Around 990 b.c., a prophet walks into a royal court to confront a king about a slaughtered sheep. A monarch soon lies face down on the hard earth for seven days. The unyielding floor offers no warmth against the night air. Servants whisper in the corners of the stone palace. They harbor deep dread that the ruler might harm himself from sheer grief. A heavy tension hangs over the compound. Forgiveness arrives eventually to bring a quiet, exhausted relief.
Nathan exposes David over the murder of Uriah and the theft of Bathsheba. The king admits his guilt immediately. The Lord strikes the child born from this illicit union with severe illness. David refuses food and begs God for the boy to live. The infant dies on the seventh day. David gets up from the dirt, washes his body, and eats. He later travels east to the besieged city of Rabbah. Joab calls the king to finish the military campaign. He wants the final victory to belong to the throne.
The spoils of Rabbah include a massive gold crown stripped from a local idol. This headpiece contains precious stones and weighs seventy-five pounds. Placing this massive weight on a human neck requires immense physical strain. Absolute power crushes the men who try to hold it. A king commits murder for temporary pleasure and pays for it with blood. The captured gold sits heavy on a compromised ruler.
A man cannot bury his worst mistakes deep enough to stop them from growing into an early grave.
The captured city residents went to work with iron axes and brick molds. The royal line continued through a second son named Solomon to build a dynasty over the bones of the first.