This was a cowardly attack by. Shimiye. David has been king for a number of years, but you never heard a word from Shimiye and all the time that David was king up to this point. David was on the throne, David was in power. This man was quiet, no doubt biting his tongue. He dared not speak against David and incur his wrath. But now that David is fleeing, his palace in Jerusalem. Absalom is hotly pursuing him, eager to kill him. The situation is much different. It appears that Absalom has successfully snatched away David’s kingdom. So Shimiye comes out of the woodwork, if you would, like some bug. And he throws all these accusations of David because he believes David’s cause is lost. It appears that Adam’s cause is lost. Absalom is going to be successful. And so he comes out of the shadows. He boldly makes these accusations against the king. You know, only a coward strikes a man when he’s down, but you find this is often a common situation. People will attack you at the worst possible moment that you could have. Let a dark providence of God enter into your life and how quick some people are to think the worst of you. and say the worst of you. You read about Job. Remember, Job was a man that was declared by God as perfect and upright, a man that eschewed evil and honored the Lord. This is how the book opens with these kind of statements about Job. The people young and old feared Job. He was a judge in the gate of the city. The wicked were very, very much trembling in his presence because he needed out justice so faithfully. But then a dark providence comes into his life. All his sons and daughters are killed. His sheep is cattle, his donkeys, his camels are all lost, and they’re confiscated by raiding bands. And then what happens? The wicked come out of the woodwork. They gleefully and openly mock him, they wouldn’t dare do that earlier. But while he’s on the ash heap, well, everything looks bad in his life, boy, they’re attacking him right and left, taking advantage of his calamity. Of course, the most bitter of all was his friends who came along and made all sorts of allegations about maybe some secret sin, him deserting God, and so forth. It was such a harsh attack. One never would never have thought that would have occurred in the life of Job. But this dark providence comes upon him and so he gets all these attacks. So don’t be surprised at what people say or do when a dark providence comes into your life. When you’re down, when you’re at your weakest, when you cannot easily defend yourself, that can happen. You know, at one point in my ministry, I was laid up with a back injury that required surgery. And while I was absent from the church, I was accused of lording it over the church as an elder, holding people back from using their gifts, and even charged with taking a salary from the church, as this was such a terrible thing, I should have worked for free. My injury, evidently, was, you know, God’s judgment for how I’d be here. cave. I look back on that, I think, boy, you talk about hitting a guy when he’s down. They wouldn’t say that to my face when I was present. But boy, when I was laid up, and I couldn’t even walk much at all, I couldn’t even sit or even stand to any length of time. I mean, I was really laid up. All of a sudden, I had someone try to take over the church, and all these accusations come out of nowhere against me. Matthew Henry said this. Those that are under the rebukes of a gracious God must not think it’s strange if these bring upon them the reproaches of evil men. And it happens. So people often attack you at your weakest moment. It was a cowardly attack. People, secondly, may harbor bitterness towards you for a long time before expressing it. This was a bitter attack by Shimiye upon David. There’s no question here that Shemiah has been seethingy anger for quite some time. He’s got all this root of bitterness within him. He’s really aggravated. Years have gone by. And this boiling hatred for David is only now coming out. into the open. It’s like a volcano. It’s been you know, sort of rumbling, but nothing happens and all of a sudden it explodes. We call this today nursing a grudge. We call it making sure you keep alive this grudge you have someone until you can act upon it. You know, when you’re dealing with people who are furious and resentful towards you, which have taken offense. It’s something you did many years ago. You realize they’ve been bitter for a long time. When you’re dealing with somebody, you expect it from the world, but I’m afraid, sadly, sometimes as Christians that are the same way. When they’re going back 10 years ago, you did this. Five years ago, they’re keeping a list of all this for all these years. Not a word’s been said to you, but all of a sudden out of nowhere, all these attacks come. Friends, you’re going to discover there are people who will keep a diary of your perceived wrongs and rattle them off years later. You can expect this kind of things, as I said from the unregenerate, but sadly, Christians at times are guilty of this as well. You know, Scripture says, if thy brother shall trespass against you, you’re supposed to go to him and tell him his fault and try to correct it. Not write it in your diary and keep it for 10 years until some moment when something black or difficult comes in life and then throw it in his face. Jesus taught his disciples to resolve conflicts, not let them fester. And often that is ignored. People let things fester. Oh, how many shimmy eyes there are in the visible church. You know, what a sad commentary on the spiritual state of the church that such things happen. there was a British pastor and evangelist in the 1700s I was reading about he was traveling with the general James Orbelthirthorpe I’ll get it right Oglethorpe and the general was angry at one of his subordinates and the subordinates and the subordinate came in he asked for forgiveness from the general and the general said I never forgive and it’s dismissed the guy the startled pastor who’s taking this all in, looks at the general, and he looked him in the eye and he said, then I hope so, you never sin. Would you want God to treat you as you treat other? Would you like him to keep track of all these things forever and ever and never resolve a conflict, never chasing you to bring you to repentance, never forgive you? Clara Barton was the founder of the Red Cross, and she had a friend one day she was talking with, and the friend thought back on an incident that occurred in Clara Barton’s life. And the close friend reminded Barton of some cruel thing that someone had done to her. And Clara Barton seemed not to recall the matter, and the woman pressed her on it. Don’t you remember that? To which Clara Barton said, no, I distinctly remember forgetting it. you know, scripture teaches that above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover a multitude of sins in 1. Peter 4.8. When someone wrongs you, you have two options. One, you can simply forgive the person out of love for a minor offense, perhaps, that they have done, and just don’t raise the issue. That’s 1 Peter 4.8. Love covers a multitude. of sins. Or secondly, you confront the person about their sin because it’s a serious enough matter that it needs to be addressed and seek to resolve it according to Matthew 18. That’s really your two options that you have. But what you must not do is nurse the grudge. Keep the diary of all the black marks against this person or that person. So people may harbor bitterness toward you for a long time without expression. Thirdly, notice this. People often judge you by what they perceive you to be regardless of the facts. Not only was this a bitter attack, but it was a false attack that was made against David. Jimmy and I called David a bloody man and accuses him, it seems, of destroying the house of Saul. Nothing could be more false. Read this the account of David. How many times was Saul in David’s power that he could have killed him. We know on two special occasions that this was the case, and he didn’t kill him. He didn’t even touch the Lord’s anointed. He said, he wouldn’t dare touch the Lord’s anointed. He refused to put his hand on Saul to kill him. Saul and most of his sons were slain at Mount Gilboa by the Philistines. David sincerely mourned their death. Matthew, recall, in 2 Samuel chapter 1, even wrote a eulogy song to be sung about Saul and Jonathan. You recall. Ishboseth, Saul’s remaining son, was slain by wicked men. He wasn’t put to death by David. In fact, David, punished the people that killed him. Moreover, David is the one that sought out Maphibiseth. Jonathan’s son. put him at the table and let him eat as one of the, his own sons, one of the king’s sons. So if anything at all, David was good to the house of Saul. We don’t see David, you know, using the sword against Saul or trying to undermine Saul here. Yet despite all this, David is charged with being a bloody man and a son of Belial, a son of the devil. Shimei here is quick to attribute David’s woes that God taking vengeance on him. Oh, you’re getting what you deserve. You bloody man. Now you’re getting paid back for what you did to the House of Saul. Boy, it’s hard to be reproached for something you don’t do. And yet it happens. Somehow, the falseness of the accusation adds a degree of sting to it all that normally you wouldn’t have. How cruel to be called a son of Satan when you’re a man after God’s own heart. Or to be accused of bloodshed when you’ve gone out of your way to spare Saul and you’re actually a man of peace. You know, we’ve heard in the news, you know, about fake news. Well, this is fake accusations. Constantly being made against David here. Don’t think it’s strange. that you may be charged with something you never did. And maybe you’ve been very careful to avoid. When the first pastor of Liberty Baptist Church was dismissed by the congregation, I was not attending the church at a time. I was attending a reformed Presbyterian church. I was not involved in the pastor’s dismissal, had nothing to do with it, didn’t orchestrate it, and yet I was charged with orchestrating the dismissal of this pastor, not only by the pastor, but by one of the other members of the church. One woman came to my mom’s house, I heard about your son, Jack, what he’s up to. Supposedly, I did this so I could be pastor of the church. It was a malicious charge. There was no ounce of truth in it whatsoever. But how can you defend yourself? When anyone suggested that I should become the new pastor. I said, absolutely not. I would never become the new pastor of the church after those kind of accusations were made. And so the church called another pastor to be the pastor there. I’m actually the third pastor of the church. The second pastor asked me to come and help him do to teach the Bible study or what we called Sunday school at the time. But I wouldn’t even consider taking the position when those charges were made against me because if I did, see it was true. interestingly enough, when this new man came in to be the pastor of the church, eventually he was offered a position in a larger church and he took it. And only then did I become, I was an elder, only then did I become a pastor of this church. But interesting enough, when this man took over the church, no one ever came to me and apologized. No one ever said, well, Jack, we misjudged the situation. No one ever went to my mom and said, I should never have made those accusations. No, you never hear anything about that. People wanted so badly to blame Jack Worth. It didn’t matter. They had convinced themselves it was true when it was a complete lie. When C.H. Spurgeon was a minister in London, he was constantly slandered and ridiculed and misrepresented. Now, it’s bad enough to be charged in a more muted way as I was. But Spurgeon was canon fodder for political cartoons in the newspaper. I mean, when you have a large enough church and you open the editorial page and your pictures there in a mock, mocking situation, that’s not a good situation to be in because everybody in London is getting a paper is going to see you’re being ridiculed and attacked. And so he was always in the editorial pages in the newspaper. Spurgeon complained. He said this, I must protest against the conduct of at least one editor who is misquoted in order to pervert my meaning and he was done even more than that. He has manufactured a quotation from his own head. which never did occur in my works or words. They’re just making it up. Fake news, yeah. Fake news. He said this. A slanderous report against my character came to my ears, and my heart was broken in agony. If like my master, they shall say I have a devil and am mad, or like him I am a drunken man and a wine bribber. If I lose my character, then let it go. once he wrote his father a letter, and here’s what he said. Dear father, don’t be grieved at the slanderous libel in this week’s express. Of course, it’s all a lie without an atom of foundation. Last night I could not sleep till morning light, but now my master has cheered me, and I hail, reproach, and welcome shame. Lost the night’s sleepover, these accusations made against him. It got so, so. bad that Mrs. Spurgeon began to clip out all these articles and save them in what she called her museum. And all it was is all these attacks against Spurgeon. And she actually hung them up on a wall so that when he went into a room, one of the rooms, all these attacks that had been made. It was all hanging up there. All the slanders and lies. Now I told you all this. to tell you this. As Christians, we should be careful about what we say concerning other people so that we don’t falsely accuse anyone. You are commanded to speak the truth in love. You must be guarded with your words so that you’re not misrepresenting someone. You’re not projecting your own ideas into the situation, which you may have misconstrued the whole situation. And this is why gossip can be so devastating. Someone said a lie goes around the world before truth gets out the door. And that’s the case. It’s worse today when we have Facebook. And in the internet, people can easily slander someone, destroy this person’s reputation, and you’re left without any recourse. Stuff gets multiplied and sent everywhere, and here you are. What can you do about it? So, as Christians, we should be careful that we are not guilty of doing something that Shimei does here. So people often judge you by what they perceive you to be, regardless of the facts, and it’s a false attack. People can be very vicious in attack you. We see reproaches here. We see curses. We see stones. We see dust. It’s a vicious attack that he makes. Shimiye cast stones at David. We read in verse 6. As if he were some terrible criminal that should be stone to death. He’s tossing rocks at him. As if he was under the death penalty or something or he deserved the death penalty. He cast dust on David in his men, according to verse 13. Perhaps have it irritate his eyes or you ought to be in mourning so he’s going to put dust on his head. I don’t know exactly what his thinking was, but here’s the what he does. He curses David. Calling down God’s most severe judgment on him. Contrary to the law of God, by the way, Exodus 2228, thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy people. This in addition to the name calling and the ugly reproaches that are hurled at David. So we got physical abuse and we got verbal abuse of David taking place here. So he fires a brutal broadside at David here. Unrelenting and without pity. The most vicious attacks in the whole world are always against the Christian. Hebrew, Hebrews 11, and what they saw on people in half, and some of the, you know, locking them up in prison, trying to starve them the death, throw them into the lion’s den, and all these things that are talked about. You talk about the attacks that believers have undergone down through the years. It is terrible. These attacks have made against the children of God. David once cried out, they can pass me about as bees, his enemies. Psalm 118, verse 12. The attacks against him were so many and so furious that he says it was like you know, run into a beehive situation and, you know, attacks all over. When bees are excited, they are among the most terrible of assailants. You know, their stingers are sharp, and they inject a venom which causes swelling and irritation. I don’t know if you’ve ever been attacked by bees. One time my friends and I were walking through the woods. I think Mark was with. Mark, you’re the one that stepped on the rock, wasn’t it? No, you didn’t do it? Okay. A guy from me. front of you. Someone stepped on a rock and evidently the rock gave way but when it did it like flipped the bees nest or the nest out of the ground. And the next thing I knew, I had about 100 yellow jackets all over me, attacking me. I read about a traveler in Africa who learned a lesson the hard way. Some of those African bees are really nasty and large. He said they were going up river and the African natives were pulling from the sides of the river. They would be pulling the boat. And he was in the boat, the traveler. Well, somewhere along the line along the bank of the river, the rope goes over the bees nest or waxes into a bees nest somewhere along the line. And he said, the next thing I knew, I’m being attacked, arms, eyes, legs, head. He said, it was so bad. I jumped out of the cabin into the water to try to get away from them. He said, every time I raised my head, they attacked me again. He said, later on, he said, I would rather face two lions or a herd of buffaloes than any of these bees again, he said. It was so bad. Well, this is the picture David is talking about when he talks about his attackers here. Believers are stung by ridicule and slander and misrepresentation and physical abuse as they go through this life, and you often will have to face a whole gauntlet of abuse. and it may be very cruel and vicious. So, it’s best to prepare yourself for persecution by the world. Expect it. People will seek to harm you both physically and verbally. You will be hated of all men for Christ’s sake. You remember when Christian and faithful were traveling and they came to Vanity Fair and they were passing through and they were seen as strangers and they were not wanted. They were considered to be troublesome people. They didn’t dress like them. They didn’t speak like the rest of the people at the fair. So Christian and faithful were taken. They were beaten, besmirched with dirt, then put into a cage, and made a spectacle before all the people at the fair. For some time they lay there and were made the obstacle of any man’s sport, malice, for revenge. And then one of the great ones of the fair laughed all the time that they were in this situation. Then they were beaten again. They were put in irons and led in chains up and down the fair as an example to others. And to terrorize them, don’t be like these people. Eventually, faithful was martyred, you recall, at that time. Such is your life as a Christian as you passed to the world. onion saying, this is the way it is for the Christian. Expect to be treated like David by the shimmy eyes of this world. There’s going to be no pity shown to you. The day will come when you may have to flee for your life and face vicious attacks. Well, the bowman’s son was progressively introduced to the larger and more powerful bows as he grew up. As you grow spiritually, you may have to face more difficult, more powerful assaults as you grow from a babe spiritually to a man. God deems David ready for this severe test, and it is indeed a slanderous attack that he faces. As a Christian, you are are going to have to face some slanderous attacks in this life. The next time we get together, Lord willing, I’ll talk about how to bear those attacks. How does David handle this? How does he respond to this attack upon his person? We’ll let us close with a word of prayer.