Shimei - A Faulty Forgiveness

No man is righteous, for all have sinned; neither can righteousness, once broken, be put back together again with a cartload of good works.

The only righteousness left for a sinner is the alien righteousness imputed by God through faith in the obedience and blood of the Savior. That righteousness is available only to those who, as Paul put it, "work not but believe on God that justifies the ungodly."

There is an intreguing instance of negative imputation in the life of David. Shimei, Saul's kinsman, cursed David as he was driven across the brook Kidron when Absolom seized the kingdom from him. Then on David's return, Shimei came to him and begged for forgiveness. "Impute not mine iniquity to me," Shimei pleaded, and David swore to him that he would not be put to death.

David knew all about forgiveness and negative imputation - he had written that blessed text, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity."

But David's forgiveness of Shimei cannot be a type of God's forgiveness of sinners, for David's forgiveness was given begrudgingly and was withdrawn at the end of David's life. Indeed, David instructed Solomon to execute Shimei, and Solomon did so, recalling Shimei's sin against his father when he pronounced sentence of death.

There are four ways in which God's forgiveness of sinners is better than David's.

In Shimei's case, it was Shimei that proposed that David forgive him. In the case of sinners, God proposed redeeming His people.

David later regretted forgiving Shimei, but God has determined from eternity past to impute our sins, not upon us, but upon His dear Son.

Because God is its author, our forgiveness is secure!