Yes,  I’m not sure what the point was exactly either.  BTW, wasn’t Michal David’s wife before Saul gave her away after David fled from him?

I was just hoping people would click through on the Romans 4:4-8 link and say ‘A-ha!’

Those verses say:

<i>4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”</i>

So yes, Lucy, we are all by nature nasty sleazy whatsits; no need to follow anyone’s example when it comes to that.

Where David was distinctive (although not unique—Romans 4 points to another fine sleazebag, namely Abraham) is that he acknowledged his sin and looked to the one who would credit him righteousness apart from works—God alone.

<i>That’s</i> the example of David that we should be following!

Sorry for any confusion, and as they say in the classics, “Do not commit adultery”.

I do think we’re prone to cut David in particular way too much slack and to give him the benefit of the doubt because God, in His grace, used (very) ordinary men to do extraordinary things. If we read these stories without a pedestal mentality, David’s sinful humanity is evident all over the place—even later in his life. Which, of course, makes God’s mercy and grace only that much more overwhelming! I find that people are relieved when they hear that we don’t need to excuse David in the least for his bad behavior, even though it WAS David.

[I think also that the willingness of Scripture to canonize these stories of its “heroes” is an amazing testimony to its truthfulness in other areas as well!]

hmmmm… in 1Kings 11:6 David gets a clean bill of health:
“So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done.”
So may be Romans is right and at least in regard to following the LORD completely we should imitate David?