Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

When we last saw David, he was fleeing Jerusalem because Absalom had staged a coup.

On his way out of town, David found out that his advisor Ahithavel was a traitor.

He also ran into his friend Hushai and asked

him to keep him posted on everything that was happening in Jerusalem after he left.

Today, whom we pick up on the story, David has just crossed over the mountain on his way out of town when he runs into Ziba, one of the servants of Maphibisheth.

As a reminder, Maphibisheth is the son of Jonathan who is David's best friend and who helped save David's life

when his father saw tried to kill him. David had sworn an oath to Jonathan to take

care of his family so when David found out that Mephebachev was Jonathan's

only surviving son he took him into his home and promised to provide for him forever.

But here things take an interesting turn.

Mephibicheth's servant Zeba brings David a bunch of food, wine, and donkeys as gifts, and then tells David

that Mephebacheth is going to try to assume the throne that David stole from his father

Jonathan. You can imagine how hurt and angry this makes David after all he's done for Mephebachev.

Plus, God gave David the throne. He didn't take it.

So David hands all of Mephebachev's blessings over to Zeba his servant instead.

Put a pen in this story. We'll come back to it.

As David and his crew continue on, they encounter a man named Shimai who is cursing him, calling

him a murderer, which he is.

David's servant wants to kill him, but David's trust in the Lord allows him to incur

insult without fighting back. He's able to humbly receive whatever comes to him as though it were from God's hand.

He holds his anger and doesn't retaliate. I can't imagine the weight of emotional defeat David must feel at this point.

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