Image: David Sees Bathsheba Bathing, James Tissot (1836-1902) / wikimedia
Weekly Bible Chapter: David: A Stay-At-Home King by Tzvi Sinensky
Published: September 22, 2026
The corrupting capacity to exercise the power of life and death at a distance.
In today’s chapter, David sleeps with Bathsheba, another man’s wife, gets her pregnant, tries and fails to cover up, sends the woman’s husband, Uriah, to certain death in war and finally marries Bathsheba.
It is beyond shocking. How could this man of faith, this sensitive musician and courageous warrior commit such a succession of vile acts?
A key clue lies in the story’s opening:
At the turn of the year, at the season when kings go out to battle, David sent Yoab with his officers and all Israel and they devastated Ammon, David remained in Jerusalem. Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal place and saw a woman bathing” (11:1-2).
No longer the leader who faced Goliath alone and who went out to war at the head of the people (as in chapter 5: 1-2), David now sends men to fight and die on his behalf while he stays safe in his palace, takes a nap in the afternoon and sleeps with another man’s wife. Malbim, a 19th century commentator, points out that it was David’s remaining in Jerusalem that opened the way to his sin.
Sending others to do his will is the leitmotif of this episode. The phrase “and David sent” occurs five times in our chapter; In addition, the word “send” appears twelve times. After sending his men to war, David sends messengers to bring him Bathsheba, sends a message to his general Joab to send him Uriah, sends another message to Joab to put Uriah in the front line of the battle where he will be killed, and finally sends men to bring Bathsheba, after Uriah’s death.
As a king at the height of his power, David can determine the fates of others at arm’s length. Through his retinue of servants and soldiers, he moves around and manipulate people – bringing Bathsheba, sending Uriah to his death, without his own direct involvement. David kills Uriah through cold-blooded messages without facing the horror of what he has done. His agency is concealed by the trappings of power. This corrupting capacity to exercise the power of life and death at a distance is, I suggest what makes David’s sin possible.
If so, then this helps explain the power of Nathan the prophet’s parable in chapter 12. Nathan tells David a simple story of a rich man with many flocks who seized the single lamb of a poor man to feed a visiting traveler. With this bare tale Nathan cuts through the convoluted connections between David and his deed and confronts him with his terrible responsibility.
Yedidya Sinclair is a Jerusalem-based rabbi and economist, and is Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon. Avraham Norin shared this piece from one of this week's 929 many posts.
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