2 Samuel 12-13: The Falling Action

2 Samuel 12 features a heartfelt confession on David's part: "And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord.  And Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die" (2 Samuel 12:13).  After David's great sin in chapter 11, it is good to see his repentance right away.  Nathan, conveying the words of God, chastises David.  David could have easily reacted with rage born of pride, he could have had a kingly obstinacy, but instead he acknowledges his sin and the offence it has done to God.  This is the one bright spot in this chapter.  It is clear that, though David did the right thing by confessing his sin (for which God clearly forgives him), there is much temporal punishment that David will still need to endure; just as Samuel Taylor Coleridge says of his titular character in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner": "...'The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do.'"

And so we've reached a sort of zenith for David, where it now appears his arc will begin to descend.  David's story up till now has been one of ascendancy.  His rise is one of the most remarkable stories in the Bible.  But when he reaches his peak, and sins with Bathsheba, there is nowhere to go but down (this is not to imply that David descended into eternal punishment, just that his earthly journey would now be filled with suffering).  God declares that David's reign would now be filled with war and death, and suffering would be inflicted not just on him but also on his wives and children.  And right on cue, we see in chapter 13 that calamity has arrived for his family -- his son Amnon rapes his daughter Tamar, which causes his other son Absalom to murder Amnon.  Chapter 13 is grisly.  It is clear that discord and evil has entered the royal family, and it is no coincidence that this happens after David's great sin.  Things seem to be coming apart at the seams.  One reason David's sin is so great is because of the public nature of the scandal.  It is said of David in 2 Samuel 12:14, "thou hast given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme."  When figures of high rank sin so grievously, it very often causes many to discredit the whole institution.  And no doubt that is part of the evil one's plan.  If the King of all Israel is breaking God's Commandments, why should the rest of us follow them?  This reasoning is of course unsound, but those who lack a strong faith could easily be persuaded by it, and those of much influence ought to thus take much caution with this.

2 Samuel 10-11: The Fall of the Strong

"Wherefore let him that thinketh himself to stand, take heed lest he fall." (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Up to this point we've seen David as a virtuous figure.  His dealings with his persecutor Saul in particular established him as a magnanimous and noble example for all of us in dealing with our enemies.  But here in 2 Samuel 11 we see that even the mighty fall.  David's infamous affair with Bathsheba shows us that we are all sinners.  It would have been consistent with human nature to try and conceal this episode from the story of David.  Again, up till now he had been portrayed as a near perfect person.  But this major fall from grace (made far worse by how Bathsheba's husband was dealt with) casts a negative glow on David -- and still the writer of 2 Samuel 11, whether that was Nathan or Gad or someone else, did not shrink from showing his king as flawed.  It speaks to the veracity of Scripture.  Plus, this event leads to many fruitful opportunities for repentance (Psalm 50 comes to mind as a particularly powerful one), thus showing how God brings good out of evil situations.

What struck me most was how David dealt with Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba.  At first it just seemed vile and murderous to go after Uriah after committing adultery with his wife.  It becomes a twofold sin.  And it truly is abhorrent no matter how you think about it.  But it's clear that Bathsheba's conceiving of a child was the difference-maker that caused David to go to such drastic lengths.  David acted to protect Bathsheba's honor.  Her fate would have been much different had he just left her to bear the harsh consequences of a scandalous pregnancy.  And of course even after the sordid origins of their relationship, Bathsheba does go on to be the mother of Solomon and thus eventually the queen mother of all of Israel.  In the latter role she prefigures the Queen Mother, Mary, mother of Christ the Son of David.  Proving once again that God always has the last say and can cause a human failing by His Grace to bear fruit. 

2 Samuel 8-9: A Seat at the Royal Table

After subduing more neighboring nations in 2 Samuel 8, we see David in a moment of profound symbolism extend a merciful invitation to one of Saul's descendants, Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, in chapter 9.  David would like to be an example of God's mercy so he seeks out any remaining descendants of Saul, the same Saul who tried to kill him, and in so doing shows us how to love our enemies.  Once he tracks down Mephibosheth he tells him, "Fear not, for I will surely show thee mercy for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore the lands of Saul, thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table always" (2 Samuel 9:7).  A note in my commentary says that an invitation to the king's table was a "mark of the greatest distinction."  And it made me immediately think of another connection described by Scott Hahn in his book Reasons to Believe.  Hahn says that David "extended covenant loyalty through royal-table fellowship" and "the Psalms of David use images of eating and drinking to celebrate God's provision."  In 2 Samuel 7 we saw how the prophet Nathan foretold of how David's kingdom would be everlasting, a prophecy that only makes sense when seen in the light of Christ and His New Testament.  And if a seat at King David's royal table was truly a distinguished and important mark, then one would imagine that the Son of David, Jesus Christ, would maintain that importance.  This made me see the Last Supper in a whole new way.  In Luke 22, which records the Last Supper, Jesus says, "I assign to you, as my Father hath assigned to me, a kingdom, That you may eat and drink at my table, in my kingdom" (Luke 22:29-30).  By sitting down at the table with His apostles and eating bread with them, Christ is, like David, mercifully allowing the lowly a place at the royal feast (and by extension, that invitation is given to all of us still!).  This "royal-table fellowship" is just one of many connections between David's kingdom and Christ's Kingdom, but it's one that I hadn't before considered.  Remarkably, it is found throughout Scripture.  In Isaiah 25:6 it is written, "And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees."  And in Ezekiel 34:23 it is written, "And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd."  Scott Hahn further says, "eating and drinking with Jesus will be important manifestations of the kingdom's presence."  This of course ultimately points toward the Eucharist.  All the symbolism of sitting at the royal table means nothing unless it's ultimately tied in with the most important meal of all, the Body and Blood of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.  There have been images and foreshadowings of this most important meal of all throughout Scripture, even going back to the manna in the desert in Exodus.  But here in 2 Samuel we see it described for the first time in royal terms, which is significant as it points in a more specific way to Christ's establishment of a kingdom.  David may simply be inviting Mephibosheth to his royal banquet, but there is something so much larger being alluded to here, and at the Last Supper we can see the full picture.