St. Paul's Episcopal Church

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Ave SW
Canton, Ohio 44702
Phone: 330-455-0286
Fax: 330-455-9818
E-mail: office@stpaulscanton.org

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Canton OH
2 Samuel 11:1-15, 11:26-12:13a

July 26, 2009
The Rev. Barbara L Bond

David Our Ancestor

Our Old Testament readings this week and next week look at a tragic story that shows the judgment and mercy of God to our ancestor David. David was King of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judea in about 1000 BC. The Bible has wonderful stories about his conquests, beginning with the triumph over the giant Goliath while David was still a boy, and his continued military success. By all accounts, David was a military hero, and is regarded as the father of the Jewish nation. Dreams of the coming Messiah would be built upon the house of David – the Jews believe some descendant of the house of David will come and will triumph over the world. Indeed, Jesus of Nazareth was born in the City of David, of the house of David, and arrived one thousand years after David to triumph over the world, though not in the military way that was expected. But that’s another story.

Today we look at David himself, in an intimate portrait of his family life. The story shows us how very human this hero was. The Bible does not flinch from the sordid details.

David’s troops were fighting battles, but the king himself stayed in Jerusalem. He happened to see a beautiful woman taking a bath, and he wanted her. He inquired who she was, and learned that she was Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was away fighting with the army. David sent for Bathsheba and slept with her. She became pregnant.

David was apparently feeling a bit guilty, because he tried to cover up his own actions. He called Uriah back from the field and tried to manipulate him to sleep with his wife Bathsheba, so that the child would be considered Uriah’s. But unlike David, Uriah was a man of principle and could not be persuaded, even when David got him drunk. Abstinence was part of the soldier’s creed while involved in battle, and Uriah was determined to follow the covenant. David obviously had not been troubled by the tenth commandment, Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife; nor by the seventh,Thou shall not commit adultery. And so David proceeded to break the sixth commandment, Thou shall not kill. He arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle, and then he married Bathsheba.

The story continues in next week’s reading, where David gets his come-uppance. God is not pleased with his servant David, and sends the court prophet Nathan to call David to account. Nathan uses a parable to help David see his sin more clearly. Nathan tells the story of a poor man who had one little ewe lamb which he loved and cared for. Another man, a rich man with lots of lambs at his disposal, took the poor man’s lamb, slaughtered it, and served it to a guest. What a dreadful story! David was furious when he heard it. He said, “That rich man deserves to die because he did this thing and had no pity!” Nathan says quietly, “You are the man.”

Has that ever happened to you? You hear a story, see a movie, read a book, and you start to think, “I know these people….” Perhaps you were making excuses to pursue some action, or manipulating folks, and all of a sudden you see yourself clearly. We like to think that we are good folks, doing only good, following pure motives, and most of us are, most of the time, but we are all human, and God has ways of pulling us up short. It may not be as dramatic as the story of David, Bathsheba, Uriah and Nathan. But we have all had those moments, and if we haven’t, then we aren’t paying attention.

The Bible tells us this story for several reasons. One, it wants to be honest about David and his character flaws, to show that he was not perfect. Two, it wants us to know that God is watching, both David and us. And three, it shows a model of judgment and repentance, for this is not the end of the story.

David immediately repents. Nathan announces the judgment: the child will die, and the house of David will be troubled. Indeed, that happens, and later another of David’s sons, Absolam, leads a rebellion and is killed. Yet there is also mercy. David and Bathsheba turn to each other in their grief, and conceive their second child, Solomon, who will be a great king. The love and compassion of God is incarnate in their enduring relationship.

There is much consolation in this story. God forgives the most heinous sins. God wants us to see ourselves clearly, to repent, and to turn to God and each other in love. Love is the bottom line.

AMEN