There is a lot going on in the passage from the second book of Samuel today. Nathan, sent by the Lord, sets a trap to catch his king, David, who has been unfaithful. Nathan baits the trap with the story of the tender shepherd who shares his meager stash of food and water from his own cup with the only lamb he can afford. The tenderness and poverty of the shepherd is a counterpoint to the ruthlessness of the rich man who slaughters the shepherd’s solitary lamb.
David, of course, takes the bait without realizing he has just walked into a trap. Fiction reveals fact. David, the powerful king, seduced the wife of Uriah, his army officer, and arranged for Uriah’s death to cover the deed when Bathsheba conceived.
The Lord declares a sentence on David, David repents immediately, and Nathan conveys the Lord’s forgiveness. That’s how a mercy story should end, correct? But this story doesn’t end that way.
The Lord declares that the child born of the illicit union must die. Doesn’t God seem as ruthless as the fictional rich man and David? Did Nathan misunderstand God? Was the child destined to die of other causes, but Nathan took it to be divine retribution? How do you wrestle with troubling texts like this? There are no easy answers, are there? In lieu of easy answers, we must sit with difficult questions about who the Lord is and how we understand the Lord’s ways.
Finally, this passage reminds us of what is probably a universal truth of the spiritual life: It is easy to see the faults of others, but not so easy to see our own.
Lord, open our eyes and our minds.
