Grace Forfeited


1 Kings 2:36-46
36 Then the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and dwell there, and do not go out from there to any place whatever.
37 For on the day you go out and cross the brook Kidron, know for certain that you shall die. Your blood shall be on your own head.”
38 And Shimei said to the king, “What you say is good; as my lord the king has said, so will your servant do.” So Shimei lived in Jerusalem many days.
39 But it happened at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And when it was told Shimei, “Behold, your servants are in Gath,”
40 Shimei arose and saddled a donkey and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. Shimei went and brought his servants from Gath.
41 And when Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned,
42 the king sent and summoned Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the Lord and solemnly warn you, saying, ‘Know for certain that on the day you go out and go to any place whatever, you shall die’? And you said to me, ‘What you say is good; I will obey.’
43 Why then have you not kept your oath to the Lord and the commandment with which I commanded you?”
44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the harm that you did to David my father. So the Lord will bring back your harm on your own head.
45 But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the Lord forever.”
46 Then the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck him down, and he died.
So the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

Solomon has one last remnant of David’s reign to take care of in the person of Shimei. Shimei was a fellow countryman of King Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. When David was fleeing Jerusalem during the coup of Absalom, Shimei rained down both curses and dirt onto David and his entourage. Later, David granted him forgiveness as Shimei supposedly repented of those crimes. Apparently his actions remained suspect, for David advises Solomon to deal with him shrewdly and that is exactly what Solomon does. He grants Shimei his life as along as he remains in Jerusalem. Keeping Shimei from his fellow Benjamites (and possibly co-conspirators) is a good idea. Shimei has been granted grace. If he stays in Jerusalem, he will be allowed to life a long a fruitful life. Having seen how Solomon dealt with Adonijah (his brother and usurper, Abiathar (the priest) and Joab (David’s commander of the army) Shimei should have believed that Solomon would follow through and is not someone with whom to trifle. But he forfeits the grace that he has been shown and leaves Jerusalem to chase down a couple of escaped slaves. He had other choices. He could have sent someone else or petitioned Solomon to send someone after them. But instead, he throws away the gift of life that he has been given and goes himself. It would appear he didn’t truly believe that Solomon would have him killed. Wrong assumption!

In Jonah 2:8, we read the words, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” (NIV)  Shimei clung to the belief that he could do whatever he wanted without fear of retribution. Lest we look down our noses too far at Shimei we probably need to examine our own lives and see where we have cavalierly hung on to sin and idolatry thinking that God would simply ignore our wrong doing and give us a pass. In doing that we deny that fact that He is perfect in His justice and holiness. A God who would allow His own Son to bleed and die for our sins is not a God who ignores transgression.

Where we insist on going our own way though, there we surrender the grace of God for our own lives. When we run off, chasing our runaway passions (slaves) we have forfeited God’s grace over us and it is a tragic loss. Had Shimei taken Solomon seriously, he would have spared his own life and probably lived to old age. If we are willing to take God seriously we can spar ourselves the sorrow and pain of going our own way. It has to be a conscience choice on our part though. It demands self-examination and a willingness to surrender into God’s hands every part of our lives, including those we would rather hold onto and maintain control over for ourselves. So the question of the day is where have we forfeited God’s grace in our lives? Tough question. But the answers will change your life and draw you ever nearer to the God you love.

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