The Secret Chord

Back in the palace after his interviews and reminiscences, Natan is told by Muwat that David slept last night with Batsheva, the wife of his loyal soldier Uriah. Natan goes to David first thing and finds him smiling. David explains that he was walking on the roof of the palace to catch the cool night air and to wrestle with the question of whether he still had worth as man. “What was I,” he says, “if I couldn’t fight and I couldn’t fuck?” (93). From there he sees Batsheva stripping naked to bathe on her roof and suddenly feels aroused at her beauty. He sends servants to summon her to his bed and then sends her home.

David dismisses the whole thing as a minor sin and assures Natan that everyone will keep it a secret, especially Batsheva herself, who “has the most to lose in this” (98). Neither man reflects on what the night may already have cost her. Natan is partially convinced at the time; as a narrator writing with the benefit of hindsight, he hints at the suffering that will follow. For now, the cheerful David once more acts like the decisive king that has been missing.