Q&A with McGee
by Dr. J. Vernon McGee

Q: How Should We Respond to David's Relationship With Abishag?
Selected from our Questions and Answers program

A: This passage (1 Kings 1:1-4) is one that a great many sweep under the rug, but I hit it head on. I don't mind facing anything that's in the Word of God and talking about it. However, there are some things in there that reveal how degraded and depraved humanity can become. Let's read it: "Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat." This man here is in his dotage. I have a notion David didn't even know what was taking place. This is something his servants did. Though David was guilty of gross sin, don't blame this one on him! "Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat." It doesn't say that David even gave consent to this. He was senile at this time! Let's face it: David's an old man, and this was the test that proved it, by the way. "So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not." All this passage reveals is that David was a senile old man. I don't know why anyone should be hypersensitive to this passage. Sure it was wrong, but this was one sin that David was not guilty of. I think we need to look at it and face up to it just as it is in the Word of God. I wish that God's people today would face up to what the Word says in every instance and not shy away from it. I feel that you'd be a more comfortable Christian if you'd just face up to the realities of life as they really are. You and I are a part of a fallen race and we cannot assume any pious position.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008