David's sins

2 Samuel 8 records the glorious victories of David over Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek and Zobah (2 Samuel 8:12). He was a faithful servant of God and true to his colours, he dedicated all the silver, gold and spoils from all nations to the Lord (2 Samuel 8:11). The 2^nd Book of Samuel praises him because "David administered justice and equity to all his people" (2 Samuel 8:15b). David was an ideal king.
In 2 Samuel 9, David searched for the surviving sons of the house of Saul. Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan was exposed. Would he survive? Would his physical disabilities save his life? In the end, David did not kill him but brought him to Jerusalem to eat always at his table. "And David said to him, 'Do not fear; for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father; and you shall eat at my table always.'"  (2 Samuel 9:7). With David keeping a constant watchful eye over him, Mephibosheth would never be able to revolt. In the eyes of the people, especially those of the northern tribes, a 'house-arrest' was obviously better than a blood bath.  David had been successful in keeping his hands clean. He had never caused the death of any member of the house of Saul.
In 2 Samuel 10, we read that the Ammonites suspected and subsequently humiliated David's servants who came to offer condolence for the recently deceased king. Fearing David's revenge, they hired the Syrians and prepared to ward off an anticipated attack from David (2 Samuel 10:6). This military concentration precipitated David's retaliation. He sent Joab to disband them. David was an ideal king. He did not take any initiative to start any war unless provoked.
While the Ammonite and Syrian kings were engaged in battles with David's men, David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Consequently, Bathsethba became pregnant. David tried to trick Uriah into having sex with his wife to cover the scandal, but failed. Then David signed Uriah's death warrant and told him to deliver it in person to Joab in the front line. Joab followed the instruction and sent Uriah to the deadliest part of the siege and Uriah fell with some other servants of David (2 Samuel 11:16-17). In order not to kill Uriah so conspicuously, Joab sacrificed a few more 'funeral objects'! The death of Uriah strongly suggests that David was behind the death of Ishbosheth, Saul's son, in 2 Samuel 4. Immediately, this story throws David into an extremely bad light.
David was a mere mortal, a sinner like anyone of us, for breaching God's commandments. He was responsible for the murder of Uriah. He took away Uriah's wife. He employed other people to do the dirty jobs for him so that he would still appear pious in the eyes of his subjects.
Should we feel relieved after reading 2 Samuel 11? Even such faithful servant of God as David failed to keep God's commandments, who are we not to fall into temptations? But if I were you, I would not envy the fate of the house of David.
In 2 Samuel 12, we read of Nathan's parable of a poor man and his ewe lamb. He used this story to lead David to repentance. "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:13). God put away David's sin and he would not die. David died at about 70 (1040 B.C.-970 B.C.) [Philip Comfort, Walter Elwell, Who's Who in the Bible, Illinois:Tyndale House Publishing, 2004, page 125]. Nevertheless, evil would visit the house of David frequently: the child born of Bathsheba would die 7 days after birth (2 Samuel 12:18); David's daughter Tamar would be raped by David's son Amnon (2 Samuel 13:14). Tamar's brother Absalom would take revenge and kill Amnon (2 Samuel 13:28-29) and run into exile. Joab would arrange for David to recall Absalom from exile (2 Samuel 14) and pave his revolt against his father in the future. We have fast-forwarded to 2 Samuel 15 already.
Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon who brought the United Kingdom to her zenith. After his death, Israel was split and the two kingdoms were subsequently conquered by Assyria and Babylon one after another ... etc. God is God because He is able to transform sins into occasions of grace. I think this is the lesson we should learn from the history of God's Chosen People. Still, each one of us should try our best to keep God's commandments.

My God, You are not a God of the dead but the God of the living. I praise You for Your loving wonders. You make use of our sinful occasions and turn them into channels of Your grace. I pray that You keep me even in my falls and purge me of my flaws. May your humble servant be a channel of Your grace to all my neighbours I encounter throughout my life. Amen.