2 Samuel 16:10

And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?

Ver. 10. What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah?] So that Joab, it seemeth, as well as Abishai, had a hand in this request of revenge, and is therefore thus shaken up, unless it were so that Abner's death were now laid afresh in his dish, as that wherewith Shimei had newly twitted David Ambrose, citing these words of David, crieth out. O altitudo prudentiae! O altitudo patientiae! O devorandae contumeliae grande inventum! Ecce verborum contumelia parricidii levavit aerumnam, &c. Reproaches make graces more splendent. As the gardener planteth his unsavoury herbs, garlic and onions, near his sweetest roses, saith Plutarch, that so the smell thereof may be the more prized.

Because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David,] sc., By the secret impulse of some evil spirit, saith Piscator: or by a secret command of providence, say others: and this consideration framed David's heart to so much patience, that he was "as a deaf man that heard not, and as a dumb man in whose mouth are no reproofs." Psa 38:13-14 He could sit and sing,

“ Incessunt, taceo: culpant, fero: crimina spargunt,

Dissimulo: mordent, abque dolore meo.

Latrant, non moveor: frendent, non curo: minantur,

Non metuo: mordent labra, laboro nihil."

Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so? ] God is αιυπευθυνος , not bound to give an account to any: neither needeth he so to do, since his will is the rule of right, and his judgments are sometimes secret, always just, David knew there was cause enough.