Rather than speak directly to David (I guess David does not have his “ephod” communication device present), Jehovah speaks to the prophet Nathan. He gives Nathan a parable about two men, one rich, one poor, in one city.
The story: The poor man had one little lamb, which he raised as if it was his own daughter. A traveler visited the rich man, who, instead of reaching into his wealth of flock, decides to take the only lamb the poor man owned, and killed it to make a meal for his traveler.
David becomes angry at this story, and demands the death of the rich man, noting that the rich man should repay the lamb four fold, and is also shocked at the lack of pity from the rich man. Nathan then goes on to explain: “David, you are the rich man”
It’s interesting how the prophets are given direct messages as well as parables. It reminds me, of, how even today, people have dreams and then have them interpreted. They are not direct messages and usually they feel there is a message behind the literal.
Nathan then speaks on behalf of Jehovah:
2 Samuel 12:8 – 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.
Today, we’d have an issue with man taking another man’s wife (wives) just because that first man was faulty. Here, we have a deity doing such a thing. Interesting look at Jehovah’s idea of how to treat women.
Jehovah is angry that David has broken his commandment, cursing him that “the sword will never depart from your house.” It gets worse:
12:11 – Thus saith Jehovah, 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 neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
WOW! A brutal, humiliating punishment! HOWEVER, I would say this is more memory worthy than what David did with Goliath… so why does the Christian church NOT show this side of David? He is glorified constantly, not only in the church but in New Testament verse! I see nothing to glorify here, especially from the point of view of Uriah the now dead Hittite, who had his wife and life, stolen by David!
I can honestly say, after returning to the bible as an adult, are no longer the heroes I was taught they were. Jacob, Moses, Samson, and David were all wicked and conniving. It gets worse for David however.
12:14 – Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his house. And Jehovah struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and was very sick.
It almost sounds like David has embarrassed Jehovah with his actions, where Jehovah’s enemies would blaspheme David/Jehovah because said actions. David goes into a deep depression, beseeching elohim, fasted, and lay on the ground. 7 days pass and the child dies. David gets wind of his child’s death by his servants behavior. He then basically dusts himself off, cleans up, worships Jehovah, then sits down to eat.
His astonished servants were puzzled by his behavior and I believe the moral of this story lies with David’s explanation:
12:22 – And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether elohim will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
David sees no more reason to fast or lie on the ground waiting to find out what will happen to his baby. A sort of morbid reaction, knowing that his once healthy baby was stricken ill by his god. True though, what’s he going to do? Speak out against Jehovah and face death as well?
Should also be noted: Jehovah has killed an innocent child for the sins of the father. Why not just kill David as the Law of Moses demands? Kill a baby instead?
In another stunning turn of events:
12:24 – And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and Jehovah loved him.
Is this David’s second born? Was the unnamed child killed by Jehovah the first born? If so, we have another case where Jehovah unjustly punishes or kills the first born, and favors the second. We also get another name: Jedidiah (Jedid-iah) “Beloved of the Lord”.
Joab has taken the royal city of the children of Ammon, but instead of completely conquering it, he calls for David to finish up the work, otherwise the glory of capturing the city would be given to Joab, and people would name the city after Joab instead of David.
So David gather’s up his armies, finishes the job, and they place the Ammonite king’s crown on David’s head, a crown of gold with precious stones on it.
This reminds me of the “chest plate” that the Levite priests were to wear, complete with inlaid precious stones to protect the priest so that “they do not die” in the presence of the Ark. So this chest plate was a safety measure against the energy of the Ark. Now, we hear about this “crown” made of gold, also inlaid with stones. Do crowns have a functional trait beyond symbolizing the reign of a king? Do these stones protect the head of the king the way they protected the chest of the priest? Interesting rabbit hole to go down another time.
12:31 – And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon.
David has the Ammonites from that city dismembered with saws and chopped up with harrows and axes. He then burns the dismembered bodies in a brick kiln. A very gory detail left out about David’s treatment of other human beings as he serves under his deity Jehovah. What does this say about both? Honestly, nothing good.
My Biblical Journey 