Hollie Benton 0:04
You are listening to Doulos, a podcast of the Ephesus School Network. Doulos offers a scriptural daily bread for God's household and explores servant leadership as an Orthodox Christian. I'm Hollie Benton, your host and executive director for the Orthodox Christian Leadership Initiative. And co-host Fr. Timothy Lowe, retired priest and former rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem brings you this episode today. Hello again, Fr. Timothy.

Fr. Timothy Lowe 0:31
Hollie, good morning. You don't know how happy it makes me to hear weekly, "retired priest." Go figure, who would have thought, but thank you for that. It brings happiness to my heart.

Hollie Benton 0:45
Well, when you're on the podcast, I suppose it's no longer retired but functional priest, because you bring us a Word. All right, so Fr. Timothy, we've been going through this biblical story of Israel's search for a king. The people have rejected the Lord as their king. So the Lord gives the people what they asked for and first anoints Saul as king. Saul is a big disappointment. The Lord regrets it, and then anoints the shepherd, David, as king even though Saul continues to cling to the throne. David is obedient to the Lord and merciful to Saul, sometimes conniving and manipulative, even though he has ample opportunity to overthrow Saul. But finally, David is established as king by the Lord. We heard last week that as soon as David ascends the throne, the Lord inserts a course correction. When David imagines that he should build the Lord a house, establishing the Lord, the Lord straightens him out through his prophet Nathan, and reminds David that it is the Lord who establishes David and build his house, and not the other way around. And now, only a few chapters later, in the book of Second Samuel, we will hear that it doesn't take long for David to get distracted again, and to displease the Lord. Fr.Timothy, is there anything else we should keep in mind before today's reading?

Fr. Timothy Lowe 2:14
We saw David come to the top of his life and the promise of a dynasty supported by God. He thinks his future is secure, his family's future is secure, what more could he want? And then we're going to see what he does with all of that, what kind of person he becomes. It just tickled me that you use the word, "David became distracted," which is a nice word to describe what happens when a king is firmly established, he feels secure, he could eat, drink, and be merry, that's the human being, right? I'm retired, as previously mentioned, we think life is good. And just sit back, eat, drink, and be merry. And so we read chapter seven, parts of chapter seven, so we're just a few chapters later, chapter 11. And, as you read it, pay close attention to the images that a few verses craft for us. We want to always think that there are good guys. And last week we mentioned the mantra, "No one is good, but God alone." This was the corrective. The Gospel of Mark, which is also the same story as repeated in Matthew and Luke, we have a rich young ruler, a rich young man coming to Christ, and saying, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Christ says, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone." That's Mark's version, which is a little bit tougher than the other ones. So it's thrown back in his face. Because once he answers the question, I like when people ask serious questions, what must I do to inherit eternal life? The ultimate question, is it not? Once you get the answer, you are stuck, you are judged by the answer. So I always learned early on in seminary, don't ask any questions. Therefore, you're only responsible for what the teacher says, because he may forget the important points. What must I do? Well, keep the commandments. You want to be perfect? Go sell all that you have and come follow me, which is the ultimate goal, right? So let's be serious, let's follow the trajectory or now the descent of David. This is just the beginning. He reached the top in chapter seven with a promise of God for his line, his kingship, let's see where it goes.

Hollie Benton 4:47
So here's that passage from Second Samuel chapter 11. "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to the battle, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, and David remained at Jerusalem. It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house that he saw from the roof, a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman and one said, is not this Bathshe'ba, the daughter of Eli'am, the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite? So David sent messengers and took her and she came to him and he lay with her. Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house, and the woman conceived and she sent and told David, I am with child." Fr. Timothy, if I may, it seems that even in the first verse we should sense something is awry, something is wrong with the scene in the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle. My question is, if David is king, why isn't he off to battle? Why did he send others while he remained at Jerusalem? If he's the king, the shepherd, why isn't he the one protecting his flock from the lions and bears and the invading armies? Why instead, is he a predator toward his own flock, ravaging one of his own?

Fr. Timothy Lowe 6:19
Let's look at the image of where David has arrived. He is not the king, he's not functioning as a shepherd. This opening line just tickles me, Ah, in the spring when kings could go forth to battle, as if it's a game, playing around, it's not serious. There's not really issues but it's just sort of a time for the Olympics, the spring Olympics, or if you will, the Super Bowl, but David is doing nothing. And that image is lounging on his couch. Okay, there is no TV, there is no Netflix. No Amazon Prime, what do you do? There's nothing to do other than just eat and drink and lounge, which is often an image you get in various shows on British monarchy, just to see. So temptation. Apparently he was bored. Distracted is a word to use. David is distracted, okay, he's got to find something to do. And he has no Netflix, doesn't have the Internet where he can scroll endlessly or play solitaire or whatever it is, we all do with the downtime. He's not doing any other business. That's the point. So beauty, sexual sin, in this particular instance, takes a woman. He is the king. Now what you need to know about David, which I forgot to mention, is early on, David has listed in the text, eight separate wives that he's taken, and lots of concubines. Okay, so this is the writer also mocking David. You know, it's not like David needs another woman. He already has a harem and already has many wives and children from all these wives. We were told this earlier on. And yet, when is enough enough? This is the problem of kingship, this is the problem of wealth. When is enough enough? So the problem is he's merely tempted, gives in, he feels he has a right to this woman, Bathsheba. Now Bathsheba is a very interesting name because it means daughter of the oath. Okay, daughter of the oath, someone has sworn an oath. And she is representative of that. David has responsibilities. David has to function as the shepherd, the one who leads, the one who protects, the one who guides, and he violates all of that. And what is even more interesting, she is the daughter of Eliam, which is God of the people. She represents, again, his subjects and everything about her and that relationship. And thirdly, what is even more interesting is she's the wife, you can't make this stuff up, Uriah the Hittite. As a Hittite, which means he's not, he's not from any of the tribes. He's a foreigner, if you want to go look up the Hittites, they were a warring people from Anatolia, from modern Turkey, okay. Uriah the Hittite. And what is more interesting is the name Uriah means my light is God. So everything about this story is to show us the heinousness of what David has become, is a mockery of what he was called, from his early shepherd boy, to give him everything raised up and this is where he is now. We quit at verse five, people need to read the whole chapter of 11. And this is a famous story so people should know the story, because the story then is going to contrast the heinousness of David and who he now is, as opposed to the foreigner Uriah. This is the key to understanding the whole chapter. It's a compare and contrast. David should be like Uriah, but in fact, no, he's the worst yet. And this is why when I say no one is good but God, is we glamorize David in our own sort of church tradition. We do stuff that the Bible does not do in terms of who he is. That's a different discussion. No reason to go there at the moment. But I just want to make the point. No one is good. So David, once he finds out that she's pregnant, oh, he's caught. Like anybody else who's caught, he doesn't want to be exposed. So he tells his generals, bring Uriah back, and sets it up so that he can spend quality time with his wife, that it will look as if he Uriah is the father of the child instead of David. And what is magnificent is the strange picture of Uriah as the image of what David should have been, humble, pure, faithful, does not do anything that would desecrate his honor. So he refuses to sleep with his wife, because it's a situation of war. Why should I have the luxury of having this leave when everybody else is still at war? So he refuses, and now people need to read it's not just the adultery, which is horrible in its own right. He sentences this humble servant, his humble servant, whose name is God is my light, to death without trial. Just to show how brilliant the writer is, Uriah delivers his own death sentence unbeknownst to himself to the general. Here, take this guy out, arrange for a battle, have the people withdraw and have him get slaughtered. Okay, he is delivering his own death sentence in total innocence and purity of heart.

Hollie Benton 11:42
And total allegiance and loyalty to David.

Fr. Timothy Lowe 11:47
Absolutely. There is no brief picture of anybody quite so righteous. And these few verses about Uriah, the foreigner, this is the double slam, okay. You know, sometimes you get two punches to knock a person out. The foreigner, not the Jew, somehow he is the image of the Righteous One. And he suffers and dies. He is the slaughtered lamb. Now, have you ever heard a sermon that connects Uriah to Jesus? You could, okay, you could. The one who's offered up for the sins of the others. Anyway, so that's basically what happened. So you used the word right, he is a predator towards his own flock, ravaging one of his own faithful servants who's doing battle where he should be. Instead, he's lusting after the man's wife. This is the fall of David. We had his rise, chapter seven, the glorious promises. And now we see David is just like every other leader, who's completely empowered, loses sight of his role, of his position with his responsibilities, of his servanthood, since this is about leadership, and what are we left? Becoming a predator. It shouldn't surprise us. But it always does. Because we like to be scandalized, because we forever sort of naively hope that our leaders will not follow the same pattern. But they do. And I don't want to mention recent scandals. It just shows the pattern continues. It's not something unusual, it is more often than not when people rise to the top. That's why no one is good, but God alone. Don't be presumptuous. Even if you're the third best of the worst, it's still in the worst category. And that will be a corrective to arrogance, to cockiness, to self assumptions, thinking we're beyond the law, beyond the commandments, thinking because of our position, it doesn't apply to us. It's not the way, not the way. "He who wants to be greatest," words of Jesus, "must be servant of all." That can be your refrain, "No one is good but God alone. Whoever wants to be greatest, must be servant of all." If you say these things and repeat them, trust me, it will finally sink in and live there and be the corrective to all temptations, all temptations, especially when it comes to adultery, murder, two of the 10 commandments, by the way, in case people forget these little details. Adultery, murder, David has fallen. So let's not make David out to be the good guy. There will be a story of repentance and whatnot, okay, but no, David is not a good guy. That's what I'm saying. He is not on my iconostasis of my heart. He's not there. I just happen to be ordained on the feast of Saints Constantine and Helen. David and Constantine have a lot in common, but people don't want to hear that because we want to glorify that. They think they expanded the faith to the entire world and because it's US. Now stay with the iconoclastic God then you will be safe. Otherwise, you're going to fall into some trap, some seduction, some distraction, use whatever word you want, Hollie, but it will happen. And David wants to hear that the deed has been accomplished, and it's at the end, verse 26-27. "When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. When the mourning was over David brought her to his house, she became his wife and bore him a son. The thing that David had done displeased the Lord." People have to look at the details. Now she will give birth, the first son will die. But then of course, she'll have Solomon, which through that the Davidic line, so it just tells you that it is spoiled, rooted in human sinfulness, and not the blessing of God.

Hollie Benton 15:43
It looks like the train wreck is still coming.

Fr. Timothy Lowe 15:47
Yes. As sad as that is, and as horrible as it sounds, it's all around us. It is all around us. When servants, especially leaders of countries, cease becoming servants and become dictators that leads to war, suffering, and then it recycles, falls, however, the civil wars, they will come back again. People suffer, and that's something people need to remember. It is a train wreck. And it is always coming. Because it's human based. People suffer.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai