Reference links:
Old Testament
David offers to restore land and wealth to Jonathan’s crippled son, Mephibosheth. That’s nice of him. There’s always the possibility that David did this to keep Saul’s only known living descendant under his eyes, but given that Mephibosheth was never presented as much of a threat, I’ll take this story at face value.
David and his armies also kill a lot more people, but all that killing is just to set the stage for what happens next: the Bathesheba incident. One spring, David did not go out to war with his men. Instead, he stayed home.
Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, “I’m pregnant.”
I wonder what Bathesheba thought of being propositioned by the king. I can only assume that saying “no” was not really an option, regardless of what she thought of the king. Thus, I wonder, was what happened between David and Bathsheba closer to rape or adultery?
In any case, once Bathsheba reveals that she is pregnant, David tries his hardest to get her husband to go home and sleep with her. After that fails, he has Bathsheba’s husband sent to the front lines of battle where he is killed. Now this is pretty terrible, but, at least, we will read later that this whole affair was the one time David sinned (now, I don’t buy that it’s the only time, but it shows how terrible this situation was).
As soon as Bathsheba finishes mourning for her husband, David sends for her and marries her. Again, I wonder what she thought about this. Tradition has that they loved each other, and maybe later readings would show that, but, as far as we have seen, Bathsheba has no reason to love David.
New Testament
Blah blah blah, obey my commands and great things will happen. Blah blah the Father blah blah. The command itself is a pretty good one, “Love each other.”
We also get a passage today about how the world will hate and persecute Jesus’ followers.
Psalms and Proverbs
ז (zayin) and ח (heth).