In the previous passages we have seen the best and most noble side of the character of David, but in these passages we see the worst. We might ask why the Biblical writers recorded what is a dreadful incident in the life of David, in which he ignored most of the Ten Commandments. We can give this answer; that they were concerned with showing that God's plans for the redemption and blessing of mankind are not carried out by blameless people, but are put into action by God himself, in spite of the sin which poisons human beings, even the best ones who know that they have heard God's voice and know what they ought to do. God's patience with human beings in the midst of their sinful rebellion against what he has shown them to be right is an indication of the greatness of his love for them. 2 Samuel 11 gives the account of David's sin.

The person who stands out with honour in this story is Nathan, the prophet. Without the slightest fear of a very angry reaction from the king, he went to him and, with great skill, told him a parable which aroused David's sympathy for the man in the story who was treated so badly. We notice that David did not connect Nathan's parable with anything that he- had done, perhaps because he assumed that his adultery with Bathsheba and his planned murder of her husband had been kept a secret between himself and his loyal army commander, Joab. David's sin is exposed in all its dreadfulness by Nathan's words in 12: 7-12, and then David realizes that he has sinned not only against the family of Uriah, but against God. No sin can be hidden from God, and David, as the elected servant of God, had betrayed the responsibility and trust given to him.

David's repentance is sincere and he accepts what he sees to be God's punishment on him in the death of the child he had fathered. Chapter 12: 22-33 indicates the Hebrew attitude to death which we referred to earlier; David's name and life would not be carried on in that child, of whom he was the father. We should note that the adultery and planned murder of which David was guilty were offences for which a man could be sentenced to death according to the Covenant Law (Leviticus, 20: 10; Deuteronomy 22:22 and 19:11-13); Nathan's words in 12:13 indicate this. David deserved to die but because of his repentance this ultimate sentence was withheld.

This story is important because it emphasizes the theocratic understanding of kingship which meant that the king, like the humblest of his people, was subject to the Lordship of God. The king must obey the Covenant Law equally with his subjects and must accept the word of God's prophets. The king was elected to the service of the people of the Covenant and had no authority to set himself above the demands of the Covenant Law.

Later, after she had been accepted into the royal harem as one of David's wives when the time of mourning for her dead husband had ended, Bathsheba became the mother of Solomon. In the book of Samuel there is no condemnation of David's polygamy, which was an accepted custom of early Israelite times. But in a society where polygamy was accepted, adultery was condemned because it was rightly understood as 'stealing' a woman who was the wife or promised wife of another man. David was free to marry several wives but had no right to take a woman who was already someone else's wife.