Interview with God: what do you think of oaths?
Before Bathsheba, David had written lots of psalms, for example, Psalms 19-23 (as a young man), 57 (written while fleeing from Saul in a cave), 101 (shortly after he took the throne).
He had protagonized many miracles such as killing the lion and the bear with his hands, and slaying giant Goliath after he fell with a single stone.
He had witnessed many miracles such as:
1. The Ark of the Covenant caused tumors and death among the enemy (the Philistines), leading to its eventual return to Israel (1 Samuel 5:6-12; 1 Samuel 6:1-12).
2. The power of Spirit of the Lord came upon him, when prophet Samuel anointed him in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:13).
3. When Saul was searching to murder David, God delivered him into David’s hands on two occasions: first, while deffecating alone in the very cave where David was hiding with his followers (1 Samuel 24:1-7), and later, while Saul was sleeping in his camp (1 Samuel 26:7-12).
4. The sound of marching in the tops of the balsam (mulberry) trees, signaled that God had gone out before David to strike the Philistine army at Rephaim (2 Samuel 5:22-25).
5. Uzzah was struck dead by God, for touching the Ark to steady it, while David was bringing it to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:6-7): how dare the lay touch the Eucharist?
After he was anointed king of all Israel “the Lord gave David victory wherever he went” (2 Samuel 8:6, 14):
1. The Conquest of Jerusalem
David and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites. Despite their taunts that "the blind and the lame" could repel him, David captured the fortress of Zion, which became the "City of David" (2 Samuel 5:6-9; 1 Chronicles 11:4-7).
2. Double Victory over the Philistines at Rephaim
- Baal Perazim: After inquiring of the Lord, David attacked the Philistines and defeated them so decisively he claimed God "broke through" his enemies like bursting water (2 Samuel 5:17-21).
- The Valley of Rephaim: In a second battle, following the divine signal in the tree tops, David struck down the Philistines from Gibeon all the way to Gezer (2 Samuel 5:22-25).
3. Subjugation of the Philistines
David defeated the Philistines again and subdued them, taking "Metheg Ammah" (often identified as the capital city of Gath) from their control (2 Samuel 8:1; 1 Chronicles 18:1).
4. The Conquest of Moab
David defeated the Moabites and measured them with a line; they became his subjects and brought tribute to Israel (2 Samuel 8:2; 1 Chronicles 18:2).
5. Victory over Hadadezer (Zobah) and the Arameans
- Kingdom of Zobah: David defeated Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, capturing 1,000 chariots, 7,000 charioteers, and 20,000 foot soldiers (2 Samuel 8:3-4; 1 Chronicles 18:3-4).
- When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, David killed 22,000 of them and placed garrisons in their territory (2 Samuel 8:5-6; 1 Chronicles 18:5-6).
6. The Defeat of Edom
David became even more famous after striking down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. He placed garrisons throughout Edom, making the entire nation subject to him (2 Samuel 8:13-14; 1 Chronicles 18:12-13).
7. Victory over the Ammonite-Aramean Coalition
Before the siege of Rabbah (the backdrop of the Bathsheba incident), David’s generals Joab and Abishai defeated a massive coalition of Ammonites and Aramean mercenaries from Beth-rehob, Zobah, and Maakah (2 Samuel 10:1-14; 1 Chronicles 19:1-15).
8. Final Rout of the Arameans at Helam
Hadadezer gathered a new Aramean force under Shophak. David personally led the entire army across the Jordan to Helam, where he killed 700 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, forcing the Aramean kings to make peace and serve Israel (2 Samuel 10:15-19; 1 Chronicles 19:16-19).
All that led to pride and overconfidence about being an undefeatable King.
2nd Book of Kings (2 Samuel), 11
1 And it came to pass at the return of the year, at the time when kings go forth to war, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel, and they spoiled the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabba: but David remained in Jerusalem.
2 In the mean time it happened that David arose from his bed after noon, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and he saw from the roof of his house a woman washing herself, over against him: and the woman was very beautiful.
3 And the king sent, and inquired who the woman was. And it was told him, that she was Bethsabee the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Urias the Hethite.
4 And David sent messengers, and took her, and she came in to him, and he slept with her: and presently she was purified from her uncleanness:
5 And she returned to her house having conceived.
https://www.drbo.org/chapter/10011.htm
That is a classic chain of sins: venial sins pile up and lead to mortal ones, ending in murder:
1. David did not go to war and stayed behind in Jerusalem while sending Joab and the army to fight the Ammonites, despite it being the spring, the traditional "time when kings go off to war". This decision reflected a decline in his spiritual vigilance and complacency, leading to idleness, pride and neglect of duty.
2. He arose from bed after noon: this proves that he was staying late at night, possibly partying (glutony, alcohol, sex?), instead of sleeping well to fulfill his duties as King in the battlefield.
3. He was so idle that went to waste his time on the roof for sightseeing.
4. When he saw the naked woman, instead of turning his eyes, he kept watching, until becoming so excited, that despite knowing that she was married, he ordered her hidnapping.
5. He became so coward, that he wouldn't even do it himself and forced others to become accomplices in his raping of Bathsheba, just as he later forced others to participate in the murder of Urias to hide his crime. It was a power rape. Batsheba was completely innocent:
- She was bathing to "purify herself from her uncleanness" (menstruation), indicating she was following religious law.
- David was on the palace roof—the highest point in Jerusalem. Bathsheba was likely in an enclosed courtyard or on her own roof, assuming privacy and unaware she was being watched from the king's unique height.
- David "sent and took her" (laqach), a verb often used for forceful seizure or taking possession without regard for the other person’s will/consent.
- Bathsheba loved Urias: “And the wife of Urias heard that Urias her husband was dead, and she mourned for him.” (2 Sam 11, 26)
- When the prophet Nathan confronted David, he used a story of a rich man stealing a poor man's only lamb. This portrays Bathsheba as a passive victim (the lamb) rather than a co-conspirator
- As the absolute monarch, David’s "summons" was an royal command. If Bathsheba resisted it, she could be facing:
* Death penalty, typical for high-level defiance or perceived rebellion against a royal decree. For example, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to obey Nebuchadnezzar’s decree (a form of collective summons to worship), the penalty was immediate execution by fire.
* Forfeiture of property: the state seizing the individual’s land and assets.
* Banishment: being cast out from the community or the "Divine Presence" of the land. For example, when Queen Vashti refused King Ahasuerus's summons to appear at his banquet, she was immediately deposed and permanently banished from his presence (some traditions suggest she was even executed).
* Punishment of her family including her husband, a soldier under David's command, putting Uriah’s life or career in immediate jeopardy.
* Social punishment: David was the "Anointed of the Lord." For a subject, his word carried divine weight, making a refusal seem not only like a legal crime but a religious transgression.
But there’s another important lesson in this story.
2nd Book of Kings (2 Samuel), 12
1 And the Lord sent Nathan to David: and when he was come to him, he said to him: There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many sheep and oxen.
3 But the poor man had nothing at all but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and which had grown up in his house together with his children, eating of his bread, and drinking of his cup, and sleeping in his bosom: and it was unto him as a daughter.
4 And when a certain stranger was come to the rich man, he spared to take of his own sheep and oxen, to make a feast for that stranger, who was come to him, but took the poor man's ewe, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5 And David's anger being exceedingly kindled against that man, he said to Nathan: As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this is a child of death.
https://www.drbo.org/chapter/10012.htm
The oxen are castrated male cattle (steers), just as eunuchs (castrated men) guarding David’s harem of wives. Despite the Mosaic law advising against kings multiplying wives (Deuteronomy 17:17), David had eight wives Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, and then Bathsheba, who bore him sons while he reigned in Hebron and Jerusalem, though he took more wives (2 Samuel 5:13) and at least 10 concubines in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15:16; 2 Samuel 16:21–22; 2 Samuel 20:3; 1 Kings 1:1-4). Interestingly, only the descent of two of Bathsheba’s sons (Solomon and Nathan) is known to develop until Jesus time.
So it’s clear that the oxen are the eunuchs, and the sheep, the wives, being the rich, king David.
Who’s the stranger? A demon.
David summoned a demon by looking and lustfully desiring naked Bathsheba. Instead of quenching his horny thirst (devil’s horn) with his many wives, he took the poor man’s lamb at the request of the demon, proving that a smaller sin is a leash to a demon who then pulls the reins whenver he wants to increase the power of temptation towards a bigger sin.
Jesus said:
Mathew 5:28
28 But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.s It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.
Pornography is a mortal sin leading to even worse mortal sins: masturbation, premarital sex, unnatural sex, loveless sex with the spouse out of heat, “contraception” (which is in fact abortifacient), infidelity, and abortion. Demons demand a sacrificial victim, the more innocent, the more power to the demon. More often than not, the preborn are the sacrificial lamb at the demonic altar of lust.
All those sins are part of the culture of death. That’s why David said that whoever did that was a “child of death”.
What did David do after he realized how much evil he had commited?
The first step is repentance from the heart, knowing that each sin crucifies Jesus, because He paid at the Cross for each sin of the future, with His most precious Blood.
Then, penance (fasting, mortification, avoiding meat):
2nd Book of Kings (2 Samuel), 12
13 And David said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David: The Lord also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die.
16 … and David kept a fast, and going in by himself lay upon the ground.
17 And the ancients of his house came, to make him rise from the ground: but he would not, neither did he eat meat with them.
18 And it came to pass on the seventh day that the child died ...
20 … he went into the house of the Lord: and worshipped ...
22 … I fasted and wept ...
https://www.drbo.org/chapter/10012.htm
We could add: reparation through the Mass, praying for help whenever tempted, avoiding pride and occasion of sin.
Vice = voluntary submission and permanent attachment to a demon, who holds the chains to that particular temptation.
One way to get rid of it is total consecration to Mary, for example, according to the method of Doctor of the Church, St. Louis Grignion de Montfort.
Also, there are sacramentals which require consecration, like the Brown Scapular or the belt of St. Joseph.
Another way, is a pilgrimage to a Marian sanctuary.
The Bible says that prayer and fasting are necessary to cast certain demons out (Matthew 17:21 and Mark 9:29). Fasting weakens the body but also the lash to Satan.
Our Lady of Medjugorje asked to recover the tradition of bread&water fasting all Wednesdays (the day of Judas' treason) and Fridays (Crucifixion), among the 5 spiritual pebbles by which, us, like David, will defeat Goliath (demon):
1. Daily Rosary
2. Daily Eucharist (Mass)
3. Monthly Confession (at least)
4. Daily Bible Reading
5. Fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Also, works of mercy harvest so many graces, that demons flee.
It’s like going to the gym and eating well: the more, the stronger the soul against temptation.
Ave María purísssima!
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The Church is undergoing a huge crisis, which was clearly shown by how the waged shepherds abandonned the sheep, without food and medicine (Mass, Sacraments), at the mercy of the wolf (Satan) during the lockdowns, with the insane excuse of locking down the healthy (cunninngly tagged as asymptomatic) to flatten a curve which was obviously not flattened in the first fortnight (2 weeks), and the next, and the next …
John 10
11 I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them.
13 This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep.
Bishops should have apologized after 2020 for denying Priests, Mass, Sacraments for no real reason: Johns Hopkins 18000-studies meta-analysis proved lockdowns useless, while Catholic epidemiologists had predicted the futility of quarantining the healthy (all falsely presumed to be asymptomatic with tainted PCR tests designed to give massive false positives by overcycling) and the lack of results was obvious because the curve never flattened after 2 weeks and the next 2 weeks and the next … year!
https://www.catholic365.com/article/26128/apologies-from-your-church.html
Not counting that the following article proves widespread corruption at the Vatican Bank (including investing in corporations supporting abortion and using their AI for unjust war and espionage of common people) and no other Catholic media picked it up:
Vatican Bank Supports Abortion
https://www.catholic365.com/article/58469/vatican-endorses-satan-corp.html
Don't tread on Me, says ... JESUS !
Eucharistic miracle proves we are ALL stepping on Jesus!
http://www.catholic365.com/article/29922/the-popes-hidden-miracle.html
https://www.catholic365.com/article/58312/tonguers-v-handers.html
On one hand, heretics deny the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic particles, with the false argument that they are too small, while on the other hand, they correctly believe in that a host can be consecrated with just one invisible atomic molecule of gluten (yet they don’t care about fake-consecration of so-callled “low-gluten hosts”, which have no gluten!):
Understanding parts per million. Low gluten Celiac hosts that are not capable of hosting Jesus:
https://www.catholic365.com/article/50945/vatican-error-low-gluten-hosts-that-cant-host-jesus.html
Sign appeal to Pope Leo XIV about Co-redemptrix and Mediatrix
Was Mary just another maiden?
https://www.catholic365.com/article/38948/its-all-about-mary.html
Mary’s physical presence in the Eucharist
https://www.catholic365.com/article/30587/cat-ai-mary-is-physically-present-in-the-eucharist.html
Virgin Mary’s body found ?!
https://www.catholic365.com/article/30567/virgin-marys-body-found.html
95% marriages null ?!
https://www.catholic365.com/article/30313/95-marriages-null-.html
The Plan to Destroy Marriage and Family
https://www.catholic365.com/article/11832/the-plan-to-destroy-marriage-and-family.html
This euthanasia will kill us all
https://www.catholic365.com/article/30553/euthanasia-links-to-abortion.html
Heretic evolution theories. Random-evolution theory is debunked by molecular biology, fossil records and the platypus. We need a new model and a Catholic framework for really-scientific non-heretic evolution theories:
Religions against aliens
https://www.catholic365.com/article/23051/if-you-find-an-et-run-.html
Carbon climate action is scientifically and morally wrong! War on carbon is war on life, which is a carbon cycle!
https://www.catholic365.com/article/23066/carbon-climate-change-wrong.html
Are we in the End Times?
https://www.catholic365.com/article/58605/are-we-in-the-end-times.html
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