If you’ve spent any time in church, you’ve likely heard stories about a man named David. In children’s church, we heard the story of David as a young shepherd boy who slayed Goliath with a rock and a sling. David was the only one brave enough to take on the mighty giant who is believed to be 9’9” tall.

In “grownup” church, we heard about David as king. He was the youngest of a farmer with eight children and chosen by God to be king of Israel. As king, David expanded his territory by defeating many kingdoms. He also united the twelve tribes of Israel, and established Jerusalem as its capital city. He brought back the Ark of the Covenant and housed it in Jerusalem as a reminder to the Jewish people God was with them.  He achieved many great things as King, and you can read about them in 1 and 2 Samuel. But for his many successes, he also had many failures. David was only human after all.

For someone whom God called a “man after His own heart” (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22), David’s behavior didn’t always live up to the hype. Some things he did as king are questionable to say the least and because the Bible does not shy away from exposing the truth of its characters, we are able to read about them.

Failures

One of his well-known failings is recounted in 2 Samuel 11, the story of King David and Bathsheba. This chapter begins by telling us King David chose not to go to war as other kings usually did in the spring. It seems an odd way to start this chapter given all that happens within it, but I believe it’s significant to the story. It tells us the King David was idle when he shouldn’t have been. Now I’m sure being king kept him very busy but apparently not busy enough. He had plenty of time to plan and act on something that followed him for the rest of his life.

The story continues with King David summoning a married women to his palace. He saw her bathing as he walked along the rooftop in the middle of the night. He knew she was married because her husband, Uriah, was part of David’s army and was fighting in battles David should have been fighting in. She became pregnant and to keep this from becoming public, he allowed Uriah to be killed in battle. Unbelievably, David had him placed on the front line while instructing the rest of the army to withdraw, which caused his death. Very unkinglike if you ask me.

Of course consequences followed, and David was severely punished for his actions. And as it usually goes his entire family suffered as well.  Even long after David died, those memories continued. In Matthew 1, Matthew is talking about the lineage of Jesus which David is a part of. He says Solomon is David’s son with Bathsheba who was the wife of Uriah but chooses not to mention David and Bathsheba had married as well.

The ending isn’t entirely bad for David, however. David is confronted about his sin, and we read about his repentance in Psalm 51. He acknowledged what he did and poured out his heart to God asking for forgiveness. What a blessing to know forgiveness is available to all who seek it, from the greatest king to the least among us. Not because of what we do but because of God’s unfailing love.