King David not very likeable (did he rape Bathsheba?)

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So I’m doing a bit of reading about King David, a figure I haven’t delved into very deeply in the past (I admit I focus a lot more on the new testament when reading the Bible and haven’t read as much of the old testament as I probably should).

I have to say, I am not liking this chap a whole lot. God was very kind to him. At times it’s almost like, God anointed him, then saw that he is a terrible sinner but because he made a promise about what he would do, he kept him alive.

I got to the part where David takes somebody else’s wife, while the guy is doing battle, sleeps with her and gets her pregnant, then when the guy returns, he sends him out to battle again on the frontlines to get killed. How nice.

When God later punishes him by killing the child born of this adulterous act, as soon as the baby dies, he goes and has some food, then sleeps with her again. I mean come on.
 
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Then there is also also the possibly already discussed question over whether King David raped Bathsheba. I mean, it doesn’t specifically state that in the Bible, it just says he saw her, summoned her over and basically made love to her. The woman was married though. Would she just willingly allow this?
 
How about Moses? A murderer. Not even Cain was killed for murdering Abel.

What are we to make of this?
  1. There is hope for all of us and 2) that God chooses flawed human messengers.
 
Maybe. Why do many women sleep with attractive and powerful men? Then again, he was King and could command at will.
And to think Our Lord Jesus Christ assumed the throne of David, not despising to be associated with a long line of sinners in the human family.
 
Polak said:
So I’m doing a bit of reading about King David, a figure I haven’t delved into very deeply in the past (I admit I focus a lot more on the new testament when reading the Bible and haven’t read as much of the old testament as I probably should).

I have to say, I am not liking this chap a whole lot. God was very kind to him. At times it’s almost like, God anointed him, then saw that he is a terrible sinner but because he made a promise about what he would do, he kept him alive.

I got to the part where David takes somebody else’s wife, while the guy is doing battle, sleeps with her and gets her pregnant, then when the guy returns, he sends him out to battle again on the frontlines to get killed. How nice.

When God later punishes him by killing the child born of this adulterous act, as soon as the baby dies, he goes and has some food, then sleeps with her again. I mean come on.
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That’s a twisted conclusion. Read it again. He does not merely “sleep with her” again. He marries her, something completely acceptable at the time. And note what happens afterward: God blesses their second child, who would succeed David as king.

And then note what happens after he is rebuked, what does he say? “I have sinned against the Lord!” and then what does Nathan say: “The Lord forgives you” and yet confirms that David has to suffer the consequences of his sin.

And then read Psalm 51. Start with the title.

And then read the accounts of the kings after David, he is held as the standard of righteousness. Subsequent kings are judged:

“And he sinned against the Lord and did not do what is right as his father David had done”

or

“And he did what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord just as his father David had done.”

David was a sinner, but a man after God’s own heart, and that despite his sins, God still forgives and loves those who repent and turn back to him. This is told to us to give us hope, not to revel in our own righteousness, but rather to trust and hope in God despite our sins. This is not to point a finger at David and gloat over how sinful he was.

If you want examples of kings to point a finger at, there are other more suitable candidates: Ahab, Ahaz, Ahaziah, Jeroboam, and heck, even Uzziah and Joash whose reigns started good but ended on a low note.
 
Polak said:
Would she just willingly allow this?
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It was never easy to say no to a king. I suppose nowadays it might be called sexual harassment.The Old Testament is very upfront about people’s weaknesses and failings, even people whom the reader is evidently expected to admire.
 
David was a terrible sinner. He committed many crimes, including the refusal to execute justice against his son Amnon, the sexual exploitation of Bathsheba, and the murder of his loyal friend Uriah. But when he was confronted with his sins, he confessed and repented. He accepted the consequences and kept trying to do better.
 
porthos11 said:
That’s a twisted conclusion. Read it again. He does not merely “sleep with her” again. He marries her, something completely acceptable at the time.
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Well yes but he married the woman he stole from another guy, who he purposely sent to the frontlines to be killed. I’m not sure how legitimate a marriage that can really be, you know, with coveting thy neighbour’s wife and such.
 
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People from different periods of history often do not seem very likeable to us. Even people who are unquestionably admirable would have had qualities that we would find unattractive today. This is even the case when we look at people from quite recent periods of history. People such as Churchill, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King would have held attitudes and values that would seem intolerable even this short period of time later. Gandhi was extremely racist toward black people, and he engaged in bizarre psychological experiments which involved sharing his bed with his naked teenage great nieces.

If you go back to the Romans, for example, almost every member of the ruling class would have held an urban magistracy or provincial governorship, and these positions inevitably involved condemning quite large numbers of people to torture, brutal beatings, and often horrible manners of death. They also owned slaves as a matter of course. For many senatorials, conquest and plunder were virtually their raison d’être. Therefore, even the most sympathetic Romans, such as Cicero and Pliny the Younger, would probably seem abhorrent to us.

Therefore, it is hardly surprising that somebody who lived in the eastern Mediterranean some 3,000 years ago should have lived his life in a manner that seems dislikeable to us today. His culture, the moral framework by which he lived, would be almost wholly alien to us.

As a note of a caution, we also should bear in mind that the biblical account if David is probably not entirely reliable as a historical document.
 
That was not 21st century America. That was Israel in 11th or tenth century BC. Norms were different and God tolerated them until the fullness of time.

Even though Uriah died by David’s hand, he was still dead and his widow, under the laws of the time, was free to marry. It may even have been a obligation on David’s part since widows then were certain to be destitute.
 
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King David certainly put Bathsheba in a position where she could not do anything when he sent for her. He is king, you cannot go against a king in those days without consequences.
David then sent for her husband from the battle, and later sent him to be killed , after attempting to get him to lay with her and hide the pregnancy. Bathsheba’s husband was a good man who refused a sojurn and comfort of home life when sent home in an effort to hide the pregnancy by having him sleep with his wife. This man said he could not do so when his compatriots were on the battle field. So this man slept on the ground outside until sent back to war.
In reading this book and story, David is continuing to send, he is sitting home while his armies are at battle. why is he home in the first place? A king is usually with his armies.
Then he sends for Bathsheba, sends for her husband, sends various people for various things, until God stops this ‘sending spree’ ( as one article describes it) by sending a prophet to David to tell him to quit it.
count how many times the word send, sent is used. 2 Samuel 11 ESV

This is a really good book to read from that perspective.

David had been a great man but as with human nature absolute power absolutely corrupts. God did warn David , when sending His prophet Nathan.

https://biblehub.com/esv/2_samuel/12.htm
 
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Also there is the line of thought in Judaism that a major sinner who repents of his sins and improves his life is more holy even than a righteous man who has but minor sins.
 
It’s not fair to fault David for eating a good meal after his son died when he had just spent a week fasting and pleading for the boy’s life
 
meltzerboy2 said:
Also there is the line of thought in Judaism that a major sinner who repents of his sins and improves his life is more holy even than a righteous man who has but minor sins.
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This is also similarly held in Christianity. “There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents over ninety nine righteous men.”
 
Barring Jesus - none were perfect…

God is the One and only Judge of Humans.

Faith leading to an ongoing Repentance is always the Key
 
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