David's Sin
Every hero has his weaknesses and failures. In David's case the failure was conspicuously bad. David, the devout king, who ruled as YAHWEH's anointed, and upheld the Law of Mosheh, committed adultery and murder. The opportunity occurred at the time when Joab was waging the second war against the Ammonites, and had laid siege to Rabbah. It was David's misfortune to have remained at Yerusalem.
One summer evening David had just got up from his long siesta -an indispensable rest during the hot season. After the suffocating heat of the day he went to take the air on the palace terrace. The terraces of the houses, standing close together, enabled him to see what was happening on the flat roofs below, and a the palace stood higher than the other buildings the king was in a position to overlook most of his city.
On a terrace not far away he observed a young woman -she was very beautiful the Bible tells us taking a bath. The king inquired about her from his servants. He learnt that her name was Bathsheba; she was, he was told, the wife of Uriah, a Hittite warrior, one of the Thirty, who was with Joab in TransYardenia laying siege to Rabbah.
David was impulsive, a man who gave in easily to his own desires. He sent for the woman. As the husband was absent, meetings were frequent until the day came when the unfaithful wife was obliged to confess to her lover that she was pregnant. Uriah had been at the wars for some months and would not normally return to Yerusalem until the completion of the siege.
It happened towards evening when David had risen from his couch and was strolling on the palace roof, but he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful... David sent messengers and had her brought.
2 Schmuel 2-4
David Endeavors To Avoid Scandal
David, a cunning diplomat, thought he could avoid the consequences of his adultery. At once he sent a messenger to Joab requesting him to send Uriah the Hittite on the pretext of obtaining news of how the war was going. Uriah gave him good news of the army. David dismissed him, giving him permission to go home to visit his family. Uriah took care not to do so. Among Semite warriors there was a spiritual law requiring combatants during a war to remain in a state of ritual purity and to abstain from intercourse with women. By not visiting Bathsheba, his wife, as David had treacherously advised him, Uriah was conforming with prescribed custom. In addition, it may well be that he had been informed by well-intentioned friends of his wife's behavior. In any case, Uriah did not go down to his house; he spent the night at the door of the palace; with the guards, his companions in arms whom he knew well. The palace servants reported to David what Uriah had done. David, irritated by the turn of events sent for Uriah and pretended to be surprised that he had not gone home, as he had been advised. The answer which was given was a veiled one but praiseworthy. Uriah's companions besieging Rabbah were lodged in tents; even the Ark of YAHWEH had only a tent in which to dwell, was he to take his ease in a bed? 'As YAHWEH lives,' he protested to the king, 'and as you yourself live, I will do no such thing!'
David had not yet lost all hope. 'Stay on here today,' he said, 'tomorrow I will send you back.' The next day David invited Uriah to his table, gave him a great deal to drink and made him drunk, but Uriah again slept with the palace guard.
The situation had become desperate. Since Uriah refused to take on the fatherhood of the child to be born nothing remained but to make preparations for his disappearance. Joab, in command of the army, was not surprised to receive orders that he was to station Uriah in the thick of the fight and then fall back behind him so that he may be struck down and die. Joab soon organized the matter: a skirmish was cunningly arranged and Uriah fell beneath the blows of the besieged enemy. In this way David was delivered from a husband who might have proved awkward.
Bathsheba learned of her husband's death. For seven days she kept faithfully to the prescribed ritual mourning, then David sent for her, she was taken to the palace and entered the king's harem where she became, obviously, his favorite wife. But what David had done, says the Bible displeased YAHWEH.
Nathan's Fable And David's Verdict
David could hardly hope that his sordid intrigue would
remain known only to a small group. Very soon the whole palace was acquainted
with the facts. Thereupon the prophet Nathan waited on David; in eastern fashion
he recounted this fable to him.
In the same town were two men,
one rich, the
other poor.
The rich man had flocks and herds
in great abundance;
the poor man
had nothing but a ewe Iamb,
one only, a small one he had bought.
This he fed, and it grew up with him
and his children,
eating his bread, drinking from his cup,
sleeping on his breast; it was
like a daughter to him.
When there came a traveler to stay, the rich man
refused to take one of
his own flock or herd
to provide the wayfarer who had come to him.
Instead he took the poor
man's Iamb
and prepared it for his guest.
From time to time David was called on to give judgement: litigants who thought that they had not received justice from the local chieftains were freely admitted to the palace where they came to appeal to the king. He then examined the matter put before him and set aside or confirmed the previous verdict.
Thinking that Nathan was telling him of a lawsuit David, overcome by anger, rose impatiently from his seat and gave his judgment: 'As YAHWEH lives,' he said, 'the man who did this deserves to die. He must make fourfold restitution for the Iamb, for doing such a thing and showing no compassion.' Nathan said to David, 'You are the man!
YAHWEH Speaks By The Mouth Of His Prophet Nathan
The prophet then changed his tone -he delivered a message in the name of YAHWEH; it was the Sovereign Ruler of Yisrael speaking to David:
'You are the man.'
The intrepid prophet was transformed into a vehement accuser. He reminded David, the former herdsman of Bethlehem, how he had been chosen and anointed by Schmuel. YAHWEH had given him the House of Yahudah and of Yisrael. He reminded David of the favors bestowed upon him and the extraordinary destiny awaiting his posterity. To all these great benefits David had replied with treachery and crime. In the name of YAHWEH Nathan taxed David with his adultery and the murder of Uriah whom he had betrayed to the sword of the Ammonites.
Prostrate before the man of YAHWEH, David listened with terror to the account of his crimes.
The message had not yet finished, justice would be done. In the king's own house YAHWEH would cause great misfortunes. In David's own lifetime his wives would become the prey of one of his near relations. 14 'Now the sword will never be far from your own House. 15
14 This referred in somewhat mysterious terms to the open revolt which at a later date Absalom started against his father. On this occasion he seized part of David's harem.
15 A prophecy about the death by the sword of three of David's sons whom he loved especially: Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah. It was a prophecy also about the dark years preceding David's death
Remorse, forgiveness -and sanctions
As Nathan went on speaking, the king's conscience was overcome by remorse. There was no argument, no excuses to put forward. The confession came straight from the heart: 'I have sinned against YAHWEH.' Nathan could read the king's conscience very clearly. Sovereign, mercy was about to come into operation; once more YAHWEH was to speak through the mouth of his prophet: 'YAHWEH forgives your sin... yet because you have outraged YAHWEH by doing this, the child that is born to you is to die.' And then, the Bible concludes, Nathan went home.
During the child's illness David was filled with despair. Confessing his sin, he implored YAHWEH to spare the innocent child. He undertook a rigorous fast, and slept on the bare ground. But the relentless punishment followed nonetheless; David was punished through the deepest of his affections; Bathsheba's child was taken from him.
David's Sin And Tehillim 51
Tehillim 51, known as the Miserere, bears the following title in the Hebrew text: Of David, When the prophet Nathan came to him because he had been with Bathsheba. It forms part of the magnificent series of 'Penitential Tehillims'.
Can this Tehillim be attributed with certainty to David? Some Scriptural scholars are inclined to doubt it. They argue that it is surprising to find so profound a spiritual sense in this Tehillim. They consider that this Tehillim is much nearer the prophetic literature of the time of YeshaYahu's (740-700) or Yehezqel's (593-571) ministry. But a careful examination of the texts proves that the lyrical movement of the Tehillim -a genuine cry from a soul terror-stricken at the thought of its own sin -is in close correspondence with the historical theme of the tragedy related above. It is this which leads other Scriptural scholars16 to the conclusion that Tehillim 51 is an authentic Tehillim of David; they acknowledge, of course, that the two last verses were added after the return from Babylonian Exile (538 B.C.) and that the whole psalm was possibly revised, at least in some of its poetical expressions, under the influence of the prophets.
David's remorse was sincere and deep, nevertheless, until his death, he was to bear the burden of his twofold crime. According to the theological ideas of the period he was to expiate it by fearful trials during the last years of his life.
16 Here the conclusions of Fr Tamisier, P.SS, are followed. And this is done whenever it is a question of the exegesis of the Tehillims.
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