David, Abigail and Bathsheba, nab al and Uriah: Transformations within a triangle

Abstract

In Part I, the paper offers an analysis of two narratives (1 Sam 25; 2 Sam 11) in which David is involved in a triangular relationship with another man and his wife. In the first narrative, both David and the woman (Abigail) are noble characters while the man (Nabal) behaves ignobly, but in the second these characteristics are reversed. David and the woman (Bathsheba) act badly, but the man acts well. In Part II, an attempt is made to see whether the confrontation between David and Uriah can be read coherently and consistently if it is supposed that Uriah knew what David was trying to achieve by sending him home to his wife, and David knew that Uriah knew. Although this reading allows a more complicated assessment of Uriah's character, it does not diminish the impression that he is a loyal and noble subject of the king. His loyalty, however, is married to a stern and uncompromising morality.