King David and The Sanctity of Life
Recently I’ve been studying the kingship of David, and throughout David’s life one quality sticks out. David placed an extremely high value on the sanctity of human life. Often, we equate that phrase with the unborn, as well we should, but David’s value for life did not stop with the unborn. He did not delight in death as many kings did, in fact on many occasions he spared the lives of his enemies.
In 1 Samuel 24 David was on the run from Saul, who was trying to kill him. Saul came into a cave to rest, not knowing that David and his men were hiding in the back of the cave. Despite the urging of his men, David spares Saul’s life and instead cuts a piece of his robe. Saul was king and even in war, David knew better than to touch God’s anointed.
In 2 Samuel 1 After a battle with the Amalekites, David receives word of Saul’s death. He finds out that Saul was wounded and had asked this soldier to kill him, to put him out of his misery and that this soldier had done so. David mourned for Saul and had that soldier put to death for taking a man’s life. David viewed assisted suicide as God does – as murder.
In 2 Samuel 3 After Saul’s death, some tribes recognized Saul’s son Ishbosheth as king, and some recognized David. Ishbosheth’s army captain, Abner, had decided to defect and was joining David’s side. David’s army captain, Joab, didn’t believe Abner, and stabbed him. Instead of being happy, David placed a curse on Joab and his future generations. Shortly after this, Ishbosheth was also killed, and David had his murderers put to death as well. David was not okay with senseless killing.
In 2 Samuel 9 Though the custom was for a king to kill off all the surviving relatives of the previous king, David sought out Mephibosheth, a disabled relative of Saul, and invited him to dine at his table – a prestigious honor. When many in that day would not even look at a disabled person, David spared his life, showed kindness to him, and valued his input.
We know that later in David’s life he had a gross failure in this area. Uriah’s murder was a low point in David’s life, and David was judged for his sin. But over and over David was shown to be a defender of life.
He recognized the law that God gave to Noah in Genesis 9: Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image.
God takes murder seriously because it is an attack on the image of God himself. Every human is created in the image of God. The unborn, the disabled, the wicked, the righteous, every life is precious.