King David and The Family

In my earlier post on Jeff Sharlet's book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism At the Heart of American Power I briefly mentioned that King David is someone that the members of the Family sometimes talk about. I wrote,

This is why Mark Sanford referenced King David during a press conference about his recent affair. Remember that David was not at all a nice man - he had an affair and had his mistress's husband murdered, but God did not condemn him for that.

A reader e-mailed me about this, saying,

I just read your blog post about “The Family.” It seems clear to me that like many groups throughout the world (religious or not) they have misinterpreted some fundamental truths about the values that they claim to adhere to. I have one serious issue with what your wrote about the book. You mentioned that Mark Sanford referenced King David and that David was not condemned by God for his affair and the murder he committed. This is completely false.

“⁷ Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. ⁸ I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. ⁹ Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. ¹⁰ Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'

¹¹ "This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. ¹² You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' " 2 Samuel 7-12

If you continue to read after this point God does bring about the things that He promised to David because of his sin. It is clear in the Bible that God does not allow the rulers that He puts in positions of authority to make up their own laws and rules. David is just one of many (nearly all) of the Kings of Israel who were immoral and were punished by God because of that immorality.

And I replied:

That interpretation of King David is the Family's, not mine. Jeff Sharlet went to the Family's 'Ivanwald' house on C street undercover and sat in for a conversation about King David. To quote from Sharlet's book (p.36)

"King David," David Coe [Doug Coe's son] said. "That's a good one. David. Hey, What would you say made King David a good guy?" He giggled, not from nervousness but from barely concealed delight.
"Faith?" Beau [a pseudonomyous Ivanwald resident] said. "His faith was so strong?"
"Yeah." David nodded as if he hadn't heard that before. "Hey, you know what's interesting about King David?" From the blank stares of the others, I could see that they did not. Many didn't even carry a full Bible, preferring a slim volume of New Testament Gospels and Epistles and Old Testament Psalms, respected but seldom read. Others had the whole book, but the gold gilt on the pages of the first two-thirds remained undisturbed. "King David," David Coe went on, "liked to do really, really bad things." He chuckled. "Here's this guy who slept with another man's wife - Bathsheba, right? - and then basically murdered her husband. And this guy is one of our heroes." David shook his head. "I mean, Jimminy Christmans, God likes this guy! What," he said, "is that all about?"
"Is it because he tried?" asked Bengt [another Ivanwald resident, fake name again]. "He wanted to do the right thing?" ...
"That's nice, Bengt," David said. "But it isn't the answer Anyone else?"
"Because he was chosen," I [Jeff Sharlet] said. For the first time David looked my way.
"Yes," he said, smiling. "Chosen. Interesting set of rules, isn't it?" He turned to Beau. "Beau, let's say I hear you raped three little girls. And now here you are at Ivanwald. What would I think of you, Beau?"
Beau, given to bellowing Ivanwald's daily call to sports like a bull elephant, shrank into the cushions. "Probably that I'm pretty bad?"
"No, Beau." David's voice was kind. "I wouldn't." He drew Beau back into the circle with a stare that seemed to have its own gravitational pull. Beau nodded, brow furrowed, as if in the presence of something profound, "Because," David continued, "I'm not here to judge you. That's not my job. I'm here for only one thing. Do you know what that is?"
Understanding blossomed in Beau's eyes. "Jesus?"

Yes, these folks have a different understanding of the bible than you do. Yes, I agree with you that they are wrong and that they do not have divine authority to make up their own laws and rules. But the Family doesn't see it that way, they think that the common morality in the bible is only for the commoners and that they are exempt because they are God's chosen. These men are wrong and they are evil. This is why I encourage you to do what you can to learn about them and expose them. I also encourage you to be skeptical when you hear a politician say, "God has chosen me to do this."