AN ANALOGY TOLD TO KING DAVID: I LOVE EWE

(II Samuel 11)

David was serving as king,

Of the whole Israelite nation.

Though he had served with integrity,

One day he succumbed to temptation.

He slept with Bathsheba, another man’s wife,

Then learned she would bear his child.

David tried to cover his sin,

So they would not be reviled.

The husband’s name was Uriah,

A brave and honorable guy.

But David took no pity on him,

When he sent him out to die.

A war was going on;

Future gossip could be stilled,

If Uriah was sent to the front of the war,

Where he would surely be killed.

The Lord sent Nathan to David,

With a story meant to chastise.

The whole point of the allegory,

Was to open David’s eyes.

There were two men in a certain town —

One rich, the other poor.

The poor man had one little lamb;

The rich one had sheep galore.

The poor man had purchased the lamb.

He nurtured it while it grew.

The lamb shared his food and his cup.

He could truly say “I love ewe.”

A traveler came to the rich man’s home;

The custom was to feed a guest.

So the rich man followed the custom,

Though he did not feed him his best.

In fact, he saved his own sheep,

And took the poor man’s pet.

When he fed the lamb to the traveler,

The poor man was very upset.

After David heard the story,

He did everything but cry.

He angrily said, “As sure as God lives,

The man deserves to die!”

“He should pay for the lamb four times,”

David fumed while his clueless mouth ran.

After David pronounced his judgment,

Nathan cried, “You are that man!”

Nathan continued his message,

Also from the Lord.

God had saved him from Saul and made him king,

Both facts which David had ignored.

Nathan spelled out what David had done;

His secrets were brought to light.

The Lord sent calamity to his house;

Things would never be right.

David repented of his sin,

Which the Lord God did forgive.

But the punishment for his sin remained:

His son to be born would not live.

Becky Wall