While Joab was warring against the Ammonites, David one evening saw from the roof of his house a woman bathing. She was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. He sent for her and committed adultery with her, and sent a letter to Joab that he should set Uriah where the battle was fiercest, that he might fall by the hand of the Ammonites. Joab obeyed his lord, and Uriah was killed. When David got Joab’s message about this he said: The sword devoureth one as well as another. When the time of mourning had passed for Bathsheba, he took her to wife. But the deed that David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
The Lord sent the prophet Nathan unto David, and he said: There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing save one little lamb, which did eat of his morsel and drink of his cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, but took the poor man’s only lamb, and dressed it for the wayfaring man. And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said: The man that did this is a son of death, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold. Nathan answered: Thou art the man! Uriah hast thou smitten with the sword of the Ammonites, and his wife hast thou taken to be thy wife. David humbled himself before the Lord and said: O God, create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou hast no pleasure in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. And the Lord forgave him. But the son that Bathsheba bore him soon died; and much sorrow came upon David in his old age. (2 Sam. 11-12.)
[37. The Revolt of Absalom]
Absalom, a son of David, was the comeliest man in Israel. There was no blemish on him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Although his father loved him greatly, he conspired to be king in his father’s stead. He would stand beside the road, and when any one came and would bow down before him, he embraced him and kissed him, and thus stole the hearts of the men of Israel from his father. He conspired with Ahithophel, David’s counsellor, and came with an army against Jerusalem, and David was forced to flee from his son. Ahithophel’s counsel was to pursue David immediately; but Hushai, David’s friend, advised Absalom to wait until he could raise a larger army. The Lord, wishing to bring destruction upon Absalom, caused Ahithophel’s good advice to be rejected, and Ahithophel went and hanged himself. David thus gained time to raise an army. He set Joab over it, and commanded him saying: Deal gently with the young man! There was a great battle in a forest. Absalom was compelled to flee, and riding under an oak, his head was caught in its boughs. The mule on which he rode ran away, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth. Joab ran and thrust three javelins through his heart. When David heard of this he wept and lamented: O Absalom, my son, would I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son, my son!—Some years later David died and Solomon, the son of Bathsheba, became king. (2 Sam. 15-18; 1 Kings 1-2.)
[38. Solomon]
God appeared unto Solomon in a dream and said: Ask what I shall give thee. Solomon asked for wisdom. Shortly after two women came to him. They dwelt together, and each had given birth to a child. As one of them had in the night overlaid her child so that it died, she arose and took the child of the other, and laid her own in its place. Both now asserted: I am mother of the living child. Solomon said: Fetch me a sword! When the sword was brought, he said: Divide the child in two, and give half to one and half to the other. Then the one cried: Give her the child, and do not divide it. The other said: Divide it, so it shall be neither mine nor thine. Then Solomon said: Give the child to her who wills that it shall live, for she is the mother. All Israel heard the judgment and feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him.—Solomon was wiser than all other men, and the fame of his wisdom spread abroad, and the queen of Sheba came to hear him. He spoke 3000 proverbs, and his songs were 1005; he wrote of trees, from the cedar that grows on Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he wrote of beasts of the field, of birds, of creeping things and of fishes. He had peace round about and all Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and fig tree. He traded with distant lands and gathered gold and silver and precious stones in great abundance. On Mount Moriah in Jerusalem he built a magnificent temple instead of the Tabernacle, and put the Ark in the Holy of Holies. When the temple was finished, Solomon knelt down and prayed: O Lord, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee; how much less this house that I have builded! Yet hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling place, every humble prayer that shall be sent up to Thee from this house! And when a stranger that is not of Israel shall come and pray towards this house, then hear Thou his prayers also!
Solomon did not continue faithful to the end. He had taken many heathen women to be his wives, and when he was old they turned his heart, so that he built altars to the abominable idols of the heathens. And the people murmured because of heavy taxes and burdens. (1 Kings 3-11.)
[39. The Kingdom Is Divided]
(975 years before Christ.)
When Solomon was dead, all Israel came together and said to his son Rehoboam: Thy father made our yoke heavy, make thou it lighter, and we will make thee king. Rehoboam first took counsel from the old men, who had been the counsellors of his father. They said: If thou wilt hearken to the people this day they will serve thee all thy days. Then he consulted the young men who had grown up with him, and he answered according to their counsel: My father’s yoke was heavy, mine shall be heavier still; my father chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions. At this answer the people were provoked, and ten tribes chose Jeroboam for king, and only Judah and Benjamin clung to Rehoboam for David’s sake.—Samaria became the capital of the ten tribes, or the kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem the capital for the two tribes, or the kingdom of Judah. (1 Kings 12: 1-24.)