SHIMEI (
).
Benjamite of Bahurim, son of Gera, "a man of the family of the house of Saul" (II Sam. xvi. 5-14, xix. 16-23; I Kings ii. 8-9, 36-46). He is mentioned as one of David's tormentors during his flight before Absalom, and as imploring and winning David's forgiveness when the latter returned. David, however, in his dying charge to Solomon, bade him avenge the insult (I Kings ii. 1-9). Without sufficient reason, this last passage has been regarded by Wellhausen, Stade, and others as unhistorical.
When Shimei cursed David (II Sam. xvi. 5 et seq.) he used the most insulting names, taunting him, moreover, with his Moabite descent and with his adultery with Bath-sheba (Shab. 105a). He later besought David's forgiveness, however (II Sam. xix. 17-21), and addressed him as follows: "The brothers of Joseph did him injury, but Joseph returned good for evil. Be thou as Joseph, and recompense me with good, though I dealt evilly with thee. It was not I alone but all Israel that entreated thee ill. They now await my fate, and if thou forgivest me, they will come and make peace with thee and surrender themselves to thee" (Yalḳ. ii. 151). Shimei afterward became Solomon's instructor, and restrained him from marrying the daughter of Pharaoh, so that she did not become the wife of the King of Israel until after his teacher's death (Midr. Teh. to Ps. iii. 1; Ber. 8a).
2. Second son of Gershon and grandson of Levi (Ex. vi. 17; Num. iii. 18; I Chron. vi. 17). The family of the Shimeites, as a branch of the tribe of Levi, is mentioned in Num. iii. 18, 21; I Chron. xxiii. 7, 10, 11 ("Shimei" in verse 9 is evidently a scribal error); and in Zech. xii. 13.
3. Name of a number of persons about whom little or nothing is known: e.g., a friend of David (I Kings i. 8); a brother of David, called also Shammah, Shimeah, and Shimea (I Sam. xvi. 9, xvii. 13; II Sam. xiii. 3, xxi. 21; I Chron. ii. 13, xx. 7); one of Solomon's prefects, over the district of Benjamin (I Kings iv. 18); a grandson of Simeon, who is described as the father of many sons and daughters, and whose clan dwelt in southern Palestine (I Chron. iv. 26, 27); a grandson of Jeconiah and brother of Zerubbabel (I Chron. iii. 19); a Reubenite (I Chron. v. 4); Levites (I Chron. vi. 29, 42; xxv. 17; II Chron. xxix. 14; xxxi. 12, 13); a Benjamite chief (I Chron. viii. 21, R. V.; comp. ib. v. 13); "the Ramathite," one of David's officers (I Chron. xxvii. 27); a Levite and other Israelites whom Ezra required to put away their foreign wives (Ezra x. 23, 33, 38); grandfather of Mordecai (Esth. ii. 5).
