|
HOUSMAIL HM023 28
March 1999 A HINT OF "SCANDAL" IN DAVID'S FAMILY "Behold, I
was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."
(Psalm 51:5) The
verse quoted above has long been one of the strongholds of those who promote
the doctrine of "Original Sin" in one or other of its various
forms. However,
for those of us who do NOT believe that doctrine is supported by the rest of
Scripture, it is far more logical to assume that the verse has a different
meaning. We
have all heard the phrase "living in sin". And we all know that in
plain English, it means that two parties are living together without benefit
of wedlock. To be "conceived in sin" is to be born as a result of
such a liaison. If
we bypass the "invented theology" of "original sin", it
is far more logical to take the verse at face value and assume that there may
have been some "scandal" associated with the circumstances of
David's birth. We
find some evidence which tends to support that in some of the snippets of
genealogical information which are given about David and his family. From
1 Samuel 17:12 we
learn that David is one of eight brothers. 1
Chronicles 2:13-16 names seven, as well
as two sisters, Zeruiah, and Abigail. The
sons of Zeruiah include Joab and Abishai and Asahel. Abishai was with David
in exile. 1 Samuel 26:6. Joab, Abishai, and Asahel all became leaders in David's army.
This probably means that although nephews of David, they were of a similar
age, and that therefore David's two sisters were much older than David. Then
in 2 Samuel 17:25 we
learn that in fact Zeruiah and Abigail were only David's HALF SISTERS. Their
father was Nahash ..... not Jesse! Nahash
was an Ammonite King who had "dealt loyally with David". (2 Samuel 10:2) It seems reasonable
to speculate that this is the same Nahash who was the father of Zeruiah and
Abigail. If David's two half-sisters were in fact the daughters of this
Nahash, then Joab, Abishai, and Asahel were his grandsons. So of course, it
could be expected that Nahash would have a strong incentive to "deal
loyally with David" for the sake of his daughters and grandsons. All
of that suggests a "hint of scandal" in the circumstances of
David's birth. His mother had two daughters by Nahash, before David was born.
Nahash was still living when she bore David to Jesse. What
were the rest of the circumstances? Alas ...... There are too many things
left unsaid, to go any further. Some of the unanswered questions include: *
Was David's mother a
"divorcee"? *
Or was she perhaps a
Jewish captive of war, a slave and concubine in the house of Nahash, who
later been "rescued", or set free? *
Is it possible that
she was an Ammonite? (See Deuteronomy 23:3 *
Was she perhaps
Jesse's second wife? Or not married to Jesse at all? *
Were David's seven
brothers, actually only half-brothers? *
Is any of that the
reason why, when Samuel asked to meet Jesse's sons, David was not called? *
Does it have anything
to do with the reason why David was kept away from the rest of the family,
tending the flocks? *
Does it contribute to
the apparent antagonism of his oldest brother towards him? While we must leave those puzzling questions unanswered,
there is certainly enough "hint of scandal" there, to provide a
reasonable explanation for David's statement that he was "brought forth
in iniquity and conceived in sin". And it is far more intellectually satisfying than the MYTH of
"Original Sin"! Allon |