2 Samuel 19:21 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

i.e. The king. By this expression he minds David of his former zeal against those who offered any injury to Saul, because he was the Lord's anointed, 1 Samuel 24:6, 1 Samuel 26:9; and therefore demands the same justice against Shimei for his cursing of the king, which was so expressly forbidden, Exodus 22:28, and by the analogy of that law, Exodus 21:17, might seem punishable with death.