STAYING WITHIN YOUR BOUNDARIES
1 KINGS 2:36-46
36 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere. 37 For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head.”38 And Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.39 Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Look, your slaves are in Gath!” 40 So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath. 41 And Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back. 42 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and travel anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I gave you?” 44 The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know, as your heart acknowledges, all the wickedness that you did to my father David; therefore the LORD will return your wickedness on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.”46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT SHIMEI IN 2 SAMUEL 16:5-13 CURSED AND THREW ROCKS AT DAVID AS HE LEFT JERUSALEM BECAUSE OF HIS SON ABSOLAM TRYING TO KILL HIM AND TAKE OVER HIS THRONE.
SHEMEI HAD A TREMENDOUS HATRED FOR DAVID BECAUSE HE WAS OF THE HOUSE OF SAUL AND HE HAD ANGER AND RESENTMENT IN HIS HEART BECAUSE SAUL WAS DEAD AND HE BLAMED DAVID FOR HIS DEATH.
SHEMEI HAD A SEVERE BITTERNESS IN HIS HEART.
I WONDER IF ANY OF YOU HAVE BITTERNESS IN YOUR HEART TOWARD SOMEONE? IF SO BITTERNESS WILL EAT YOU UP AND CAUSE YOU TO THINK AND DO THINGS YOU NORMALLY WOULDN’T THINK OR DO.
I’M SURE DAVID’S HEART WAS BROKEN BECAUSE OF FLEEING FROM HIS SON ABSALOM AND SHEMEI WAS CAUSING INSULT UPON INJURY WITH CURSING DAVID AND THROWING ROCKS AT HIM.
YET SHEMEI’S BITTERNESS WAS BASED ON FALSE PREMISES AND GROUNDLESS. DAVID DID NOT CAUSE THE DEATH OF SAUL.
IF YOU HAVE BITTERNESS AGAINST SOMEONE IT IS OFTEN BECAUSE WE MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT SOMEONE HAS SAID OR IT MAY BE JUSTIFIED BY WHAT SOMEONE DID OR DIDN’T DO. BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS THIS, AS I HAVE STATED BEFORE, BITTERNESS WILL DESTROY YOU INSTEAD OF THE PERSON YOU HAVE BITTERNESS TOWARD.
A PRIME EXAMPLE IS IN OUR TEXT WITH SHEMEI AND HIS BITTERNESS TOWARD DAVID.
EVEN IF THE BITTERNESS YOU HAVE IS JUSTIFIED BITTERNESS ACCORDING THE SCRIPTURE IS WRONG.
EPHESIANS 4:31
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
WHEN YOU STUDY THE BOOK OF SAMEUL IT SHOWS THAT SAUL HAD BEEN DEAD FOR TWENTY YEARS AT THIS POINT OF THE STORY.
HERE IS DAVID AND HIS PEOPLE WEEPING OVER THE FACT THAT HIS SON ABSALOM HAD TURNED AGAINST HIM AND YET HERE IS A MAN CURSING DAVID AND THROWING ROCKS AT HIM.
THE PICTURE OF SHIMEI PUBLICLY CURSING DAVID AND THROWING STONES AT HIM SHOWS THE SHAMELESS CONDUCT THAT RESULTS FROM BITTERNESS.
THE RESULTS OF YEARS OF PRIVATE SEETHING ONLY CAUSES THE BITTERNESS TO GROW AND IT BOILS OVER IN OUR ATTITUDES AND LANGUAGE.
TIME HAD PASSED AND NOW SOLOMON WAS ON THE THRONE AND DECIDED TO SEND FOR SHEMEI.
1 KINGS 2:36 “THEN THE KING “SENT” FOR SHEMEI.
AS YOU THINK ABOUT THIS I’M SURE SHEMEI THOUGHT THAT SOLOMON WAS GOING TO KILL HIM BECAUSE OF THE THINGS HE DID IN THE PAST.
IT GOES TO SHOW HOW THAT “WHAT WE SOW WE SHALL ALSO REAP.”
GALATIANS 6:7-9
DO NOT BE DECEIVED, GO DIS NOT MOCKED; FOR WHATEVER A MAN SOWS, THAT HE WILL ALSO REAP. FOR HE WHO SOWS TO HIS FLESH WILL OF THE FLESH REAP CORRUPTION BUT HE WHO SOWS TO THE SPIRIT WILL OF THE SPIRIT REAP EVERLASTING LIFE. AND LET US NOT BE WEARY WHILE DOING GOOD FOR IN DUE SEASON WE SHALL REAP IF WE DO NOT LOSE HEART.
THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME DAVID SENT FOR MEMBERS OF SAUL’S FAMILY.
2 SAMUEL 9:5
Then King David sent and brought him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo Debar. 6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, “Mephibosheth?” And he answered, “Here is your servant!”
7 So David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.” 8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?”9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given to your master’s son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house. 10 You therefore, and your sons and your servants, shall work the land for him, and you shall bring in the harvest, that your master’s son may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth your master’s son shall eat bread at my table always.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
SO WE SEE THAT DAVID HAD NO MALICE OR JEALOUSY IN HIS HEART WHEN HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO HAVE IT HE COULD HAVE KILLED MEPHIBOSHETH.
SO WE FIND THE CONDITIONS THAT SHEMEI HAD TO MEET IN ORDER TO STAY ALIVE.
1 KINGS 2:36
Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there anywhere.
IN THE SPIRITUAL SENSE IT WASN’T JUST A PHYSCIAL HOUSE FOR SHEMEI BUT A HOUSE OF PEACE, SINCE HE HAD LIVED IN TURMOIL ALL THESE YEARS WITH BITTERNESS AND RESENTMENT.
NOW HE WAS IN JERUSALEM WHICH MEANS PEACE.
BUT THERE WERE CONDITIONS.
AND THERE ARE CONDITIONS FOR US WHEN WE COME TO A SAVING KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.
THERE ARE CERTAIN BOUNDARIES THAT THE LORD GIVES US WHEN WERE SAVED. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR LIVES BEGINS HIS WORK OF SANCTIFICATION AND DRAWS THE BOUNDARIES OR CONVICTIONS OUT THAT WE MUST LIVE BY.
SO WE SEE SHEMEI’S BOUNDARIES IN
1 KINGS 2:37
FOR IT SHALL BE ON THE DAY YOU GO OUT AN CROSS THE BROOK KIDRON, NOW FOR CERTAIN YOU SHALL SURELY DIE, YOUR BLOOD SHALL BE ON YOUR OWN HEAD.
SO SOLOMON GIVES HIM THE BOUNDARIES THAT HE HAS TO LIVE BY.
WHEN GOD GIVES YOU BOUNDARIES HE DOES SO, NOT TO PUNISH YOU, BUT TO PROTECT YOU AND MAKE SURE YOU DON’T GO BACK INTO THE OLD LIFESTYLE YOU WERE IN BEFORE YOU GOT SAVED.
ROMANS 14:22
Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
1 KINGS 2:37
For it shall be, on the day you go out and cross the Brook Kidron, know for certain you shall surely die; your blood shall be on your own head.”
SO SHEMEI KNEW WHAT HIS BOUNDARIES WERE JUST LIKE WE KNOW WHAT OUR BOUNDARIES ARE.
ALTHOUGH WE MAY NOT FACE A PHYSICAL DEATH THERE IS A SPIRITUAL DEATH FALLING TO OBEY THE LORD.
1 KINGS 2:38
And Shimei said to the king, “The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so your servant will do.” So Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days.
SO SHIMEI AGREED TO THE TERMS THAT SOLOMON GAVE HIM. AFTER ALL, HERE IS A MAN WHO DAVID COULD KILL ON THE SPOT YET HE IS GIVEN ANOTHER CHANCE.
HOW MANY TIMES HAS GOD OVERLOOKED OUR REBELLION AND SIN AND GIVEN US ANOTHER CHANCE BECAUSE OF GRACE THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
ANY TIME WE MAKE A COMMITMENT TO GOD, REST ASSURED, THE DEVIL WILL COME AT US WITH EVERYTHING HE HAS.
THE ENEMY KNEW WHAT WAS REALLY IN SHEMI’S HEART AND HE KNOWS WHAT IS IN OURS AND HE KNOWS JUST THE RIGHT BUTTONS TO PUSH TO STOP US FROM COMPLETING WHAT WE AGREED TO THE LORD WE WOULD DO.
1 KINGS 2:39
Now it happened at the end of three years, that two slaves of Shimei ran away to Achish the son of Maachah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, “Look, your slaves are in Gath!”
FOR THREE SHORT YEARS SHIMEI LIVED WITHIN HIS BOUNDARIES THAT HE AGREED TO.
NO ONE TWISTED HIS ARM TO AGREE TO THEM.
I BLEIEVE IF HE DIDN’T AGREE TO THEM SOLOMON WOULD HAVE STILL SET HIM FREE BUT NOW SHIMEI HAD IT ALL.
NO ONE TWISTED YOUR ARM AND MADE YOU COME TO THE ALTAR AND ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL LORD AND SAVIOR THAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU AGREED TO.
REGARDLESS OF WHO YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE IN THE PAST, GOD GAVE YOU PERSONAL CONVICTIONS TO LIVE BY AND YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE THAT CAN DECIDE TO LIVE BY THEM OR NOT.
L1 KINGS 2:40
So Shimei arose, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to seek his slaves. And Shimei went and brought his slaves from Gath.
GATH WAS ONE OF THE FIVE CITIES OF THE PHILISTINES AND THE NATIVE HOME OF GOLIATH.
1 SAMUEL 17:4 THIS WAS WHERE DAVID DEFEATED GOLIATH. SO THIS WAS INSULT UPON INSULT TO SOLOMON.
THE DEVIL KNEW WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT TO SHEMI’S HEART AND IT SURE WASN’T OBEYING SOLOMON WHICH IS THE SAME AS OBEYING GOD.
1 JOHN 2:16
For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
1 KINGS 2:41-46
41 And Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had come back. 42 Then the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD, and warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and travel anywhere, you shall surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The word I have heard is good.’ 43 Why then have you not kept the oath of the LORD and the commandment that I gave you?” 44 The king said moreover to Shimei, “You know, as your heart acknowledges, all the wickedness that you did to my father David; therefore the LORD will return your wickedness on your own head. 45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.”46 So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. Thus the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.
