We come to perhaps the most famous incident of David’s
life, next to his encounter with Goliath. While his troops are off to war, he
spots Bathsheba bathing on the roof and sends for her. The text never tells us
what she makes of all this, only that she ends up pregnant as a result. When
Uriah refuses a conjugal visit with his wife, David sends him to the front
lines to be killed – going so far as to have Uriah carry his own death warrant
back to his commander Joab. After mourning Uriah, Bathsheba becomes David’s
wife and delivers their son.
For the first time, we are told explicitly that the LORD
is displeased with something David has done (11:27b). The LORD sends the
prophet Nathan to David and, through a parable, Nathan delivers God’s word of
judgment for “despising the word of the LORD” (12:9). The former shepherd/now
rich man has sacrificed the poor man’s only sheep. He tells David: “Now therefore the sword shall
never depart from your house” (12:10). David admits: “I have sinned against the
LORD” (12:13). (See also Psalm 51:4: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned.”
Uriah – and perhaps Bathsheba - might think otherwise!) Nathan’s response: “Now
the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by
this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you
shall die” (12:13-14). Is that really how it works – a child dying for the sins
of his father? What about the wise woman of Tekoa’s claim that “God will not
take away a life”? (14:14) For another perspective on how God works, see
Jeremiah 31:29-30 or Ezekiel 18:1-4.
We’re told that “the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s
wife bore to David, and it became very ill” (12:15). David fasts and prays
until the child dies seven days later – after which “he went into the house of
the LORD and worshipped” (12:20) and began eating again. When asked why he now
rose to eat, David replies: “Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but
he will not return to me” (12:23). Shortly thereafter, Bathsheba has their
second son Solomon (or as Nathan names him - Jedidiah, which means “beloved of
the LORD”). For more on the relationship between Bathsheba and Nathan, see I
Kings 1.
With the king’s domestic situation temporarily settled,
Joab finally gets David back on the battlefield against the Ammonites. Time
passes, and we learn of two more of David’s sons – Amnon and Absalom. Amnon
rapes his half-sister (and Absalom’s full sister) Tamar. David’s response to
the rape of his daughter: “He became very angry, but he would not punish his
son Amnon, because he loved him, for he was his firstborn” (13:21). His
feelings for his daughter Tamar are never mentioned. Meanwhile, Absalom bides
his time, holds a feast for all the king’s sons and finally avenges his sister
by having Amnon killed – over which the king and his surviving sons weep
bitterly.
Absalom flees and stays away for three years while David
yearns for his return. Joab senses this and recruits a woman from Tekoa to tell
yet another story to David (as Nathan did with his parable) as a way for him to
hear what he cannot hear directly. She follows advice later set by Emily
Dickinson: “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” The woman then asks him to bring Absalom home
on the following grounds: “We must all die; we are like water spilled on the
ground, which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take away a life; he will
devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished from his presence” (14:14). By
the time she’s finished, David senses Joab’s hand in all this and calls him on
it. He agrees to let Joab bring Absalom home, but it’s another two years before
Absalom comes into the king’s presence. When Joab won’t answer Absalom’s calls,
Absalom burns Joab’s field to get his attention. Finally, David and Absalom are
reunited – but not for long.
What happens next between father and son? Read on to find
out. In the meantime, click on “comments” to add your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteAs Ch. 11 opens, we see that David did not go out to battle with his armies. Instead he “lay with” Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, when also she should have been off limits because of her period. When she became pregnant, David sent for Uriah, gave him a present, and told him to sleep at home after his long journey. [Had he gone home and slept with his wife, perhaps the pregnancy would have been attributed to him. Then in an implicit rebuke to David for lounging in the palace during a war] Uriah says that he it would be wrong to go home when the soldiers are out in the field. (11:11) The next day David ate and drank with Uriah, and the morning after, sent Uriah back to the battle, carrying his own death warrant. [I count this as third and fourth transgression—plotting Uriah’s death while partying with him, and procuring Uriah’s death. My, how the shepherd boy has grown! And into what!] David married Bathsheba.
The Lord was displeased, and sent word through Nathan, in the form of a parable. [A cartoon interpretation of the parable of the rich man’s taking the poor man’s only lamb—
]
http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/c27.0.403.403/p403x403/527051_521908911169094_534779537_n.jpg
Nathan, speaking for God, berates David, promises him several kinds of trouble, and public disgrace—as well as the death of David’s child. But the Lord does not require David’s death. (12:13) After the child dies, David conceives another son with Bathsheba—Solomon.
Then Joab, David’s general, persuades David to come to the war front himself, with a reserve force. David continues to conquer and enslave “all the cities of the Ammonites.” (12:29) [The continuing victories suggest that God’s favor still rests with David. But did not David deserve to die, according to the custom of the time, for instigating Uriah’s death and taking his wife?]
[David’s story becomes more lurid as] David’s son Amnon rapes his sister, Tamar, and then turned against her. Her happiness is destroyed, and she laments to her brother Absalom. David learned of this fiasco, but because David favored Amnon over Absalom, he did not punish Amnon. [Another failure of David, as man and as king.] Eventually Absalom orders his servants to kill Amnon. [In a well-ordered kingdom, brother need not himself extract justice from an offending brother.] Absalom fled, and David missed him. (13:39) [Nathan had promised David troubles, but David contributes to these troubles.]
The wise woman of Tekoa spoke in a parable to David—as had Nathan about Uriah. David surmised that Joab had instructed the woman, and decided to bring Absalom back from exile—but would not allow Absalom into his presence. After two years, David relented and summoned Absalom, but he did not obey. David had Absalom’s fields burned, and Absalom came to David, prostrated himself, and received blessing. (14:33) [I count more moral transgression—burning the field to coerce Absalom. Has David become like Saul, setting his own compass and in that way scorning God? (Compare 12:14,”scorned.”)]
The psalmist in Ps 51 offers a broken heart to God and asks to be cleansed. Indeed, 51:5 suggests awareness of original sin. [But if it is David speaking—there is room for doubt about his sincerity.]
[As David’s flaws emerge—as God promised after David had Uriah killed—perhaps we are seeing God teach lessons on the imperfections of kingship.]
My comment differs from Emily's in finding David growing away from the Lord's ways before stealing Uriah's wife. I applaud her highlighting that women's rights and well-being and feelings are marginalized in this narrative. Phyllis Trible believed that a fuller narrative and its sources were doctored by male redactors.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that while women are marginalized, given in marriage - and taken back (Saul' daughter Michal)- old crones are sought after for advice (1Sam28:3ff) and to deliver messages (2Sam14:1ff).
DeleteAnd what is a Negeb? I Sam 27
I find the women of I and II Samuel fascinating - they play all sorts of roles and exercise power (and, of course, are marginalized too) in all sorts of ways.
DeleteAs for Negeb - the New Interpreter's Study Bible says it means "southland." Hope this helps!