A reflection on the person of David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We expect great things of our leaders, yet anyone raised to a position of power faces huge temptations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is much in the Bible that should raise questions for us. In the case of the teachings of Jesus that is all in terms of challenges to our thinking, attitudes and life-style. He always points us higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The various Christian characters of the Acts and the Epistles also point us to aspire to be like Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But turn to the Old Testament and the challenges change. We see for instance an apparent approval by God of what we would today see as simple genocide. Most alarmingly at times the slaughter of children. That takes some getting around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David was very much a man<\/strong>. No celibate monk. No coward. No mean fighter. Yet in so many ways a moral failure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n David <\/strong>was chosen by God to replace King Saul. In 1 Samuel 13:13-15 Samuel says to Saul: 13\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou have done a foolish thing, You have not kept\u00a0the command the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God gave you<\/strong>; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time.\u00a014\u00a0<\/sup>But now your kingdom\u00a0will not endure; the\u00a0Lord\u00a0has sought out a man after his own heart<\/strong>\u00a0and appointed\u00a0him ruler\u00a0of his people, because you have not kept\u00a0the\u00a0Lord\u2019s command.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n “a man after his own heart”<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s an interesting expression. But is it meant in a general or specific sense. One would think that a person after God’s own heart would be pretty pious, moral, kind, loving, merciful and clean living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Thou shalt not kill<\/p>\n\n\n\n David can hardly be called a man of peace<\/strong>. His life was full of killing<\/strong>, admittedly much of it in self defence, but some in revenge <\/strong>and in the classic case of Uriah<\/strong>, plain unadulterated murder<\/strong>! 2 Samuel 11:14<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thou shalt not commit adultery<\/p>\n\n\n\n David didn’t do so well here either, a voyeur <\/em>2 Samuel 11:2, who was prepared to cover up his adultery by trying to get her husband to sleep with her so that her pregnancy would not be attributed to David. That having failed he was prepared to kill to take Bathsheba <\/strong>as his wife. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes this all the stranger is that David was not only married, but had several wives<\/strong> and a number of concubines<\/strong>. One would have thought that he would have been able to be satisfied by at least one of them! But apparently not!<\/p>\n\n\n\n David doesn’t get away<\/em> with this behaviour, being challenged by Nathan the Prophet. In the long run David loses the right to build the Temple, a right that passes to his son Solomon. And furthermore his own children fall out and there is further bloodshed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n the\u00a0Lord\u00a0has sought out a man after his own heart<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the end of the day I have to put so much of this down to cultural differences<\/strong>. After all there is this very odd passage in 1 Kings Chapter 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When King David was very old<\/strong>, he could not keep warm even when they put covers over him.\u00a02\u00a0<\/sup>So his attendants said to him, \u201cLet us look for a young virgin <\/strong>to serve the king and take care of him. She can lie beside him <\/strong>so that our lord the king may keep warm<\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 3\u00a0<\/sup>Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman<\/strong> and found Abishag,\u00a0a Shunammite,\u00a0and brought her to the king.\u00a04\u00a0<\/sup>The woman was very beautiful<\/strong>; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her<\/strong>.<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well that’s a relief I hear you say!<\/strong> She only slept with him to keep him warm<\/strong>. But hold on, isn’t that still abuse? She was forced to look after him, albeit she may have seen it as an honour, being the culture and all! Probably by his age he was incapable, but his attendants knew that David still had a penchant for a beautiful young woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am not trying to say that God approved of David’s behaviour!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the Psalms that David wrote, or had written for him, reflect on regret<\/strong>, sorrow<\/strong>, repentance<\/strong>, melancholy<\/strong>, failure<\/strong>, pain<\/strong>, loss<\/strong>, hope<\/strong>, desires<\/strong>, dreams<\/strong>, as well as the nature of God. David was very much a man<\/strong>. No celibate monk. No coward. No mean fighter. Yet in so many ways a moral failure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, just in case the point hadn’t occurred to you, this is as much a meditation on the life of Ravi Zacharias<\/strong> as it is of David. Or indeed could I add Donal Trump<\/strong>? Or indeed many others who are now seen as fallen heroes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A reflection on the person of David. We expect great things of our leaders, yet anyone raised to a position of power faces huge temptations. There is much in the Bible that should raise questions for us. In the case of the teachings of Jesus that is all in terms of challenges to our thinking, … <\/p>\n