David’s Curse

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on the chosen people. 00:00:03 Speaker 2: My King, I am with child. 00:00:06 Speaker 3: Are you certain? Could it be your husband's My husband? 00:00:12 Speaker 2: You mean Uriah, Uriah, one of your generals. Uriah has been on the battlefield since the snow's melted. You know that you sent him. It's your child, and now now I'm alone, exposed, and it's your fault. 00:00:40 Speaker 3: I'll make this right. It will be as if none of this happened. 00:00:46 Speaker 1: In all his fretting, David did not pray. He did not cry out as he had in the wilderness, nor sing songs of deliverance beneath the stars. The name of the Lord did not pass his lips, for he could not bear to. 00:01:03 Speaker 4: Speak it, said Uriah at the forefront of the charge. 00:01:07 Speaker 3: When he marches. 00:01:08 Speaker 4: In order the other soldiers to delay before following him. 00:01:13 Speaker 5: I need Uriah to follow. 00:01:15 Speaker 1: On that bad, Uriah charged around the west end of the war. The men began to charge with him, but Joab gave the second command. His men skidded to a halt, but Uriah didn't. He charged on alone. When the morning was done, Bathshiba removed her black veil and donned a white wine, and in the back by the fountain where the ivy hung low stood Nathan, prophet. God's voice came not as thunder, but as a breath in Nathan's soul, cold, relenting than the Lord's angle. Word. 00:02:11 Speaker 6: Grace doesn't always arrive with a whisper. Sometimes it shows up like a sword Shelloh, my friends, from here in the Holy Land of Israel, i'm l extein with international fellowship of Christians and Jews, and welcome to the Chosen people. Have you ever watched someone lie to themselves for so long that they forget how to hear the truth? This is where we find David today, in the long shadow, cast by unchecked power and a heavy crown. His victory still echo through the Holy land, but his soul grows quieter by the day. Hid him behind a palace and the walls, And in two Samuel twelve and Psalm fifty one, the silence ends. The prophet Nathan is coming, but not with politics or flattery. This episode will make us worm because it doesn't let us look away, and it asks us what kind of love is willing to wound? 00:03:10 Speaker 1: The hour was early, and the sky had not yet caught fire with the sun. David rose before the dawn. He rolled from the warmth of his bed and glanced to the side where his new bride lay. Bath Sheba stirred faintly beneath the linens, but there was no peace in her rest. 00:03:33 Speaker 2: Oh, where are you off? 00:03:35 Speaker 3: Too so early to walk among the grove? 00:03:39 Speaker 5: How are you feeling? Do you need me to fetch you anything? 00:03:44 Speaker 2: Ooh, citrus, this baby has my stomach in knots. 00:03:50 Speaker 5: It will be done. 00:03:52 Speaker 3: I love you. 00:03:53 Speaker 1: Bath Sheba didn't return his sentiment. She rolled over, groaning uncomfortably. 00:04:00 Speaker 2: Ah. 00:04:00 Speaker 1: David sighed, trying to release the tension in his chest, but it wouldn't lift. David's soul was unsettled, though he no longer knew it. The fierce self examination that had once shaped him was dulled like a blade left too long in salt water. He clothed himself in his royal robes and slipped out of the house into the gardens. The air was mild, the breath of spring giving way to the weight of summer. He walked beneath the trees, humming an old shepherd's tune, letting the birds accompany him. Then a figure stepped from the shadows beneath the mirthle trees. David gasped and exhaled with a shaky chuckle when he saw who. 00:04:52 Speaker 3: It was, Nathan, you startled me. 00:04:56 Speaker 1: David stepped forward and laid a hand on the prophet's shoulder. 00:05:00 Speaker 4: It was good to see you at the wedding Bathsheba and I were glad to have you. 00:05:05 Speaker 1: Nathan gave a shallow nod. His smile was polite, thin as a razor's edge. 00:05:13 Speaker 7: I wouldn't have missed it, my son, but I cannot remain in the spirit of celebration. 00:05:19 Speaker 8: I bring troubling news. 00:05:21 Speaker 5: David tilted his head. What troubles you? 00:05:25 Speaker 1: Nathan gestured toward a stone bench near the rose finds. The prophet's sigh was long and weary, and when he spoke again, his voice was quieter. 00:05:38 Speaker 7: I have received a report, my king, a dispute over property, and I would have your thoughts on the matter, for you are a man who seeks after justice. 00:05:51 Speaker 1: David smiled at the compliment, pride blooming across his face. 00:05:56 Speaker 3: I will do what I can. Nathan, tell me what has happened. 00:06:00 Speaker 1: Nathan nodded, and with a weathered hand, plucked a violet bloom from the nearby branch. He turned it slowly between his fingers as he spoke. 00:06:11 Speaker 7: There were two men. They lived in the same village. One was a very rich man and the other very poor. The rich man, ha ha ha. He had flocks beyond counting, sheep and goats, and herds of ox and grazing his fields, all the bounty a man could want. But the poor man, he only had one single little lamb, a lamb bought with coin, hard earned and dearly saved. He raised her as his own, fed her from his plate, she drank from his cup. She slept beside his children, wrapped in their warmth. She was not a beast to him, but. 00:07:00 Speaker 8: Like a daughter. 00:07:02 Speaker 1: Nathan paused glancing toward the king, watching David's brow furrow with sympathy. Good he had him. 00:07:11 Speaker 7: But then a traveler came to visit the rich man, and though he had herds and flocks at his own finger tips, the rich man couldn't bear to part with even one of his own. He crept into the poor man's house at night. 00:07:26 Speaker 8: And stole the lamb. 00:07:28 Speaker 7: He slaughtered her, roasted her flesh, and fed her to his guest, and the poor man was left with nothing. 00:07:39 Speaker 1: David surged to his feet, his face twisted with fury. 00:07:43 Speaker 3: How could he do such a thing. 00:07:45 Speaker 7: The man had to feed his guest, my king. 00:07:48 Speaker 9: But the rich man has plenty. Why steal from the poor man who only has won the gall As the lord lives, he deserves death for his injustice. I swear by the God of Israel, he shall restore the lamb fourfold. 00:08:04 Speaker 3: What heartless brute, what monster would do such a thing? Who is this man? 00:08:10 Speaker 2: You are? 00:08:10 Speaker 3: That man, David? 00:08:12 Speaker 1: It was like the crack of thunder. David froze. Then Nathan rose slowly, deliberately. He lifted his hand and pointed at the king. His voice dropped low and thunderous as a judge's gavel. 00:08:32 Speaker 7: The says the Lord, God of Israel and God of Justice. 00:08:38 Speaker 10: I anointed you king over this nation. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you this house, this kingdom. 00:08:48 Speaker 8: This crown, and that not been enough. 00:08:53 Speaker 10: I would have given you more. As you have despised my word. You have done what is evil in my sight. You struck down you Ria Hittite, with the sword of your enemies. 00:09:10 Speaker 7: You took his wife, his only treasure. 00:09:15 Speaker 8: And made her your own. 00:09:19 Speaker 7: Lord. 00:09:20 Speaker 11: I just a silence here Now the judgment of the Lord, oh giant slayer, the sword shall never leave your house. 00:09:32 Speaker 1: Blood shall answer blood. 00:09:34 Speaker 10: Because you have dealt in violence, so too shall violence rise in your own walls. 00:09:42 Speaker 7: I will raise l against you from your own kin and your wives. 00:09:48 Speaker 8: Those your thoughts secure. 00:09:50 Speaker 10: In silence, will take lovers before all Israel to see. 00:09:56 Speaker 5: You sinned in secret. 00:09:58 Speaker 10: David, your punishment will stand in the sun for everyone of you with their own eyes. 00:10:09 Speaker 12: David crumpled, the words crashing over him like a tidal wave. Judgment had come, and it bore the voice of God. Tears streamed down his face, and a wretched sob escaped his lips, quiet and broken like a dying half string. 00:10:37 Speaker 3: I have sid before the Lord. 00:10:44 Speaker 9: I have no excuse, no cloak, no sacrifice, only guilt. 00:10:57 Speaker 1: Nathan did not scold him. The prophet's stern gaze softened. He knelt beside the fallen king, placing a calloused hand on David's shoulder. His voice, though cracked with age, came like balm over a wound. 00:11:14 Speaker 7: I have heard the tenderness in the Lord's voice when he speaks. 00:11:19 Speaker 8: Of you, young David. You're his. 00:11:24 Speaker 7: The Lord has taken away your sin, you shall not die. Your kingdom will remain His mercy, though undeserved, is yours still. 00:11:36 Speaker 1: But then Nathan's hand tightened on David's shoulders. David peered up, finally meeting the old man's gaze. Nathan's eyes were filled with tears as he spoke, his lip quivered, his voice cracking as he delivered God's decree. 00:11:56 Speaker 7: Nevertheless, because you have given cause for the enemies of the Lord to blasphem his name, and because your deceit has borne sorrow and scandal in the house of Israel. 00:12:09 Speaker 8: The Child want you out of this treachery. 00:12:12 Speaker 7: This child conceived in blood and silence. 00:12:17 Speaker 8: The child shall not live. 00:12:19 Speaker 1: David's eyes widened, wild with disbelief. The prophet said no more. He stood, turned and walked from the garden, like the closing of a judgment. No further word came from his lips. David remained, his body hunched and trembling. The air felt colder now, though the sun climbed higher. He pressed his palms into the earth, shaking as the truth rooted itself within him. 00:12:53 Speaker 5: The child died. 00:12:55 Speaker 3: Not for his sake, but for mine. Where have I gone? Who have I become? 00:13:09 Speaker 1: Weeks turned to months, and David moved through the halls of his house like a ghost, a man only half awake to the world. Jerusalem bloomed around him, but he saw none of it. As bath Sheba's belly swelled with life, so too did David's dread. He would sit beside her at night, pressing his hand gently to her stomach, feeling the stirring of the child. 00:13:39 Speaker 8: Oh, little one, how I pray the Lord does not follow through. 00:13:46 Speaker 3: With his word. 00:13:48 Speaker 1: Tears streamed down his cheeks. Bath Sheba's pain was even greater. 00:13:54 Speaker 2: We love you, sweet child, even if you will not be ours for more than a breath, You are loved. 00:14:03 Speaker 1: When the ninth month came, Bathsheba's cries shattered the silence of the king's house. 00:14:10 Speaker 5: The labor was. 00:14:11 Speaker 1: Long, sixteen hours of blood and agony. David paced the corridor beyond the chamber door like a man on trial, fingers knotted in his hair, ears straining to each scream that echoed from his wife. The sounds were unbearable. He collapsed against the stone wall, hands covering his ears, muttering, my. 00:14:37 Speaker 13: God, my God, Please keep them safe, Please God, keep them safe. 00:14:42 Speaker 1: Then at last, silence David leaped to his feet and threw open the door. Inside Bathsheba lay drenched in sweat, pale as death, but breathing. In her arms. She held a baby boy, swaddled in linen. The child's hair was ruddy like David's own, but he made no sound. David knelt beside them. The babe's breath was shallow, his chest rising only faintly. 00:15:16 Speaker 2: He won't cry, He won't cry, David, he doesn't have to strike. 00:15:23 Speaker 1: Bathsheba tried to nurse him, cradling the child with trembling arms. They both knew the room that should have rejoiced with singing was filled instead with the aching hush of coming death. David rose slowly. He turned his gaze to the door. 00:15:44 Speaker 2: Where are you going? 00:15:45 Speaker 3: I'm going to wrestle with the Lord. 00:15:47 Speaker 1: He cast off his royal robes, the robes of Jonathan. They fell to the cold stone floor. David left the house for the open court, where the dust churned up with each step. The sun's warmth had left with the light of dusk. It was just David and the Lord alone out in the open David's heart felt torn asunder. He thought of his path to the throne, his victories, his failures. In all of it, he had been attuned to the heart of God. But in the last year his heart had been shut off to the voice of Yahweh. But now the channels were pried open by grief and judgment. David wailed to the Heaven's arms outstretched here, I. 00:16:39 Speaker 3: Am Lord, you have my attention. 00:16:42 Speaker 1: Then he collapsed into the dust, face buried in the ground. His voice moaned low, like an injured beast. He wept, tore at his hair, clawing at the dirt as though digging up his soul. He begged, he pleaded, He. 00:17:00 Speaker 3: Howled, save my child, I beg you Lord. 00:17:04 Speaker 1: Night turn'd again to day, then back to night. David did not rise. He remain'd there outside, exposed to the elements. He refused bread, refused broth, and drank only what little water he needed to survive. Beneath him, the soil had turned to mud from his own weeping. He fasted not to twist God's hand, but to submit himself to his mercy. Beniah was the one to approach regularly. 00:17:38 Speaker 8: My Lord, eat, rise or you will perish. 00:17:41 Speaker 1: But David remain'd through burning noontide, sun and the chill of midnight winds. He did not stir his lips, mumbled prayers between gasps. His body grew frail, his skin drawn, but still he remain'd. And then on the seventh day, Beniah came again with Jashabine. He stood at a distance. They whispered among themselves. 00:18:10 Speaker 4: What shall we do if we tell him we may lose what's left of him? 00:18:16 Speaker 5: He must know that sheburn meets him. 00:18:20 Speaker 1: David, ragged and hollow eyed, heard them. He had not spoken since the sixth day. Now, as the first fingers of dawn reached over the city walls, David turned his face to the breeze for the first time in what felt like years. He filled the lord's nearness. He rose, his knees buckled, and Jashabine rushed to catch him. 00:18:49 Speaker 3: Is my Suden dead, Yes, my king, he is. 00:18:56 Speaker 1: David nodded once, slow and weary, then turned and limped back into the palace, like a man returning from war. Inside his chamber, he found a basin and poured the water himself. It was worn, fragrant with herbs and oils. He bathed in silence, letting the heat soak into his flesh, peeling away the grime, the dust, the shame. His skin was raw from days in the sun, his body brittle from starvation, but the balm eased his wounds like a lover's touch. Afterward, he opened a vial of oil and poured it over his head. The scent of cedar and frankincense filled the room, wrapping around him like a cloak. For the first time in many days, he breathed deeply. His men waited just beyond the threshold, eyes down cast, their whispers hushed. David opened the door and looked upon them. The man they saw was not the same who had fallen to the floor in despair. This was a king again, cleansed and clothed, an Ayah, would you mind asking. 00:20:17 Speaker 5: The servants to bring me something to eat? 00:20:21 Speaker 8: Soon? 00:20:21 Speaker 1: David was seated alone, eating cured meats, fresh figs, and warm bread. His fingers trembled as he tore the loaf apart, and each bite brought life back to his limbs. Vaniah and Jasherbeams sat slowly at the table beside him, looking at him, then at each other. David gave them a weak smile. 00:20:45 Speaker 9: Speak your mind, grims, I don't understand, David you fasted and wept while the child yet lived, and now he's dead. 00:20:54 Speaker 3: You rise, wash, eat? Why now it. 00:20:57 Speaker 5: Looks as if you're celebrating his death. Why mourn before and feast? 00:21:03 Speaker 3: And it makes no sense? 00:21:06 Speaker 14: David. 00:21:07 Speaker 1: David looked up. His eyes were hollow, but steady. 00:21:11 Speaker 4: While the boy is still breathed. I prayed and fasted. 00:21:17 Speaker 3: For who was I to say? 00:21:18 Speaker 4: The Lord might not show mercy, Perhaps he would let the child live. 00:21:24 Speaker 1: David tore another piece of bread, softer now, his voice steady. 00:21:30 Speaker 4: Now the child is gone. Shall I fast and wail still? Can my grief call him back from shayo? 00:21:41 Speaker 11: No? 00:21:43 Speaker 4: One day I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. So I will eat, I will gather strength. I will go to my wife and give her comfort. And then then I returned to my guard. 00:22:02 Speaker 1: David rose from the table and retrieved his lyre untouched these many weeks, he cradled the instrument like a child. The wind whispered through the open window, cool and honest. He sat by the sill, the rays of the sun drawing gold through his graying hair. His fingers bruised and calloused, found the strings again, and then from cracked lips and a voice worn by dust and prayer. A psalm rose up, half song, half confession, sung from the depths of a king's shattered soul. 00:22:43 Speaker 3: Of mercy on me. 00:22:47 Speaker 15: In the shelter of your stead, first love, in the greatness of your compassion, wipe away the record of life. 00:23:01 Speaker 3: Wash me clean from all my guilt and from my sin. 00:23:08 Speaker 15: Make me pure again against you only you have I rebelled. What I've done lies open before You are just in your sentence, faultless in your judgment. 00:23:30 Speaker 5: You see truth. 00:23:32 Speaker 15: In the deepest places, and in the quiet heart you whisper most. 00:23:40 Speaker 14: Urge me and I shall be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. Let me once more here, joy and gladness. Let these shattered bonds dance again. 00:23:58 Speaker 15: Turn your face away from my failings. 00:24:03 Speaker 16: The race for the trace of my wrong created me the heart that is low set the step first spirit. You don't desire offerings from the fire. 00:24:25 Speaker 13: If you did, I would bring them of What you see is a spirit undone, a heart broken and humble. 00:24:38 Speaker 3: This you will not turn away. 00:24:44 Speaker 8: Your kindness. 00:24:46 Speaker 15: Bless Zion once more, Let your delight rebuild Jerusalem's walls. 00:24:53 Speaker 1: When David's voice at last fell to silence. The only sound that lingered was the gentle strum of his lyre's final cord and the rustling breeze stirring the garden leaves. He let the instrument rest in his lap. His eyes lifted skyward, as if waiting for a response from heaven. But none came in wind nor fire, only stillness, and within it a peace he had not felt in many months. Then he saw her, Bathsheba, standing in the threshold, bare foot, her hands clasped before her, Her eyes were rimmed red from weeping, and her veil hung loose about her shoulders. 00:25:41 Speaker 2: As she hoped I heard every word. 00:25:45 Speaker 1: She stepped across the floor in silence, and when she reached him, she sat at his feet, not beside him, where his shame had once driven her away. 00:25:58 Speaker 5: Now his repentance call. 00:26:00 Speaker 2: Her close played again for me, for my heart. 00:26:07 Speaker 1: David plucked the strings again. He sang his psalm a second time, not as a confession, but as a covenant, her song of sorrow and healing, of contrition and renewal. And Bathsheba listened with her head bowed, her fingers tracing the hem of his robe, Her heart, breaking open and beginning slowly to mend. Time passed. Their grief did not vanish, but it gave way to something else, something gentler, forged in fire, love, unity not born of desire, but of understanding, of sorrow and shared guilt. In time, bath Sheba bore David another son, a child born not of secrecy but of grace. They named him Solomon. 00:27:14 Speaker 6: This story it undoes me. I'm a mother, and I can't hear it without feeling breathless. My arms ache when I imagine Batsheva clutching that baby. My chest tightened when I picture David alone in the courtyard, face in the dust, praying for a miracle that never arrives. We read this as a story about kings and prophets, But beneath all the grandeur is a nursery that goes quiet. And I want to rage. I want to say, why take that child? I want to protest on Batshiva's behalf, to storm the gates of heaven with my questions. Every grieving parent has whispered in the dark, and yet even in my ache, I hear the whisper of something deep. But first, let's back up. David sinned, and because of this, God sent the prophet Nathan to confront the King of Israel for his sin, and to frame his meeting with the king, Nathan chooses to tell a story about a rich man who, despite having everything he could ever desire, stole a poor neighbor's only sheep to provide a feast for a guest. David heard this story and he was enraged. David ordered that the poor man be repaid quadruple for what the rich man had taken from him, and King David said that the rich man must die. That is when Nathan dropped the bombshell. You are the man, the prophet told the king, rebuked and wrong. While David could reply, was I have sinned against the Lord? David was heartbroken, not just because of the punishment he had earned, but because of the damage that he'd done to his relationship with God. David had reached the lowest point in his life, and then he did something remarkable. He used rock bottom as a springboard to propel himself upward. David turned his heartbreak into Psalm fifty one, which he penned in response, my sacrifice, oh God, is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. You God will not despise. David wrote, he understood the value of a broken spirit and a broken heart, and the psalm continues, you do not delight in sacrifice or I would bring it. You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. Here David declares that a broken spirit is even greater than an offering brought to the Holy Temple. Now to fully appreciate what David was saying, we need to understand the sacrifice in Jewish worship during Bible times. Sacrifice with sincere repentance cleansed the Jewish people of sin. It brought joy to their hearts, and it inspired their souls. So what David is saying in this sum is that a broken spirit is an even greater way to achieve what the sacrifice does. A broken spirit can lead to forgiveness and restore our relationship with God. A broken heart, when given over to God, can bring us even closer to Him than we were before. So the message for us is not to despair over our sadness or our brokenness. Instead, let's embrace those feelings and, like David, use them to raise ourselves up even higher. And after all of this, God forgave David the prophet Nathan said so with his own lips when he told the king, the Lord has taken away your sin. But still the child died. Why because if David had walked away from this untouched, if the concept Whenceys had vanished with the confession, what kind of man would he have become. He was already unraveling, already numbed to the weight of blood, already soothing his conscience. Another year, another hidden sin, another loyal friend sent to die. God spared David from that, and God did so with his mercy. That made it so David could never pretend it didn't matter. Think back to that story of the Tower of Babel. The people wanted to build a tower that would scrape the sky. They longed for permanence, for fame, for divinity, and so God scattered them. He divided their tongues, he destroyed their plans. It felt like judgment, but it was mercy, because if they had reached the heavens on their own terms, they would have sealed their fate with pride, never realizing how far they'd wandered from the garden. So God stopped them before they became unredeemable, before their unity hardened into defiance, and in today's story we see that same mercy. David's house would bear the stain of his sin, but David's soul, His soul would come back, and David would begin again. From that beginning came Solomon wisdom, born from sorrow. C. S. Lewis once said, we can ignore even pleasure, but pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain. David heard that shout Sometimes, that painful shout is the only thing that will turn our faces towards Heaven again. Isn't it Within the agony of today's Bible story there is return, within its judgment, there is healing to shuva. Repentance changes a person, just as it changed David. Jewish tradition has suggested that this episode from David's life is a model for repentance in our own lives. No matter how grievously we've sinned, if we sincerely repent and change our ways, then the gates of forgiveness are always open. So if you've walked into a season like David's, take heart, God hasn't left you. The silence may feel cruel, but it could be the space he's clearing for your return. And when that return and that holy healing comes, sing it out loud like David with blessings from the Holy Land. 00:33:36 Speaker 1: You can listen to the Chosen People with the Isle Exstein add free by downloading and subscribing to the Prey dot Com app today. This Prey dog comproduction is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Shellabaga and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of the Chosen People with Yile Exstein, edited by ALBERTA. Avilla, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Gotten, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and the opening prayer is voiced by John Moore. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvado, bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. Special thanks to Bishop Paul Lanier, Robin van Ettin, kayleb Burrows, Jocelyn Fuller and the team at International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. You can hear more Prey dot com productions on the Prey dot Com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People with Yile Eckstein, please rate and leave a review.