Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.”
NL Daily Devotion for Monday, October 26, 2020
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
Ah, it was the spring of the year. Oh, you know, that time of year when kings go out to battle.
Wait, what?
It’s a great start to this story, and I suppose anyone from the ancient standpoint of storytelling would completely understand the implication—David’s actually not out at battle. Nope, he’s still back home. Spying on rooftops, evidently.
We sort of expect it, I suppose, a little bit, that leaders (and especially men) will behave badly. It sure seems like that nowadays. It’s ironic that some in the world who profess to be on the “side” of God, seem to look the other way, time and again, when “their” leader behaves badly. Have it happen on the other side of the aisle though . . .
David in this case actually repented. He saw his sin (sins, I mean) and could do nothing to acquiesce in the face of the truth set before him.
Still, he married Bathsheba, and they had kids. So it goes. Morality is definitely part of the Bible, but it’s not its focus. What I mean by that is that, time and again, the truth of scripture shows that all human beings are susceptible to power’s seductive pull, its power to corrupt.
My prayer is that we at least get a leader, one day, who won’t brazenly flout all sense of common decency. Perhaps that prayer will be answered. One can hope.
What do you think: are leaders “allowed” a certain laxity when it comes to morality?
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