David, Israel’s greatest king, had a colorful life, one of the most colorful (and saddest) incidents being his adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his military men.
The king (who already had several wives) saw her bathing, fell in lust, and summoned her to him.
Soon after she was pregnant with David’s child, to cover himself David brought her husband, Uriah, home for a furlough. But Uriah literally slept on the stoop instead of with his wife.
David had Uriah sent to the thick of fighting—where he was killed.
Nathan, David’s court prophet, spun the king a fable about a poor man with a pet lamb—which was selfishly taken away by a rich neighbor. David, a man of strong emotions, reacted to the tale with gusto: “The man who has done this shall surely die!” Nathan, spokesman for a righteous God, responded, “You are the man!” Nathan foretold that David’s sin would result in his own wives being taken, and the child by Bathsheba would die.
The story is beautifully told in 2 Samuel 12.
