1 Kings 2:36, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the first eleven chapters of 1 Kings that give the life of Solomon, who reigned after David, who succeeded Saul, and before Rehoboam, at whose accession the kingdom was divided into Israel and Judah. It belongs to the account of Solomon carrying out measures David had charged him to take for the security of his throne after David's death. It is included in the account of Adonijah's failed attempt to seize David's throne, which ended in Adonijah's overthrow and death. That episode is another fulfillment of Nathan's words that the sword would never depart from David's house, as a consequence of David's sin concerning Uriah.

The verse belongs to the later history of David in 2 Samuel 11-24 and 1 Kings 1-2 that shows how completely Nathan's denunciation was accomplished in the judgments that came upon David after his great wickedness in the case of Uriah. The transgression is neither covered up nor excused, but is followed by this record of judgment, together with David's own humble confession of his great transgression recorded for all future time. The verse records Solomon sparing Shimei, a former enemy, by a mild course on strict conditions of life: to build a house in Jerusalem, dwell there, and never go forth from there anywhere.

The restriction placed Shimei's life in his own hands as a test of whether he would keep his solemn oath and respect what was right, with the warning that leaving the city would bring death. Shimei was the man who had cursed and insulted David during David's adversity in Absalom's revolt, when Shimei imagined David was falling. Shimei later broke the oath by departing from Jerusalem and failing to keep the conditions, and was therefore put to death as the just reward for his course. In this he went down, not David, and Adonijah and Joab were also slain for disloyalty after Solomon was crowned.