David defends God’s sovereignty by posing an unanswerable question. If the Lord commanded Shimei to curse, who possesses the authority to question God’s directive? The question form underscores the absurdity of human challenge to divine decree, making obedience the only rational response.

David allowed Shimei to continue cursing and throwing stones, instructing his men to leave him alone because the Lord might look on his affliction and repay with good.

David’s question ‘Who then shall say, Why have you done so?’ employs rhetorical force to establish God’s unchallengeable authority. The interrogative mî (who?) expects the answer ‘no one.’ By framing his theology as a question rather than declaration, David invites Abishai to arrive at the conclusion himself: challenging divine sovereignty is absurd. The conditional ‘if he is cursing because the Lord has said to him’ treats Shimei’s hostility as potentially prophetic, a theological interpretation that elevates even enemy speech to possible divine instrument. The weight is David’s radical submission to God’s freedom to use human malice for divine discipline, trusting that even curses serve redemptive purposes under sovereign control.