Now enters he, Nathan, the man who speaks God’s word, to the covert chamber of David. Nathan has a word.
“O the King of the noblest being, ho! Attend to my words, know I have report of a wondrous crime from the countryside. There live two by each’s side, one rich and the other poor. One has wealth twin to what is humanly consumable in all his lifetimes, and the other wretched in his bones, badly off for the worst of bread and fortuned enough for the best of illnesses.”
“And I observe no crime of your speaking withal. To amass riches may truly be in the order of living the luxuries bestowed by God. And to suffer poorness—in this too, I see no other cause than God’s own will. What come you to speak, Nathan?”, implored David.
“Hear me in preservation. A crime not of this sort but another. The rich man has very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had naught but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he cherished it, and it grew up with him and with his children. It did eat of his morsel and drink of his cup, and it did lie in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. Now there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he was loath to take of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest that had come unto him, but unlawfully took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the traveller that had come to him.”
Akin to tides of tall, David’s wrath spoke, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”
Nathan emerges, “The man is none but you, David! Says the Lord this, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more’. What caused you to betray the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight?”
He continues, “He will bring your house to account. What you performed in secrecy will be made known.”
Days earlier, in one evening when the clouds of Jerusalem spoke pleasantly, David rose off his bed and went about the gallery. He wandered and wondered of the state of the Israelite army that he had sent in command of Joab to besiege Rabbah of the Ammonites.
Whereas upon wandering and glancing upon the city under his reign, David caught sight of a woman washing herself on a nearby terrace and enchanted he stood glancing upon her beauty. Forgotten were the Israelite army’s plight and so too lay all his morals unattended.
The king sent about an informer and inquired what woman it was. To him was reply made, “Wonder do I, is not this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, and the wedded wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
Uriah the Hittite, the most mighty of David’s soldiers, also assumed as close aide to the king. He lived nearby and attended all briefs. He was off to the siege of Rabbah and his wife Bathsheba, lone, in their house.
On an opportune chance, David sent for Bathsheba and bade her come to his chamber. Enchanted as he was, and though she was the wife of a loyal soldier and subject to the king, David could not restrain himself.
He continues, “He will bring your house to account. What you performed in secrecy will be made known.”
Nathan rebukes David and storms upon him, “The Lord says, ‘How unforgivable is your deed in sanctioning his death with the sword of the Ammonites. Give ear to me, the sword will not cause to leave from your house, because you despised me’.”
And he hears the crisis of God’s word promised unto him and falls at the feet of Nathan, then avows he through Nathan, to the Lord himself, “A sinner I am, indeed, and so too I shall bear the burden of my action. Yet I beg of you, O Lord, strike not against my house. They take no part in my sin and shall bear no share in its effect.”
In continuance, says Nathan thus, “Rise O king. The Lord has put away your sin. To that effect, you shall not die. Again, but, because by this deed you have caused him great harm and scorn, he has decreed the statement that follows:
‘David’s house shall know no peace. His peace in turmoil and his sanctity in question, he shall bear not death but repentance for his sin. DAVID’S SON SHALL NOT LIVE’.”
Enchanted as he was, and though she was the wife of a loyal soldier and subject to the king, David could not restrain himself.
To the order of the king, no refusal stood the test of legitimacy. David ordered that Bathsheba lay with him and so they did. He took her into his bed, and after lying with her, as swiftly as he had ordered her in, he returned her to her house.
Upon her return, days passed and Bathsheba sent for David and declared, “I am with child.”
What calamity is this the cause of? The king, David, to be the father to a child born out of illegitimacy and adultery. This can’t be, and David moves to action. And he devises a plan.
“Before dawn of the next day, see that Uriah the Hittite arrives before me”, David sent to Joab on the frontlines.
On the king’s command, Uriah presented himself in David’s court.
“What happens of Rabbah of the Ammonites? What of the men?”, asks David.
“A thousand words to spell, but not mercy. Ammonite walls shall fall to us within weeks now. Commander Joab carries the best of his health and so does our army. The Lord’s might shall be victorious soon, my king!”, exclaimed Uriah the Hittite.
“Full well, Uriah. You bring good tidings. And so, you deserve pause. Go down to your house and wash your feet.”
Pleased with the king’s bounty, Uriah departed, yet slept but at the threshold of the king’s house. When David was apprised of the deed, a blow it was to his design. For if Uriah went not unto his wife, nor lay with her, naught would hinder men from seeking another man who had impregnated Bathsheba. Uriah must needs lie with her.
“Come did you not from a tedious journey? Why did you, then, not sleep at your house?”, asked David.
To the prompt, Uriah put, “How may I, O my king, take ease in the luxuries of fine wine and a restful bed, whilst the men with whom I battle abide in tents and open fields? How then could I go unto mine own house, to feast and to lie with my wife? Nay, by thy life and by the life of my lord, I shall do no such thing.”
With naught but treacherous plans in his sight, David put out a new plan.
“Brave Uriah, you please me”, said David, “and so attend my meal for the night and tomorrow I shall send you back amongst your brothers on the field.”
David bade him to supper, where Uriah ate his fill and drank without measure. The king made him drunken, that he might go unto his wife and lie with her. Yet alas, once more, Uriah went no further than to sleep among the servants, and not with his wife.
“Take this letter of command and handle it to Joab at once, will you?”, said David to Uriah.
In the tent at the battlefield when Uriah arrived, he delivered the letter in which David wrote to Joab the commander:
“Joab, take this for the command of your king. Build formation and park Uriah at the most savage front of the ground. See that no other man assists him in his defense. Ensure he fights and dies there and then.”
And Joab did what was told. He set Uriah in front of the fiercest defenders of Rabbah and left him to die.
The news of her husband’s death arrived Jerusalem to Bathsheba’s home as she mourned and wept. When this was done, David sent for her and took her his wife. Sooner rather than later, she bore him the son she had carried from their deed.
“The Lord says, ‘How unforgivable is your deed in sanctioning his death with the sword of the Ammonites. David’s house shall know no peace. His peace in turmoil and his sanctity in question, he shall bear not death but repentance for his sin. DAVID’S SON SHALL NOT LIVE.’.
‘Await my return to you, I will raise evil against you off your own blood and I will take your wives before your own eyes and grant them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with them in the sight of the sun and the sight of all Israel’.”
Nathan now turns about and proceeds out of David’s chamber. There’s none left to be said. All of Lord’s command is conveyed.
Not many days pass by and David’s child with Bathsheba is born. But born sick. David prays and prays for nights and days combined, he eats no bread and performs no errand but beg the Lord for the well-being of the kid. The elders visit him to raise him but he does not.
And the seventh day, as the servants convey to the weakened David, the child meets death. And David went for his wife Bathsheba and comforted her and lay with her that night. She again bore a son, Solomon.
After David, Solomon ascended as the fourth king over Israel and Judah. Yet before his reign was sealed, Absalom, son of David and Maacah, rose in defiance of his father, seized the throne, and before the sun and all Israel, took his father’s concubines upon the palace rooftop, thus bringing to pass the word of the Lord.
That, ladies and gentlemen, seals this week’s edition. Until next story…