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41. David's Misfortune.
The first misfortune
was the painful loss of a child born to him by Bathsheba. While the
child was sick and slumbering towards his early death, David prayed
unceasingly that God would preserve his child, but he wept and would not
eat or drink in his great sorrow, no matter how much he was persuaded.
The child died, and no one had the heart to tell him the message of
death. They did not know the understanding and pious heart of their king.
But when his people were standing around him and talking quietly to each
other, and when he asked them, ‘Has the child died?’ and they answered,
‘Yes,’ he got up, washed and anointed himself in the Oriental manner
with fragrant ointments, and above all went to the temple to worship God,
in whose hands are the destinies of men. Afterwards he ate and drank at
his royal table and was as before. For he said, ‘I wept and fasted for
the child while he was alive, for I wondered whether God would have
mercy on me so that the child would live. Now that it is dead, what
shall I fast for? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he
will not come to me again.’
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