Lecture IV: The Varieties of Love, Part 1

Unit 4: The Story of Kind David, or the Varieties of Love

Weekly Assignments:

1.  Read 1 Samuel (complete); 2 Samuel 5-7, 11-18; 1 Kings 3,5-6,10-11,16:29­

2.  Read in King James Bible Commentary:1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and 1 Kings, the relevant Introduction, Outline, and Commentary

3.  Gabel, John and Charles Wheeler. The Bible as Literature: An Introduction.      4th edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.  Chapter IV.

4. Unit 4 Lecture Notes

Introduction:

The story of 1-2 Samuel, involving David's powerful kingdom and God's promise that the throne would forever belong to his lineage, represents the highpoint of Jewish history in the Bible. The story of David is also a story about the power and varieties of love: God's love for David; David and Jonathan's loyal love for each other; David's adulterous and murderous love for Bathsheba; and finally, David's paternal love for his rebellious son, Absalom.

THE KINGDOM YEARS

I. King David, a Political Being.

We now jump ahead to 1000 B.C. David is a native of Bethlehem and an ancestor of Jesus.

            A. David becomes King. David, a plucky and heroic figure, is chosen by God to be king over all Israel, and the father of future kings "forever."

                        1. David comes to rule over a dual kingdom of Israel (containing the Israelite tribes north of the Dead Sea) and Judah (the southernmost Israelite territory, between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea).

The following website will give you a good historical background of the Jewish people.       Jewish Old Testament History

                        2. He was a Judean, part of the poorest of the tribes and one that remained closest both geographically and spiritually to the Israelites'  ancient desert ways. Thus, it was surprising that David would be cho­sen to rule over Judah and Israel, the more cosmopolitan Northern tribes.

                        3. David is anointed by the prophet Samuel during the rule of King Saul. (1 Samuel 16). David never questions Saul's rule, however, and is welcomed as a loyal member of Saul's court (1 Samuel 17).

2. At the end of the first book of Samuel, the Israelites are routed by the Philistines, Samuel is dead, Saul commits suicide, and Saul's son Jonathan, has been killed in battle.

            B. David and Jonathan's brotherly love for each other.

            1. Jonathan was David's friend. He had frequently saved David's life when Saul plotted to kill him.

            2. In the beginning of 2 Samuel, David learns of Jonathan's death and we see David’s moving lament in  2 Samuel 1 :26,

           

                         I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, pass­ing  the love of women. (2 Samuel 1 :26, KJV)

            3. David now becomes anointed king for a second time. He conquers Jerusalem, which had not previously been occupied by the Israelites.

           

            4. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion: the same is the city of David. (2 Samuel 5:7, KJV)

            5. David built his palace in Jerusalem. Solomon, David's son, later built the temple on Mount Zion.

THE KINGDOM OF DAVID AND SOLOMON

David's united Kingdom of Israel, including the southern kingdom of Judah (two tribes) and the northern kingdom of Israel (10 tribes), lasted from about 1010-970 B.C., through his reign and the reign of his son, Solomon. David made Jerusalem the capital and it became a symbol of God's promise to David that his kingdom would (symbolically) last forever. Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem during his reign.

            6. Yahweh makes a promise to David.

           

            And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Samuel 7:16, KJV)

           

            And of Solomon, Yahweh says,

           

            I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the  children of men ... (2 Samuel 7:14, KJV)

           

            This is the first time God has declared love in the Hebrew Bible, this time a father's love for his son.

            G. David as a man and God's love for him.

                        1. David's adulterous and murderous love for Bathsheba.  David, however, is also one of the Bible's most recognizably human characters, whom we see as a domestic being, a man at home-given to passions and desires, rash actions and repentance.

                                   

                                    a. David sees Bathsheba bathing and falls in love with her.

                                    And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that 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.

                                    And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

                                    And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her  uncleanness: and she retumed unto her house.

                                    And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

                                    And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

                                    And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war  prospered.

                                    And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there  followed him a mess of meat from the king.

                                     But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

                                    And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Gamest thou not from thy                                            joumey? Why   then didst thou not go down unto thine house?

                                    And Uriah said unto David, the ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are  encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? (2 Samuel 11 :2-11,KJV)

            Your King James Bible Commentary does an excellent job discussing this story, and it is worth reading now.  Some points to consider:  Bathsheba “purified from her uncleanness” thus was not pregnant when David slept with her.  His attempts to get Uriah to go home to his wife and make love to her, thus covering up the adultery, are frustrated by Uriah’s being a good soldier.  The Commentary makes it clear that David, the beloved of God, might have been spared this ignominy had the author or redactor of the story eliminated this story from the biblical account.  Why do you think it was not eradicated from the canonical text?

                                    b. Then later David gets Uriah drunk to try again.

                                    And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed                                 with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

                                    And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

                                    And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten,and die.

                                    And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he as­signed Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.

                                    And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also. (2 Samuel 11: 13-17, KJV)

                                    c. David has Uriah the Hittite essentially executed, and is upbraided for this by Nathan the Prophet (2 Samuel 12):

And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. (2 Samuel 12:7-12, KJV)

                                    d. Nathan the Prophet berates David for his crime, telling him of God's love for him but also God's displeasure and projected punishment: the death of his first child with Bathsheba, and the rebellion of David's beloved older son, Absalom.

            2. David's paternal love for his son.

            a. Absalom publicly rebels against his father and then trumps what his father did in private (having sex with Bathsheba) by having sex with all

            of his father's wives in public.

            b. David is forced to flee from Jerusalem. There is a moving scene where    David ascends Mount Olivet:

            And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and    all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

            And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, 0 LORD, I pray thee, turn the     counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. (2 Samuel 15:30-31 , KJV)