BIBLE: 2 Samuel (10-18)
After
waiting many years and enduring many trials David finally becomes king of Israel. He’s about as well prepared as any king to
face enemies on the field of battle.
David was a man forged by constant conflict and toughened by war. But he was also a human being; and a
passionate human being at that. He could
dance with religious ecstasy in public or shed bitter tears over the death of
someone close to him. He could display
sound judgment but he was also capable of making terrible mistakes. Up to this point David made good decisions
most of the time. But once he becomes
king he begins making mistakes. It
starts with a little relaxation of his normally aggressive nature: “And it came
to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle,
that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they
destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still in Jerusalem.” Question.
Why was David staying home while his troops were away in battle? After all, this was supposed to be “the time
when kings go forth to battle.” Isn’t
that what the Israelites wanted in the first place? They had specifically told Samuel “we will
have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our
king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” David is not fighting their battles; he’s
hanging out at home in his palace. This
was the start of many problems that begin to plague David. While Joab and the rest of the troops were
out in the field fighting the enemy, “David arose from off his bed, and walked
upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing
herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.” The beautiful woman was Bathsheba. The story of David and Bathsheba is almost as
famous as the story of David and Goliath.
What happened to David? The heroic
slayer of giants became a deceitful king who used his power to indulge his
desires. That may be the key term:
power. Like many people before him and
many people after him, David didn’t always use his newly-gained power
wisely. This seems to be a universal
human trait that’s reflected in many Great Books readings. Agamemnon misused power in the Iliad. King Lear misused power in Shakespeare’s play. Faust misused power in Goethe’s play and leaders
today continue to misuse their powers.
That may be a permanent part of the human condition. We don’t always know how to use our powers
wisely and wind up using them for selfish purposes. David had the power to act decisively in the
rape of Tamar, but he didn’t. Instead he
just gave his son Amnon a mild slap on the wrist. This infuriated Absalom (who was David’s son
too). Absalom was also Tamar’s brother
and Amnon’s half-brother. He eventually
got his revenge by killing Amnon and fleeing.
David’s biggest worry wasn’t the Philistines. It was his own family. These intense internal family conflicts often
deteriorate into blood feuds and are also reflected in the Great Books. Agamemnon was killed by his own wife
Clytemnestra because he had sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia. He did it to advance his own power as leader
of the Greek expedition to Troy. Their
son, Orestes, killed his own mother in revenge.
King Lear’s daughters end up killing one another because he misused his
power. And in the Faust play Gretchen
accidentally poisons her mother so she can spend time with her lover
Faust. In 2 Samuel sons turn against
their fathers. Jonathan turns against
Saul and Absalom turns against David.
But we don’t have to turn back to the old classics to make sense of
David’s story. Modern psychologists like
Freud would have a field day with it.
David can’t maintain order in his own family. In fact, he can’t even maintain order in his
own soul. David is torn between his duty
as king, his responsibility as a husband and father, and his desire as a
man. He dances with joy and cries with
grief. He knows fear, anger, lust, and
regret by personal experience. He’s a
fully human creature with all the dreams and disappointments of life on full
display. There’s probably a little bit of
David in all of us. That’s why his story
never grows old.
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