Inescapable Perspective and David’s Sin in 2 Samuel 11–12

Abstract

The variety of reading methods applied to 2 Samuel 11–12 have resulted in various interpretive debates. The variety of approaches, however, shares a consensus regarding David’s sin as his relationship with Bathsheba and/or his murder of Uriah. Yet these sins would not seem to justify the harsh judgment that results in the death of David’s first-born son. This study suggests that the narrator constructs an alternate sin of David. The analysis first attends to questions of the Deuteronomistic editors as an interpretive lens for uncovering David’s sin. The results of that analysis are then brought into conversation with narrative-literary reading methods, paying particular attention to perspective as a literary device. The study argues that approaching the text from two reading lenses solidifies David’s alternate sin and the real narrative justification for the death of David’s son.