1 Kings 15:5 says 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.
This is a bit of an aside while talking about the line of kings downstream from David. The point in the aside is not to talk definitively about David but to make a comparison. But we should take this line as also inspired by the Holy Spirit. He says that David did not turn aside from the Lord.
Oh, except for the matter of Uriah.
What did that entail? Lustful, wondering eyes, adultery, disloyalty to a subordinate, the genesis of a conspiracy, implicating others in crime and finally, a king commanded murder. Just that.
What are we to make of this?
One, that the Bible is honest. It tells the entire story of David's life, including the preceding details, without pulling punches. The Bible is not excusing any of these heinous sins and there were both immediate and lasting consequences.
Two, that God is a God full of mercy and that one event, even a prolonged and deeply sinful event, does not define an entire life. David was a man after God's own heart and one that sinned in an egregious manner. The death penalty would have been appropriate for David and we do see something like the death and resurrection of David in the story of Absalom. David even went up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, (in the garden of Gethsemane?) as he is driven away from Jerusalem, dying? outside the city and then later returning as a new man.
God is gracious and forgives sins.
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