King David - Ethical Dilemma

Paper #1

The Downfall of King David

The story that I will be sharing is a biblical story from the Old Testament about King David. David was born during the time Saul was crowned first King of Israel. He was young and soon he was able to authenticate himself as a valiant warrior by killing Goliath, a Philistine warrior at the age of 16. Throughout the years he became prestigious among the people of Israel and soon after the death of Saul, the King of Israel, David was appointed as the new King of Israel in the name of God. According to the bible, God viewed and pronounced David as “a man after my own heart.” Initially he was seen as someone who would follow God’s commandments therefore ruling the land of Israel for thousands of years. During his rule, his army was fighting against the Ammonites, a group of people who were seeking to bring the people of Israel to their knees. David’s right hand and most trusted warrior was a man named Uriah. He was the husband of a female named Bathsheba. Both of them were loyal to each other and very much in love.

One spring when David’s army went into battle against their enemies, David decided to stay home. He was walking around his palace and saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah bathing and began to have sexual desires. Having sexual desires about a wedded woman or merely any woman who wasn’t his wife was against the commandments that God told David to follow. Instead of following God’s rules he decided to send a messenger to bring Bathsheba to him during the night. David and Bathsheba ended up sleeping together which was a very bad sin according to the commandments of God, this sin was labeled as adultery. Days later, Bathsheba sent a message to David telling him that she had gotten pregnant. David, thinking he could undo his bad decision, he called a messenger and told him to bring Uriah home. Once Uriah got back home, David suggested Uriah to rest beside his beloved wife. He wanted him to do that due to the reason no one...