Bathsheba [Proper 13B]
The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a Bathsheba Samuel warned them. He warned the people. A king, he said, will take and take and take. But the people wouldn’t listen. They wanted a king; they demanded a king; they voted for king. And so they got one. Elections do matter. The warning, in the context of 1 Samuel, seemed to be rather specific, seemed to pertain only to the reign of King Saul. Saul was the chosen one, their first king; initially everyone was excited; he was oozing with potential; he looked the part; he had great endorsements. But things devolved quickly. Saul took and took and took from the people; he exploited their loyalties; he neglected the Law of God. And early in his reign he had already become the very thing Samuel feared, the very thing about which he had warned the nation. But David, his replacement, he was different. He was a man after God’s own heart and so surely the old warnings of the prophet Samuel did not appl