HEBREW WORD STUDY – MY AFFLICTION, MY DEPRAVITY – B’OUNI BONI  בעיני ביוני 

II Samuel 16:11b-12:   “Let him alone, let him curse for the Lord has bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look upon my affliction and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day.” 

“If a man loses pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”  Henry David Thoreau – “Walden” 

This had to be the lowest time in David’s life.  His own son seized the throne, forced David to flee for his life. In one clean swoop, David lost his kingdom and now he was fleeing with a price on his head. If things weren’t bad enough, as he is running for his life some Benjamite appears and starts throwing rocks at him and cursing him.  

Finally one of David’s servants had about all he could take and said: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king, you just say the word and I will go lop his head off.”  David’s response is very curious. He rebuked this loyal servant and said that God told this guy to curse him, so let him curse. So he continued to let the Benjamite curse him and throw rocks at him. 

The key to what is going on in David’s head at this time is in the words: b’ouni b’oni (look upon my affliction). This literally means My affliction, my depravity. There are almost as many renderings to this as there are English translations. It just depends upon which drummer’s beat you follow.  B’ouni literally means in my sinfulness and has the idea of dealing with or overturning sin. B’oni (look) comes from the root word ayin which could mean the physical eye or spiritual insight.  Most translations render this as a hope that God will see David’s affliction. 

In my longer version of this study (offered as part of a monthly subscription coming soon), I explain my rendering of this passage where David is telling this servant to let the Benjamite curse him because God told him to curse him. From the reading of most of your standard texts, it would appear as if David wants this guy to throw rocks at him as a form of penance. The ambiguous nature of this passage will allow you to read it that way. But the passage could also be rendered to express the idea that David is not wanting rocks to be thrown at him as a form of penance but as a way of God speaking to his heart to restore him to harmony with God. In fact, the rocks were thrown as a symbolic gesture with no intent to  harm. 

Some Christians are like David’s servant. They follow the beat of the drum of the world which says that if you are being unfairly stoned and cursed, stand up, fight it, lop their heads off. Some Christians however, like David, follow the beat of a different drum, a drum which comes from further off, a drum which looks beyond this natural world and into the spiritual world. A drum which says that in this affliction, this suffering, this persecution, there is a deep message from God, one seeking to restore you to harmony with Him.