2 Samuel — Chapter 16

Semei cursed David, throwing stones. Lapide praises David's patience under injury: \"He who has filled you with reproaches, depart out of Bahurim... what if the Lord hath bid him curse David?\" Lapide cites S. Ambrose: \"What a height of prudence! what a height of patience! what a great invention for swallowing contumely!\" He notes that reproaches reflected back always injure the one who uttered them.

Suffer him to curse, for the Lord hath bid him curse David. Lapide: God did not positively command the curse, but permitted it; David's attribution of the curse to God's permission is an act of perfect abandon to Providence — he saw it as a chastisement deserved.