Double O, 1.
And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women attended her. She followed the messengers of David and became his wife. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives. 1 Samuel 25:42-43 NASB
Ahinoam– My name is Bond, David Bond. Or so the script might have gone if it were written in the 10thCentury BCE. As M says in Quantum of Solace, “Is that how your charm works? They’ll do anything for you, won’t they?”[1] David is the original Double O. He conquers more territory in the bedroom than on the battlefield. But, of course, we don’t pay attention to that. David becomes a spiritual hero. He can’t possibly be a sexual predator.
In 2017, I wrote about Ahinoam[2], the woman with a very strange name.[3] In a “throw-away” verse, the text casually mentions that David took Ahinoam as his wife, his “extra” wife. I suspect that there was very little love involved in this transaction. It is the biblical fulfillment of “Revenge is a dish that tastes best when it is cold,”[4] In other words, don’t seek vengeance immediately. Let the incident pass—and then, when the victim thinks he has escaped punishment, exact revenge, slowly, carefully. Isn’t this David? Saul promises him the first daughter, then reneges. Saul gives him the second daughter, then sends her off to another man. How much insult can a warrior take? Wait. Just wait until the moment is right. Then, as if an after thought, bed Saul’s wife and produce a son, as an added but not important woman in David’s collection. Show Saul what vengeance really tastes like. Produce an heir with his own woman. We have a word for this: cuckold.
This is the David you knew, right? No, probably not. But it explains a lot about David’s son, Solomon. There are enough clues in the text to suggest that David’s reign was more like Game of Thrones than it was like the spiritualize icon we typically extol. And Solomon (and his mother, of course) learns from “good ol’ Dad.” David arranged his marriages so that the sons and daughter cemented David’s claim to the surrounding chieftain’s territories. Solomon merely extends the strategy to the world outside Israel.
Here’s the rather shocking assessment of Scripture. There isn’t a single word of condemnation for David’s use of available royal females. The only time David is condemned for his sexual behavior is his affair with Bathsheba, the only woman not connected to another royal family. In fact, there is even a verse that suggests God gave Saul’s wives to David. We might have expected that this behavior should lead to repentance, but the text doesn’t indicate so. This is just what kings did in the ancient world. The text places David firmly within this context, with no moral judgment attached. Maybe we need to take a step back from the way we typically read these stories and realize that the Bible is written in the context of the intended audience—and that audience isn’t us. The Bible sometimes doesn’t share our moral expectations, even of its heroes. Perhaps biblical characters are just human beings doing what human beings do according to the time and place where they live, and the real story is about how God still works through all of these very human games. And if that’s true, then what does that say about us?
Topical Index: David, Ahinoam, 1 Samuel 25:42-43
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLPlohvMA88
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahinoam
Skip, you write in Guardian Angel about the wife as being a valiant female warrior/priestess/ helper known as the Ezer Kenegdo. Are you now demoting her to Ezer Ken-Go-Do? Are you suggesting that this misogynistic behaviour by those in ancient royal circles was validated by YHWH? Is He is so desperate to get His Will done on earth as it is in heaven to sanction cuckoldry? What of the 7th commandment?
Or are you purposely rattling our “Christian” notions of His Sovereignty in our everday lives?
I am NOT overturning the divinely intended pattern of the ezer kenegdo. What I am pointing out is that David didn’t follow it, ever, with any of his women. The fact that God used him anyway is amazing, and perhaps comforting, but it does knock down our “spiritual hero” version of this man just a bit.
I don’t know about you all, but this gives me hope, that despite my own struggles, God can still manage to use me for his purposes to daily bring heaven to earth. I think having a near past of being involved in a legalistic Penecostal church, it is easy to be caught up in Christian perfection. In fact, being unconsciously (?) taught that a certain amount of perfection is required before being of any value to the kingdom of God. Or having a past decreases my value to the kingdom of God. This certainly does promote the whole idea of performance based relationship with God. And then when I add my past failed attempts at pleasing my deceased father I could be left in a real quandary. But thanks to Today’s Word I am beginning to form a different perspective and openness and acceptance in my walk with God. Besides I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It’s a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast or take credit!
I think, as Skip has been teaching that we have spiritualized ( idolized) the majority of bible characters, It really is helpful when we can bring them closer to earth. We have been guilty of making our Christian leaders into saints and when they show any signs different from this( when we get a glimpse of their humanity)we aren’t sure what to do, other than to trash them and look for somebody else to put on the vacant pedestal. Oiy!
As far as we can tell from the text, isn’t Abigail the only wife (the first he legally married) that he didn’t sin in the process of marrying? She was the best one. If he had stuck with her and listened to her wisdom, I bet he could have also conquered the surrounding kingdoms without a shot (“bloody” shot) and been able to spend all his spare(!) time building the Temple! Moses could not enter the Promised Land because of his sin: David, likewise, could not build the Temple because of his. He spent all his time on the battlefield instead of raising his children or listening to his wife(s). If he was following the Divine Plan (Leviticus) he would have stayed home from the battlefield that honeymoon year with Abigail (instead of egging on the fight with Saul by means of his marriage with Ahinoam) and we could have had a very different story – maybe even one men from then on could safely, righteously, look to for a REAL man model…
Apparently David didn’t spend “all” his time on the battlefield. 🙂
Skip it’s hard for me in 2018 to be sure of what David did or did not do “with any of his women”. Perhaps we have a human being that has a beast lurking within? That beast sometimes gets the upper hand and drives the behavior other times the spiritual man rules and he remains then ” a man after God’s own heart”. I suppose I am concerned that we have diminished him because of his failures and are not also balancing our perspective with his clear victories. We are all such a mixed bag.
I would also contend that the Author of time and space had in mind that we would be reading his messages to us in our time as well as they who authored them.
But I know Skip, you do not consider the Author behind the authors of the Scriptures to be out-siding our space and time continuum as other scholars have surmised.
The jury is still out for me on that concept…
The more I know, then I know more, that I know nothing. David being a man after God’s own heart is sounding more to me like Lot being a righteous man. What does that say about us? What does that say about God? I’m starting to feel like an onion. If the layers of me beliefs keep being peeled back, what will be left? I’d like to think that the triumph of Messiah and the coming of the Holy Spirit were game changers. Hopefully, there really is something new under the Son.
I think we can be afraid that God is being relativistic if He ‘uses’ imperfect people: as if His Good Housekeeping stamp of approval shows us the ‘safe’ people to shop for – I do mean ‘copy’. David is a wildly popular commodity: everybody wants to be that person “after God’s own heart” (and maybe we can be a great poet and have a kingdom too!).
I think Skip is right: the great Storybook is about something – I mean (like someone else pointed out on this forum) Someone else. In the myth of Iron John, we learn all about the young man’s transformation into a hero; never noticing that the story is not about him, but about the redemption of Iron John from a boogy man (“wild man”) living in the woods to a powerful provider and the richest duke of them all. At the beginning of Job, the story is all about him: his ‘righteousness’; his wealth; his tragedy. At the end, YHVH is firmly instated as the true righteous, powerful, wealthy(!) Source.
Perhaps, like Larry puts best, ‘our’ story is not about us, either. That’s not a tragedy: that’s a relief! (Now, exactly what about David am I supposed to be ‘learning to emulate’? Hmm)
Just a thought here. I think it’s probably easy and maybe quite dangerous to go from being graced (which we all have been, regardless of position) to being entitled! Maybe David‘s entitlement proceeded his fall with Bathsheba ! ?
What does our sense of entitlement set us up for? !? Remember, the word says, if any man thinks that he stands, take heed, lest you fall!
Hello folks I read the other comments, and this did not seem to fit as a reply to them. My comment is a question. In David’s Quest for The Possession of Kingdoms and countries, and God granting him and Israel victory’s after victories, or other kings afraid of him and gave him their wives? Is this a viable tactic or possibility.?
According to the text, God granted him all of Saul’s kingdom and Saul’s wives. The rest he seems to have accumulated for himself. Of course, that doesn’t mean God isn’t behind it all, but then we are left with some serious questions, aren’t we?
Skip, you have consistently demonstrated that the bible is full of very human characters, people like you and me but somehow God takes these characters and uses them for His Kingdom purposes, faults and all. David, a man after God’s own heart is after all still a man, still shows he is one of us but also demonstrates through the Psalms how much he loved God and was vulnerable, seeking forgiveness for his faults because deep down he understood who God is and teaches us how to praise, repent, and respect the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Thanks Skip!
Happy Chanukkah!
I am thankful that God can still use us because without doubt my past is not pretty. I do hesitate to speak about my faith with those who know me best because of my past. I need to work on that. But there are a couple of verses in Scripture that tell us as a community of believers, we are held to a higher standard with one another. Without doubt we continue to sin sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally. The twelve step programs e.g. Alcoholics Anonymous demonstrate a practical way to live out those verses in Scripture that tell us we are to acknowledge our wrongdoing to another. Are we forgiven if we don’t acknowledge when we harm another? Or sin against another? Yes, but that doesn’t mean that as a believer we should not do this. If I am in your community of faith and you sin against me but refuse to acknowledge it, I can forgive because forgiveness is not condoning but I will find your actions suspect if you say you are trying to do God’s will but act in ways contrary to this. As the rabbis say harm one, it’s as if you’ve harmed everyone. And what is perhaps even more suspect is when people claim to be living for God but they continue to do the same sins over and over with no apparent change in behavior.
The Bible tells the truth about mankind like no other book. It shines a flashlight on the human heart. But, it’s important to remember that FEELINGS ARE NOT FACTS. The way we feel about ourselves (and others) is not necessarily the way God feels about us (and them.)
It’s absolutely true that FACTS are not FEELINGS, but feelings are the facts of our lives, aren’t they? We can’t dismiss them as irrelevant because they lack external reference. In fact (pun), you and I both know a man who would probably have claimed that life is much more about feelings than the facts.
Yes, but I think John would also agree that feelings often get in the way and can become problematic. I’m guessing there were days that David was quite depressed and felt totally down on himself, but God knew David so much better that David knew himself, and saw his potential. The same is true for each of us. I’m remembering the quote from yesterday’s TW by Adam Phillips, “depression is a self cure for the terrors of aliveness.” It’s a catchy one-liner, but, depression is often based on distorted facts and is rarely productive to a person’s well being. There can be hidden deceptions behind depression (or any feeling/emotion.) But, often, our hearts long to be deceived, so we can do what we want to do. David led the way in self deception. Feelings are a gift from God but can be very dangerous if not managed well. But, as the saying goes…if you can’t be a good example, at least be a horrible warning. ? David was actually both.
Well first of all,we might want to define what we mean when we talk about “depression” but in a general sense, the main distortion for most depressed people stems from taking on the other person’s bad behavior. In other words, as a child I experienced that my alcoholic mom loves me one minute, hates me the next. I feel depressed as an adult because I took on my mom’s chaotic behavior and evaluated myself based on that. I am worthless, not lovable…Low self-esteem. But if I as an adult do harmful things to another and don’t feel depressed or bad about it, then perhaps I have more serious problems than depression. But in all seriousness, clinical depression is an illness that needs to be medically treated. Most people experience an episode of some type of depression, but clinical depression is a beast of a different nature.
Perfect. Thanks.
Because God said in Act 13:22, “I found David, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will” and 1 Pet. 4:8 says “love covers over a multitude of sins”, God could use David for His purposes. It appears that YHWH desired obedience to His will and His covenant over feelings, which if not restrained can lead us into temptation & bad choices.
But we can’t really say David was obedient. What he had was a relationship with YHVH. David paid for his sins (well that might be debatable)as we all do when we suffer the consequences of those wrong choices. And sometimes we suffer because of another person’s sin just as we see women in the text certainly paying a price for the sin of another.
I agree. We see David being disobedient when he numbered Israel & Judah (2 Sam. 24:1) but David was always quick to repent (2Sam.2:10). As I see it, what is more important is how God sees us and His testimony.. as His ways are not our ways (Is. 55:8). Yes, suffering for another person’s sin is one of those sores that fester in me yet there must be some redemptive purpose and great reward that we bear another person’s sins? I have pondered much on what Paul said in Col. 1:24, “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church”. I take much comfort in Julian of Norwich’s revelations given to her on Divine Love.
Satomi, I am sure you meant “suffer FROM another’s sins” for the Bible makes clear we all must bear our own, but I am with you on this. Sin IS the causing of unjust suffering of others: the essence of trespass. Someone else chooses: we pay. They have now wronged us. They must take (“bear”) responsibility for that, as I must when I do the same.
There is a unique purpose in all the suffering that is done “for the sake of Christ”, however; as opposed to just suffering because somebody else wronged me personally. I am not Christ. How do I tell the difference? Well, flaws in me open the door to the sin in others. I am unprotected in the places I am still not there yet, myself. Other’s choices can take advantage of those weaknesses; the world is expert in finding and exploiting weaknesses; but this is not “suffering FOR CHRIST”. That would be when I am being attacked because of Him, and not because of me; my weaknesses or failings, etc. I spent a lot of persecuted years learning to tell the difference; still learning!
David wasn’t the first warrior/king to use all means to conquer territory. He won’t be the last. What we must understand is that the biblical story is about a POLITICAL warrior, and he does what he thinks he needs to do to secure his kingdom. Maybe he repents later, but it seems to me that David is one of those guys to does it first and asks for forgiveness afterward.
One Man did what all men could not.
That’s why the Bible is all about Him.
Which begs the question, Did God tell David to take Saul’s wives or did David do it and then use God to justify his bad behavior? I could decide to sleep with a man tonight (being as how I’ve been single for quite some time) and tell everyone that God told me I could do this since I was lonely and needed companionship. And there is nothing in Scripture that condones this specifically? How do we reconcile? God may not have directly condoned, but there were those commands he wrote down.
There is nothing in the Tanakh that says an unmarried man and unmarried woman sleeping together is a sin. And really one has to question in the New Testament, what sexual behavior is sinful. And then this begs the question about people who don’t believe in YHVH but get married in a church? What does that mean. And of course people who are married several times whether believers or not. And most certainly when we read that God says to wipe out a whole group of people, we have to ask the question is that God or man blaming God?
It may not be a “sin” for unmarried people to “sleep together” (the context of this thread implies that means “have sex”); however, in context to that day’s audience, it is marriage (as Isaac taking Rebekah and Shechem taking Dinah show us), or Jacob would not have been obligated to Leah.
Deuteronomy 21:10-14 (with Numbers 31:18), and Deut 22:13-ff may tell us a bit of a different story, and tell us we need to carefully define “unmarried”. Exo 21:7-11, Deut 24:1-4, Lev 21:1-15 also have something to say about sexual conduct.
How different would life be if throughout the ages we had been taught to guard virginity for what it truly is in YHVH’s eyes? If we understood the covenantal fullness of marriage?
This is a TW that hits home for me. I am thankful for God’s grace and mercy. I was wontwhen you are going to be in Florida teaching this December as I may be able to attend. I did. I did not see it on my calendar. Judie Rose may get to come as well.
I will be teaching a week long seminar in Sarasota from December 11 to 14 each evening. I will also be teaching at Beth Messiah on December 15. You can get all the information from Maddie Basham at
davidandmaddie@aol.com
It says I have hope. I I need that!