Redeeming David

b. Shabbat 56a

220–600

About This Entry

King David is known for his righteousness, devotion to God, and military prowess, yet he sins in 2 Samuel 11 by arranging for the death of Uriah, a soldier in his own army, after impregnating Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba. In this passage, the rabbis struggle to reconcile the venerable David with the depraved David.

R. Samuel bar Naḥmani said [that] R. Jonathan said: Anyone who says that David sinned [with Bathsheba] is nothing other than mistaken, as it is stated: And David succeeded in all his ways; and the Lord was with him (1 Samuel 18:14). Is it possible that sin came to his hand and [nevertheless] the Divine Presence was with him?

However, how [then] do I establish [the meaning of the rebuke of the prophet Nathan:] Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do that which is evil (2 Samuel 12:9)? [David] sought to do [evil] but did not do [so].

Rav said: Rabbi [Judah the Prince], who descends from David, seeks to teach [the verse] in favor of David. [With regard to that which is written:] Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil, Rabbi [Judah the Prince] said: This evil is different from all [other] evils in the Torah, as with regard to all [other] evils in the Torah, it is written: and he did [evil], and here it is written: to do evil. [This indicates that David] sought to do [evil] but did not [actually] do [so].

Uriah the Hittite you have smitten with the sword (2 Samuel 12:9) [means] that you could have judged him [for treason—Ed.] before the Sanhedrin, and you did not judge [him in that manner]. And his wife you have taken to be your wife [means that] you have [rights of] marriage with her. As R. Samuel bar Naḥmani said [that] R. Jonathan said: Anyone who goes to a war [waged by the royal] house of David writes a [conditional] bill of divorce to his wife. As it is stated: And carry these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and to your brothers bring greetings and take their pledge [‘arubatam] (1 Samuel 17:18). What is [the meaning of] ‘arubatam? R. Joseph taught: [It refers to] matters that are shared [hame‘oravim] between him [the husband] and her [the wife].¹

And him you have slain with the sword of the children of Ammon (2 Samuel 12:9) [means,] Just as you are not punished for [soldiers killed by] the sword of the children of Ammon [in the course of the war], so too you are not punished for [the death of] Uriah the Hittite.

What is the reason [that David was not liable for the death of Uriah? Because Uriah] was a traitor against the throne. As he said to [David]: And my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields (2 Samuel 11:11).²

Rav said: When you analyze [the matter of] David, no [sin that he committed] is found in his [lifetime], except for that [involving] Uriah. As it is written: Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite (1 Kings 15:5).

Abaye the Elder raised a contradiction between [one statement] of Rav and [another statement] of Rav: Did Rav [actually] say this? Didn’t Rav say: David accepted a [slanderous] report?³ [This contradiction remains unresolved, and it is] difficult.

Translation adapted from the Noé Edition of the Koren Talmud Bavli.

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Notes

Words in brackets appear in the original translation unless otherwise noted.

[According to this interpretation of the verse, the men in David’s army sent their wives conditional divorces so that the wives could remarry if their husbands went missing in battle. Since Uriah had given Bathsheba a conditional divorce, David did not commit adultery when he slept with her.—Ed.]

[Referring to Joab as “lord” in the king’s presence is considered treason.—Ed.]

[Accepting a slanderous report is prohibited, which would seem to be another sin.—Ed.]

Credits

From Koren Talmud Bavli, Noé Edition, trans. Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz (Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019). Accessed via the William Davidson digital edition, sefaria.org. Adapted with permission of Koren Publishers Ltd.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.