The eCrozier

Throughout the summer in our Daily Office lectionary we’ve read the narrative arc of King David rising from the obscurity of a shepherd boy, the youngest of Jesse’s sons, to eventually become King of the united tribes of Israel. Even though he was anointed to be king by the Prophet Samuel as a boy, he didn’t gain prominence until, as a young man, he slew Goliath with a well-placed stone from his sling. From that act, he insinuated himself into King Saul’s inner circle, married Saul’s daughter, and slowly accumulated power. When Saul finally recognized David as an internal threat (even Saul’s paranoia had some basis in reality), David fled, organized a guerrilla army, and began a civil war that would eventually see his army victorious and Saul and his sons dead. When David became king, he had won everything. He was God’s anointed.

Not long after, David was in his palace one day and saw a young woman named Bathsheba bathing on her roof top across the way. David was smitten. He sent for her, and because he was king, he could have his way with her and he did. Soon after, she informed him she was pregnant and since her husband, Uriah, was a soldier in David’s army and off fighting for David in battle, everyone would know it wasn’t Uriah’s child when born. So, David concocted a scheme to have Uriah come home on leave, unite with his wife, and then the problem would be solved. But Uriah, when he arrived home, refused to go to his wife since none of his fellow soldiers currently in battle were able to be with their wives. David even got Uriah drunk hoping that Uriah would visit Bathsheba then, but all Uriah did was fall asleep outside the palace door.

David’s plan then grew even more sinister. He wrote a sealed letter to his general, Joab, and gave it to Uriah to give to Joab when he returned to the battle. The letter said, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die” (2 Samuel 11:15). Joab did as his king commanded and Uriah died in battle the next day. David thought his deceitful cover-up had worked, so he, after the official mourning period, took Bathsheba as his wife. Why would David do such thing? The answer the Bible gives is clear: He was king and assumed he could get away with it. It wasn’t until Nathan (his National Security Advisor) confronted him with his adulterous and murderous behavior that he confessed his sin.

David’s story, embedded in Israel’s larger history found in 1st & 2nd Samuel, continues long after his death. This week in the Daily Office we’re in the middle of 1st Kings, long after David has died, but his presence is still felt because his actions set in motion another future civil war between Solomon’s sons, and the further degradation of Israel’s morality and exceptionalism as God’s chosen people. One might have thought that Solomon and his sons, Jeroboam and Rehoboam, would’ve learned from the morality tale of David’s life, but they didn’t.

I hope all this isn’t what people mean when they talk about “biblical family values.” It’s remarkable how one man’s behavior as a leader could drag down the entire nation. To be sure, David was just one man. Yet, he was the king chosen by God.

+Scott

The Rt. Rev. Scott Anson Benhase
10th Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia