So, about King David...
(TW: sexual abuse and rape)

I find it interesting that people seem to wanna rush to using David as an example of repentance, conveniently overlooking how the very harm David inflicted upon Bathsheba he refused to punish in Amnon when he raped Tamar.

1/6

Yes, Absalom did his own dirt, but one thing he wasn’t wrong about at all was his dad’s responsibility to render justice in response to his son sexually abusing his daughter.

I can’t help but wonder if David failed to do that because in Amnon he saw himself.

2/6

And that’s why it’s disturbing to see powerful men rush to empathize with other powerful men caught in their practices of serial sexual abuse.

Yes, everybody sins.

No, not everybody fails to uphold justice when that sin occurs.

3/6

Not everyone kills the husband of the woman they raped.

Not everyone attempts to cover up their sin with an elaborate lie.

Not everyone turns a blind eye to sexual abuse and allows vulnerable women to mourn in isolation.

4/6

But to condemn that, for some powerful men, is to condemn themselves.

So be it.

Better to stand condemned in the light of truth and justice and plead for mercy than to seek cover in the shadows of self-righteousness and cultivate a culture of victimizing the vulnerable.

5/6

I know David repented.

I know God called him a man after his heart.

I also know David victimized a vulnerable woman and denied justice to his own daughter when she experienced the same.

And justice, even toward that for which we’ve been guilty, is still right.

6/6