Shimeah, the Third Son of Jesse Who Never Gets a Scene

A brother in the house of Jesse

Shimeah belongs to the era of the united kingdom, placed at around 1095 BC to 975 BC (era placed on Ussher's chronology, 1650). He was a son of Jesse, third in the birth order: "and Jesse became the father of his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third" (1 Chronicles 2:13). He is of the tribe of Judah, and he is named again and again as one thing above all: David's brother (1 Chronicles 20:7; 2 Samuel 13:3). His name is spelled differently in different books. He is Shimea in Chronicles (1 Chronicles 2:13; 1 Chronicles 20:7), Shammah in Samuel's account of the anointing and the war (1 Samuel 16:9; 1 Samuel 17:13), and Shimeah in the account of Amnon and Absalom (2 Samuel 13:3; 2 Samuel 13:32). Beside Eliab and Abinadab, the records list further brothers and sisters: Nethanel and Raddai (1 Chronicles 2:14), Ozem (1 Chronicles 2:15), Elihu (1 Chronicles 27:18), Zeruiah (1 Samuel 26:6) and Abigail (2 Samuel 17:25).

Passed by in front of the prophet

The first time Shimeah appears, he is walking past and being turned down. Jesse's sons are brought forward one by one, and of this one the word is short: "Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, 'Yahweh has not chosen this one, either'" (1 Samuel 16:9). He is not accused of anything. He simply is not the chosen one. Two brothers have already gone by, and after him the line runs on. Shimeah stands in the middle of that procession as one of the not-chosen, and the text does not record a word from his mouth about it.

Off to the war

He next appears as a soldier, again in a list of three: "The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah" (1 Samuel 17:13). That is all. He goes, he is counted, and the narrative moves on without giving him a line of dialogue or a single action of his own.

Named through his son

In 2 Samuel he is present only as a father, and the notice is not a happy one. "But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother; and Jonadab was a very subtle man" (2 Samuel 13:3). Later, when the report of slaughter reaches the king, the same man speaks: "Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother, answered, 'Don't let my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead; for by the appointment of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar'" (2 Samuel 13:32). Shimeah himself says nothing and does nothing in either verse. His name functions as an address, a way of locating this shrewd young man inside the royal family.

One more note belongs to his house, and this one is a victory. "When he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David's brother killed him" (1 Chronicles 20:7). The quoted line does not name the man who defied Israel, and I will not name him for it. A parallel notice stands at 2 Samuel 21:21. Whether Jonathan and Jonadab are the same person or two sons is not something the quoted texts settle.

What kind of mentions these are

It has to be said plainly: no scene is told about Shimeah. Every one of his seven verses is a list, a genealogy or a passing note. He is the third name in a birth order, the third name in a muster, and the surname of a son. Scripture keeps him in the frame and never gives him the camera. That is simply what the record contains.

Failures, and whose they are

The verses that carry his name record no sin of Shimeah. He is not rebuked, not punished, not warned. The darkness attached to his name is his son's: Jonadab the subtle friend of Amnon (2 Samuel 13:3), who knew what Absalom had determined "from the day that he forced his sister Tamar" (2 Samuel 13:32) and said so calmly to the king. A father named repeatedly in that story is a father whose house is caught in it, and Scripture does not soften that by silence. But it also does not charge Shimeah, and neither may we.

What we do not know

We do not know when he was born or when he died. We do not know his wife, his trade after the war, his dealings with David once David was king, or whether he lived to see the events of 2 Samuel 13. We do not know his own words, because none are recorded. We do not know why Chronicles and Samuel spell his name three ways. And we do not know what he thought when the prophet said of him, "Yahweh has not chosen this one, either" (1 Samuel 16:9).

A name in the household

No passage in the New Testament is listed among his references, so this record draws no line forward from him, and it would be dishonest to invent one. What stands is a brother in a list (1 Chronicles 2:13), a soldier in a muster (1 Samuel 17:13), a man passed by before the prophet (1 Samuel 16:9), a father named for the sake of a subtle son (2 Samuel 13:3), and a house from which came the one who killed the man that defied Israel (1 Chronicles 20:7). Scripture is full of such names. They are not filler. They are the household in which the larger story actually happened.