David’s Curse

00:00:00 Speaker 1: Previously on The Chosen People. 00:00:03 Speaker 3: My king, I am with child. 00:00:06 Speaker 4: Are you certain? Could it be your husband's? 00:00:10 Speaker 5: My husband? 00:00:12 Speaker 6: You mean Uriah. 00:00:14 Speaker 3: Uriah, one of your generals. 00:00:17 Speaker 7: Uriah has been on the battlefield since the snows melted. 00:00:21 Speaker 4: You know that. 00:00:23 Speaker 3: You sent him. It's your childhood. 00:00:29 Speaker 2: And now.... 00:00:31 Speaker 1: Now I'm alone. 00:00:34 Speaker 4: Exposed. 00:00:35 Speaker 3: And. 00:00:36 Speaker 2: And it's your fault. 00:00:40 Speaker 5: I'll make this right. 00:00:42 Speaker 4: 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 speak it. 00:01:04 Speaker 4: Set Uriah at the forefront of the charge. 00:01:07 Speaker 5: When he marches in, order the other soldiers to. 00:01:10 Speaker 4: Delay before following him. 00:01:13 Speaker 7: I need Uriah to fall on that battlefield. 00:01:17 Speaker 1: Uriah charged around the west end of the wall. The men began to charge with him, but Joab gave the second command. Hold! His men skidded to a halt, but Uriah didn't. He charged on, alone. When the mourning was done, Bathsheba removed her black veil and donned a white one. And in the back, by the fountain where the ivy hung low, stood Nathan the prophet. God's voice came not as thunder, but as a breath in Nathan's soul. Cold, unrelenting, and the Lord's anger burned. 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. Bathsheba stirred faintly beneath the linens, but there was no peace in her rest. 00:02:34 Speaker 4: Oh, where are you off to so early? To walk among the grove. How are you feeling? 00:02:42 Speaker 7: Do you need me to fetch you anything? 00:02:44 Speaker 8: Ooh, citrus. 00:02:47 Speaker 9: This baby has my stomach in knots. 00:02:50 Speaker 4: It will be done. I love you. 00:02:54 Speaker 1: Bathsheba didn't return his sentiment. She rolled over, groaning uncomfortably. 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 fear 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 myrtle trees. David gasped, then exhaled with a shaky chuckle when he saw who it was. 00:03:54 Speaker 4: Nathan, you startled me. 00:03:57 Speaker 1: David stepped forward and laid a hand on the prophet's shoulder. 00:04:01 Speaker 4: It was good to see you at the wedding. 00:04:04 Speaker 7: Bathsheba and I were glad to have you. 00:04:06 Speaker 1: Nathan gave a shallow nod. His smile was polite, thin as a razor's edge. 00:04:13 Speaker 9: I wouldn't have missed it, my son. But I cannot remain in the spirit of celebration. I bring troubling news. 00:04:22 Speaker 1: David tilted his head. 00:04:24 Speaker 4: What troubles you? 00:04:25 Speaker 1: Nathan gestured toward a stone bench near the rose vines. The prophet's sigh was long and weary, and when he spoke again, his voice was quieter. 00:04:39 Speaker 9: 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. 00:04:51 Speaker 1: David smiled at the compliment, pride blooming across his face. 00:04:57 Speaker 7: I will do what I can, Nathan. Tell me what has happened. 00:05:01 Speaker 1: Nathan nodded and with a weathered hand plucked a violet bloom from a nearby branch. He turned it slowly between his fingers as he spoke. 00:05:11 Speaker 9: There were two men. They lived in the same village. One was a very rich man, and the other very poor. The rich man, he had flocks beyond counting, sheep and goats and herds of oxen 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. 00:05:55 Speaker 4: Children, wrapped in their warmth. 00:05:57 Speaker 9: She was not a beast to him, but more like a daughter. 00:06:03 Speaker 1: Nathan paused, glancing toward the king, watching David's brow furrow with sympathy. Good, he had him. 00:06:11 Speaker 9: But then a traveler came to visit the rich man. And though he had herds and flocks at his own fingertips, the rich man couldn't bear to part with even one of his own. He crept into the poor man's house at night and stole the lamb. He slaughtered her, roasted her flesh, and fed her to his guest. And the poor man was left with nothing. 00:06:39 Speaker 1: David surged to his feet, his face twisted with fury. 00:06:44 Speaker 4: How could he do such a thing? 00:06:45 Speaker 9: The man had to feed his guest, my king. 00:06:48 Speaker 5: But the rich man has plenty. Why steal from the poor man who only has one? 00:06:53 Speaker 4: The gall! 00:06:56 Speaker 5: As the Lord lives, he deserves death for his injustice. I swear by the God of Israel, he shall restore the lamb fourfold. 00:07:05 Speaker 7: What heartless brute, what monster would do. 00:07:08 Speaker 8: Such a thing? 00:07:09 Speaker 5: Who is this man? 00:07:10 Speaker 9: You are that man, David! 00:07:13 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. 00:07:32 Speaker 9: Thus says the Lord, God of Israel and God of justice. 00:07:39 Speaker 3: I anointed you king over this nation. I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you this house, this kingdom, this crown. And had that not been enough, I would have given you more. Yet you have despised my word. You have done what is evil in my sight. You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword of your enemies. 00:08:11 Speaker 9: You took his wife, his only treasure, and made her your own. 00:08:20 Speaker 4: Nathan, Lord, I just. 00:08:22 Speaker 2: Silence! 00:08:23 Speaker 3: Hear now the judgment of the Lord, O giant slayer. 00:08:29 Speaker 9: The sword shall never leave your house. Blood shall answer blood. 00:08:35 Speaker 3: Because you have dealt in violence, so too shall violence rise in your own walls. 00:08:42 Speaker 9: I will raise evil against you from your own kin. And your wives, those you thought secure in. 00:08:51 Speaker 3: Silence, will take lovers before all Israel to seethe. You sinned in secret, David, but your punishment will stand in the sun for everyone to view with their own eyes. 00:09:10 Speaker 1: David crumpled, the words crashing over. 00:09:13 Speaker 4: Him like a tidal wave. 00:09:16 Speaker 1: 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 harp string. 00:09:31 Speaker 2: I have sinned. 00:09:38 Speaker 7: I have sinned before the Lord. 00:09:41 Speaker 4: I have no excuse, no cloak. No sacrifice. Only guilt. 00:09:58 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. 00:10:15 Speaker 9: I have heard the tenderness of your voice. In the Lord's voice when he speaks of you, young David, you're his. The Lord has taken away your sin. You shall not die. Your kingdom will remain. His mercy, though undeserved, is yours still. 00:10:37 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. 00:10:56 Speaker 10: Nevertheless, because you have given cause for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme his name, and because your deceit has borne sorrow and scandal in the house of Israel, the child born to you out of this treachery, this child conceived in blood and silenced child shall not live. 00:11:20 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. 00:11:52 Speaker 4: The child will die, not for his sake, but for mine. Where have I gone? Who have I become? 00:12:09 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 Bathsheba'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. 00:12:39 Speaker 2: O little one, how I pray the Lord does not follow through with his word. 00:12:48 Speaker 1: Tears streamed down his cheeks. Bathsheba's pain was even greater. 00:12:55 Speaker 4: We love you, sweet child. Even if you will not be ours for more than a breath, you are loved. 00:13:04 Speaker 1: When the ninth month came, Bathsheba's cries shattered the silence of the king's house. The labor was 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. 00:13:37 Speaker 4: My God, my God, please keep them safe. Please God, keep them safe. 00:13:43 Speaker 1: Then, at last, silence. David leapt 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. 00:14:14 Speaker 4: He won't cry. 00:14:17 Speaker 10: He won't cry, David. 00:14:22 Speaker 1: He doesn't have the strength. 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. 00:14:44 Speaker 4: Where are you going? I'm going to wrestle with the Lord. 00:14:48 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 heavens, arms outstretched. 00:15:40 Speaker 9: Here I am, Lord! 00:15:41 Speaker 4: You have my attention! 00:15:43 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 howled. 00:16:01 Speaker 4: Save my child! 00:16:03 Speaker 2: I beg you, Lord! 00:16:05 Speaker 1: Night turned again to day, then back to night. David did not rise. He remained 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. Benaiah was the one to approach regularly. 00:16:38 Speaker 4: My lord, eat, rise, or you will perish. 00:16:42 Speaker 1: But David remained. 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 remained. And then, on the seventh day, Benaiah came again with Jashabim. He stood at a distance. They whispered among themselves. 00:17:11 Speaker 4: What shall we do? If we tell him, we may lose what is left of him. 00:17:16 Speaker 7: He must know that Sheba needs him. 00:17:21 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 felt the Lord's nearness. He rose. His knees buckled and Jasherbeam rushed to catch him. 00:17:50 Speaker 4: Is my son dead? Yes, my king. 00:17:55 Speaker 2: He is. 00:17:56 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 warm, 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 downcast, 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. 00:19:16 Speaker 7: Benaiah, would you mind asking the servants to bring me something to eat? 00:19:21 Speaker 1: Soon 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. Benaiah and Jasherbeam sat slowly at the table beside him, looking at him, then at each other. David gave them a weak smile. 00:19:46 Speaker 4: Speak your mind, Prince. I don't understand, David. 00:19:50 Speaker 7: You fasted and wept while the child yet lived, and now he is dead. 00:19:55 Speaker 2: You rise, wash, eat. 00:19:56 Speaker 3: Why now? 00:19:57 Speaker 8: It looks as if you're celebrating his death. Why mourn before and feast? It makes no sense, David. 00:20:08 Speaker 1: David looked up. His eyes were hollow but steady. 00:20:12 Speaker 7: While the boy still breathed, I prayed and fasted. For who was I to say the Lord might not show mercy? Perhaps he would let the child live. 00:20:25 Speaker 1: David tore another piece of bread, softer now, his voice steady. 00:20:30 Speaker 7: But now the child is gone. Shall I fast and wail still? Can my grief call him back from Sheol? 00:20:41 Speaker 2: No. 00:20:44 Speaker 7: 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 will return to my God. 00:21:02 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 greying 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. 00:21:42 Speaker 11: Have mercy on me, O love, in the shelter of your steadfast love, in the greatness of your compassion. Wipe away the record of my wrongs. 00:22:02 Speaker 7: Wash me clean from all my guilt. 00:22:06 Speaker 2: And from my sin, make me pure again. Against you, only you, have I rebelled. What I've done lies open before you. 00:22:24 Speaker 7: You are just your sin. faultless in your judgment. 00:22:31 Speaker 2: You seek truth in the deepest places and in the quiet heart you whisper wisdom. 00:22:41 Speaker 7: Purge me and I shall be clean. 00:22:44 Speaker 2: Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow. Let me once more hear joy and gladness. Let these shattered bones dance again. Turn your face away from my feelings. 00:23:04 Speaker 4: Erase every trace of my wrong. 00:23:09 Speaker 6: Create in me a heart that is new. Set a steadfast spirit within me. You don't desire offerings from the fire. If you did, I would bring them. 00:23:30 Speaker 2: But what you seek is a spirit undone, a heart broken and humbled. This you will not turn away. In your kindness, bless Zion once more. Let your delight... Rebuild Jerusalem's walls. 00:23:54 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 chord 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, barefoot, her hands clasped before her. Her eyes were rimmed red from weeping, and her veil hung loose about her shoulders. 00:24:42 Speaker 4: Bathsheba, I. 00:24:44 Speaker 5: I heard every word. 00:24:46 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, now his repentance called her close. 00:25:02 Speaker 4: Play it again, for me, for my heart. 00:25:07 Speaker 1: David plucked the strings again. He sang his psalm a second time, not as a confession, but as a covenant. a 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, Bathsheba bore David another son, a child born not of secrecy, but of grace. They named him Solomon. This Pray.com production is only made possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Katina, Max Bard, Zach Schellebarger, and Ben Gammon are the executive producers of The Chosen People, narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvato, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan, Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradok, Thomas Copeland Jr., Rosanna Pilcher, and Mitch Lashinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith. Written by Aaron Salvato, Brie Rosely, and Chris Baig. You can hear more Prey.com productions on the Prey.com app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If you enjoyed The Chosen People, please rate and leave a review.