Clemency

Clemency in the UPDV is illustrated almost entirely by David's conduct toward men who had stood against him during Absalom's revolt. The umbrella collects two scenes: his restraint when Shimei curses him during the flight from Jerusalem, his formal pardon of Shimei when he returns, and his promotion of Absalom's own commander Amasa to the head of the army.

Restraint under cursing

As David flees Jerusalem, Shimei the Benjamite meets him at Bahurim and assails him publicly: "And he cast stones at David, and at all the slaves of King David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Begone, begone, you man of blood, and base fellow: Yahweh has returned on you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead you have reigned; and Yahweh has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son" (2Sa 16:6-8).

Abishai presses for execution on the spot — "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray you, and take off his head" (2Sa 16:9) — and David refuses. He frames the cursing within Yahweh's permission, and declines retaliation: "Leave him alone, and let him curse; for Yahweh has bidden him. It may be that Yahweh will look at the wrong done to me, and that Yahweh will repay me good for [his] cursing of me this day" (2Sa 16:11-12). Shimei keeps pace on the hillside, throwing stones and dust, and goes unpunished.

Pardon at the king's return

When David recrosses the Jordan, Shimei comes down at the head of a thousand Benjamites and falls at the king's feet: "Don't let my lord impute iniquity to me, neither remember that which your slave did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. For your slave knows that I have sinned" (2Sa 19:19-20). Abishai again presses for the death penalty — the offense was cursing "Yahweh's anointed" (2Sa 19:21) — and David again overrides him. The pardon is made formal and oath-bound: "And the king said to Shimei, You will not die. And the king swore to him" (2Sa 19:23).

Promotion of an enemy commander

The same return-from-exile narrative also clears Amasa, who had served as Absalom's general: "And Absalom set Amasa over the host instead of Joab" (2Sa 17:25). David sends word to him in language that absorbs him into the king's own household and elevates him over Joab: "And say⁺ to Amasa, Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if you are not captain of the host before me continually instead of Joab" (2Sa 19:13). The man who had led the rebel army is offered, by oath, the chief military post of the restored kingdom.