Despicable DavidDavid was the most revered king of the Jews, as is shown by the Gospel writers conflicting attempts to prove that Jesus was of David's lineage. David was a young soldier from Bethlehem when he performed his best-remembered feat, slaying Goliath with only a sling and a stone. The Bible relates little else extraordinary about him that would explain his future fame. Here are a few items you may not recall clearly. Once, when David was encamped with his exiled band of outlaws and misfits, a filthy man in torn clothing staggers into camp, falls to his knees in deference to David, and tells this story. He (the messenger is never named) had been fighting alongside the Hebrews when he came upon their king, Saul, seriously wounded and in peril of being captured by the Philistines. Saul calls out to the man in his pain and says, "slay me, for anguish has seized me, and yet my life still lingers." [2Sam 1:9] Seeing that Saul will not live much longer anyway, the man complies with his king's orders, thus saving Saul from a more painful and shameful death at the hands of his enemies. The man then escapes through enemy lines to bring the news of Israel's defeat. He also brings the king's crown, which he believes should now belong to David. And can you guess how David shows his appreciation for this heroism and homage? David has the man killed. … He does, however, keep the crown. [For those Bible readers whose sense of justice is offended by this story, an entirely different version of Saul's death has been thoughtfully included in 1 Samuel, chapter 31.] ◊ ◊ ◊ A few years later, David, now king of all Israel, peers out from the roof of his house and spies his neighbor, the beautiful Bathsheba, taking a bath. Overcome with lust, David has his troops seize Bathsheba and bring her to his bedchamber where he "lay with her" (as the Bible so quaintly puts it), and gets her pregnant. Now Bathsheba's husband, whose name was Uriah, was away soldiering. David sends for him and gives him a sealed message to take back to his commanding officer. The message read, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die." [2Sam 11:2 15] And that's just what happened. Thus did King David commit adultery, and thus did King David betray the trust of his army and commit the foul and gutless murder of his loyal soldier. Now, to be fair about this, I should note that God was not pleased with these events and meted out justice as only God could—when the baby was born, He killed it. As for David, he added Bathsheba to his harem and fathered another child by her, a fellow named Solomon. ◊ ◊ ◊ As bloodthirsty and treacherous as the Hebrews were, we still think of them as far more civilized than those cultures, such as the Inca, whose gods demanded human sacrifices. Consider, however, the following story. During David's reign there was a famine for three years. God tells David that the cause of the famine is the "blood guilt on Saul and on his house" [2Sam 21:1] (i.e. the kings of Israel) for the murder of certain Gibeonites. David asks the Gibeonites what would remove this debt, and they say the death of seven of the sons of the murderer. So, David gives these seven men up, and the Gibeonites hang them "on the mountain of the Lord." If these killings only appeased the Gibeonites, the story would be but one more drop of mayhem in the ocean of atrocities that make up the Old Testament. Note, however, that in His pleasure at the deaths of the seven sons, God immediately ends the famine. This is not exactly the same as splitting people open on an alter to appease the gods, but the victims are not likely to appreciate the distinction. And so, the skeleton of human sacrifice lurks behind the gilded robes in good King David's royal closet. |