Jesus Christ, who offered His body once for all on the cursed tree, the cross, for someone as unworthy as a dead dog.

Jesus Christ, who offered His body once for all on the cursed tree,

the cross, for someone as unworthy as a dead dog.

When Shimei cursed King David, Abishai said to the king,

"Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?

Let me go over and cut off his head"

(2 Samuel 16:9).

As I meditate on this passage, I think of the following:

Abishai referred to Shimei as "this dead dog" for cursing King David, which reminds me of David’s words to King Saul: "Why does my lord pursue his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of? Why should the king of Israel come out to search for a dead dog or a flea?" (1 Samuel 24:14). King Saul pursued "a dead dog or a flea" like David to kill him, but Jesus, the King of kings, came to this low and humble world to save someone like me, as unworthy as a "dead dog or a flea," by dying on the cursed tree, the cross.
I also recall when Abishai and David went into King Saul’s camp, and Abishai said to David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won't strike him twice" (1 Samuel 26:8). Abishai seemed to have been incredibly loyal to David. He wanted to eliminate David’s enemies "in one go" and also desired to "immediately" behead anyone who cursed David.
However, Abishai was not able to "take down" King Saul, whom he saw as David’s enemy, "in one go." This was because David said, "Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? As surely as the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed" (1 Samuel 26:9-11).
In contrast, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and King of kings, gave His body "once for all" for the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation, we who were 'enemies of God' (Romans 5:10). By this one sacrifice, we have been made holy (Hebrews 10:10; see also Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 26, 28; 1 Peter 3:18).