Samuel II: Chapters 7 to 12

Last time, David solidified is control over Israel.  Now here's what happens with him in charge:

CHAPTER 7

Nathan the prophet goes to David when this one starts.  Have we met Nathan yet?  I don’t think so.  Seems like you should have a bit explaining who he is before he suddenly starts interacting with everyone else.  He is a prophet, after all.

At any rate, David says I’ve got a palace but we still key the ark of the Lord in a tent – the same tent it’s had since the days of Moses (the Tabernacle).  David wants to build God’s box a nice temple.  Nathan consults with God and finds out that God isn’t interested.  He didn’t ask for this, so don’t bother – but he does indicate that a son of David will do this.  (Clearly, the Bible is hinting toward Solomon here).

However, Nathan then drops the really good news on David – the Lord will make his family the rulers of Israel forever.  This is the latest covenant.  First Abraham had one that he’d become a great nation.  With Moses, they were promised that soon they’d get the Promised Land.  Now David is told his family will be rulers of all.  And you know what?  His descendents did rule the southern kingdom of Judea for the next several hundred years; all the way until Babylon took it all over. 

Of course, the loss of the kingdom brings up several problematic theological points, among them this covenant with David.  Here, God flatly says of David, “I will establish his royal throne forever.”  Forever?  More like 400 years!  But there is an explanation for this.  David’s covenant is negated by the previous ones, and the Israelites violated them.  The covenant with Moses said the Hebrew would have the land as long as they follow God’s laws, but they stopped doing that, so they lose their land.  And if they lose their land, then what exactly is the House of David supposed to rule over?  Hence the Bible will eventually solve the theological dilemma proposed by this covenant.

David replies with the appropriate enthusiasm, stating: “Great are you, Lord God!  There is no one like you, no God but you, as we have always heard.”  Folks, if I’m going to point out Biblical passages that indicate the Hebrew were polytheists who thought they’d picked the right God, I may as well note the monotheistic verses, and this surely is one of those.  (Then again, in the very next verse David says, “as you drove out the nations and their gods before your people” – well, that doesn’t mean he thinks they really exist.

CHAPTER 8

This is a brief chapter summarizing David’s wars.  The short version is that David kicks ass and takes names.  He’s subduing the people of Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, and the Philistines, among others. For all the complaining Samuel made of Israel picking a king, they sure are more effective with a king.  As long as Saul was sane he did a good job, and now David is as well. 

There is also a brief catalogue of David’s main officials. 

CHAPTER 9

This is another short chapter where David uses some nice finesse to solidify his claim on the throne.  He finds out that his old friend Jonathan has a surviving son, one with crippled feet.  So he has the kid (named Meribbaal) brought to the court. 

Meribbaal is a little freaked out to be there, but David puts him at ease as quickly as he can.  David wants Meribbaal to eat at his court as if he’s his own son, and so Meribbaal does. 

This is a smart move by David because Meribbaal represents the House of Saul.  In fact, Meribbaal arguably has a better claim to the throne than David.  He is a direct descendent of Saul, and his dad Jonathan was heir to the throne.  David is just a son-in-law, and one who barely spent any time with Saul’s daughter (and is by this time estranged from her).  Think about this for a second – if Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles were both to die at the same time, who gets the throne?  It’s Prince Charles’ firstborn.  That’s Meribbaal.  It wouldn’t be some spouse of one of Elizabeth’s later kids. And remember – David had to win a civil war against the House of Saul to take control of all Israel.

He can look at Meribbaal as either a threat to be defeated or a possible ally to be won over.  He takes the latter course, figuring that if he’s nice to Meribbaal, that’ll solidify David’s control.  If even the House of Saul is OK with him, who can rebel in their name? This also explains why Meribbaal is so scared to be brought to David’s palace – because what if David chooses to view the kid as a threat?  Then the kid will soon be killed.

David comes off well in this chapter.  He’s at his charming and savvy best making a decision that is both kind and sound.

CHAPTER 10

After a chapter of internal diplomacy, it’s another one on external warfare.  David intends to be the nice guy here.  King Nahash of the Ammonites dies and is succeeded by his son Hanun.  David recalls that Nahash was kind to him during his years on the run and wants to repay the favor by being nice to the son, the new king.

But it doesn’t work out that way.  When David’s emissaries arrive, Hanun’s advisors tell him to beware – it’s a trap!  So he intentionally humiliates the envoys, having half of their beards shaved off and cutting the butts out of their garments and sending them back.  OK, that’s kind of funny.  You can just see these guys walking buttless back with only half-beards.   Yeah, that’s humiliating.   They send word back to David and he tells them to stay in Jericho until they grow their beards back. They took their facial hair seriously back then.  Then David sends out Joab to get revenge, and he does.

You really have to wonder about Hanun.  As a king, you have to figure out the implications of your move.  You have to approach it like a game of chess, being aware not just of the move you’re making but how you’ll respond to the other guy’s response.  He didn’t do that at all.  He just made a seemingly off-the-cuff decision and didn’t think things through. 

CHAPTER 11

And now comes one of the biggest turning points of David’s life.  Up until now, he’s always been the fair-haired boy.  The youth anointed by Samuel, who is skilled with a lyre, who slayed Goliath, who loved Jonathan, who survived Saul and refused to kill Saul when he had the chance, who won the civil war and became king, who led Israel to victory over its enemies.  So far, David has been the hero.

And then he sees a woman.  He goes for a stroll on his palace roof and sees he bathing: Bathsheba.  He wants her and has her taken to the palace, never mind that she’s the wife of Uriah the Hittite, armor bearer to Joab.  He has her – and she becomes pregnant.

Yeah, David got another man’s wife pregnant while that man was off fighting David’s wars for him.  Well, David immediately starts to scramble.  He has Uriah the Hittite brought back to Jerusalem on some flimsy pretext in the hopes that Uriah will go home and sleep with his wife (which would explain to all her pregnancy).  But Uriah refuses.  He tells David how can I sleep under a roof with my wife when the rest of the army sleeps in tents on the battlefield.  So David keeps him over another night.  No dice again.  This Uriah guy is very moral – which makes what is about to happen to him that much worse.

Well, when Uriah finds out his wife is pregnant, he’ll know it wasn’t him, so David needs to make sure Uriah doesn’t find out.  And that means Uriah must die.  He gives instructions to Joab on how it should be done – attack the town walls, and have everyone else pull back, leaving Uriah exposed and killed.  And so it happens, killing Uriah.  His minimal consolation is that he’s the only armor bearer in the Bible to be named.  Oh, and we’re also told in passing that some other men die in the attack as well.  Those are just acceptable loses to David.

So Bathseba mourns the loss of her husband, and then moves into the palace as David’s new wife.  You can imagine how the tongues must have wagged.  Some must have known that she was brought there earlier.  And her pregnancy was obvious.  Add to that the weird decision of David’s to say “Hey” to Uriah just before his death…for someone trying to do this on the sly, David is leaving one hell of a paper trail.

As for Bathsheba, she comes off rather passively in this.  How did she respond to David’s initial advance?  What was her marriage with Uriah like?  Is she the victim of David’s lust?  Is she willingly going along, even encouraging him?  She’s just a name here.  She is just a beautiful object of desire.  She’s the Other, important only in how she relates to the men around her.

CHAPTER 12

Nathan the Prophet knows the score.  I don’t really think you need to be a prophet to know the score, but it does help give one an extra level of certainty and moral authority. 

And Nathan has a ruse to trap David with.  He gives David a story of a problem he needs help judging.  There are two men – a rich man with a big flock of sheep and a poor man with just one ewe.  But the poor man loves the ewe and cares for it, and even lets it eat tat the table with him, growing up with his children.  The ewe even sleeps in the bed with him.  (Hey!  Whoah!  This is getting a little weird here, isn’t it? Nathan needs to spend less time engaging in prophecy and more time figuring out analogies that aren’t disturbing). 

Well, the point is the rich man kills the ewe to serve a visitor of his, instead of using one of his own lambs.  So, Nathan asks, what punishment does the rich man deserves?

David doesn’t see the trap he’s about to walk into.  (In that regard, maybe the weirdness of the story was a good thing.  David was too distracted by the ramifications of bestiality to realize where Nathan was going with this one).  David says the rich man deserves death!  He should make fourfold restitution. 

And now the trap springs.  That rich man is YOU!  David, you fuckwad, you did evil and thought you could get away with it?  What – you think the Lord is some big dummy or something?  Guess what?  For this the sword will never depart from your house.  Oh, God won’t kill you, but “Thus says the LORD: I will bring evil upon you out of your house.”   You won’t die yourself, but your child with Bathsheba will.  (And that’ll just start things off – David shouldn’t have said anything about fourfold restitution.  Four of his children will die before he does). 

Sure enough, the newborn baby gets sick.  David pleads and prays to God to save it.  He fasts and lays on the ground covered in a sackcloth.  He’s doing anything he can to win God’s favor and mercy for the baby that hasn’t done anything wrong himself. 

But it’s all for naught.  After seven days of fighting, the child dies.  So stricken has David been over the last week that they servants are afraid the break the bad news.  How will he react?  Will he go mad?  But David hears them whispering to each other and puts two and two together. My child is dead, isn’t he?  Yes, he is. 

David doesn’t go mad.  David doesn’t break down.  Instead, he goes to worship the Lord and returns and eats a nice meal for himself.  Wait – what?  That’s not normal behavior.  Having a newborn die isn’t supposed to be good for the appetite.  And it’s certainly not appropriate mourning custom.  His servants ask him what is he doing, he’s good from keeping a saint-like vigil to having a big buffet for himself.  What gives?

David’s answer is classic David.  I’ll quote it in full. He tells them, “While the child was living, I fasted and wept, thinking, `Who knows?  The Lord may grant me the child’s life.’  But now he is dead. Why should I fast?  Can I bring him back again?  I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.” 

All along I’ve believed that the Bible is at its best when it’s the most human.  And it’s rarely ever as human as it is right here.  You get a real sense of what sort of person David is here.  He’s practical.  However horrified and distraught he is, David’s life didn’t die with the baby.  He must go on, and so he does.  He’s always been a survivor and a fighter.  Both his actions and his rationale fit perfectly for him. 

Joseph Heller wrote a book about David, “God Knows.”  It’s not great, but it has its moments, and this is one of those moments.  From this point on Heller’s David rejects God.  He thinks God is unfair and cruel because he took a newborn innocent baby for something someone else had done.  I don’t know if that fits the Biblical David, but it made sense in the novel.

Click here for the next bit: Chapters 13 to 19 of Samuel II.