Parable of the Ewe and King David

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

والصلاة والسلام على نبيه الامين

Allah says:

وَ ہَلۡ اَتٰٮکَ نَبَؤُا الۡخَصۡمِ ۘ اِذۡ تَسَوَّرُوا الۡمِحۡرَابَ

اِذۡ دَخَلُوۡا عَلٰی دَاوٗدَ فَفَزِعَ مِنۡہُمۡ قَالُوۡا لَا تَخَفۡ ۚ خَصۡمٰنِ بَغٰی بَعۡضُنَا عَلٰی بَعۡضٍ فَاحۡکُمۡ بَیۡنَنَا بِالۡحَقِّ وَ لَا تُشۡطِطۡ وَ اہۡدِنَاۤ اِلٰی سَوَآءِ الصِّرَاطِ

اِنَّ ہٰذَاۤ اَخِیۡ ۟ لَہٗ تِسۡعٌ وَّ تِسۡعُوۡنَ نَعۡجَۃً وَّ لِیَ نَعۡجَۃٌ وَّاحِدَۃٌ ۟ فَقَالَ اَکۡفِلۡنِیۡہَا وَ عَزَّنِیۡ فِی الۡخِطَابِ

قَالَ لَقَدۡ ظَلَمَکَ بِسُؤَالِ نَعۡجَتِکَ اِلٰی نِعَاجِہٖ ؕ وَ اِنَّ کَثِیۡرًا مِّنَ الۡخُلَطَآءِ لَیَبۡغِیۡ بَعۡضُہُمۡ عَلٰی بَعۡضٍ اِلَّا الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا وَ عَمِلُوا الصّٰلِحٰتِ وَ قَلِیۡلٌ مَّا ہُمۡ ؕ وَ ظَنَّ دَاوٗدُ اَنَّمَا فَتَنّٰہُ فَاسۡتَغۡفَرَ رَبَّہٗ وَ خَرَّ رَاکِعًا وَّ اَنَابَ

فَغَفَرۡنَا لَہٗ ذٰلِکَ ؕ وَ اِنَّ لَہٗ عِنۡدَنَا لَزُلۡفٰی وَ حُسۡنَ مَاٰبٍ

And has the story of the disputants reached thee when they climbed over the wall of the chamber? When they entered in upon David, and he was afraid of them. They said, “Fear not. [We are] two disputants; one of us has transgressed against the other; so judge between us with justice, and deviate not from the right course and guide us to the right way. This is my brother; he has ninety-nine ewes, and I have only one ewe. Yet he says, ‘Give it to me,’ and has been overbearing to me in his address.” [David] said, “Surely, he has wronged thee in demanding thy ewe [to add] to his own ewes. And certainly many partners transgress against one another, except those who believe and do good works; and these are but few.” And David perceived that We had tried him; so he asked forgiveness of his Lord, and fell down bowing in worship and turned [to Him]. So We forgave him that; and indeed, he had a position of nearness with Us and an excellent retreat (Sura 38:21-25)

This passage in the Quran is a strong indication that in order for Muslims to understand the Scripture revealed to Prophet Muhammad صلوات الله والسلام عليه they must be familiar with the Biblical narrative. According to that narrative, King David coveted the wife of one of his soldiers, Uriah the Hittite, whose name was Bathsheba. King David arranged for Uriah to be placed on the frontlines ensuring his death at the hands of the enemy, after which he secured marriage with Bathsheba, who later became the mother of King Solomon. This was undoubtedly an unethical act by King David, who already had many wives but sought to deprive poor Uriah of his only wife Bathsheba. It is this unethical act of King David which the Quran is certainly alluding to in narrating a story of two litigants who approached King David to judge for them their dispute over ewes. King David perceived this dispute as a Sign from Allah to remind him of how he had committed an act of injustice toward Uriah the Hittite, causing him to repent. The Parable of the Ewes is also mentioned in the Hebrew Bible but there is a discrepancy with the account given in the Quran. According to the Bible there were not really two litigants who approached King David directly, rather it was a parable narrated to King David by the Prophet Nathan: The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 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. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 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. 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.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” (2 Samuel 12:1-13)

Perhaps the Bible has some minor errors in relaying the historical context of this Parable of the Ewe. Apart from the element of the prophet Nathan which is absent in the Quranic narrative, the Biblical account also states that King David committed adultery with Bathsheba while Uriah was still alive and that in order to conceal her pregnancy he instructed Uriah to come back from the battlefield and spend time with his wife. We Muslims certainly find it a challenge to accept that someone like King David, who was in communion with God, could ever commit such a major sin. Nevertheless, the essence of the Biblical narrative—how King David acquired Bathsheba the wife of Uriah—must certainly be true because Allah in the Quran says We forgave him that (38:25) without directly or explicitly mentioning what “that” was. Without the Bible how can we possibly understand what the Quran is referring to in Sura 38:24-25? The classical Tafāsīr also paraphrase the Biblical account indicating that the early Muslims generally accepted it as the appropriate explanation for this Quranic passage.

In a Hadith which is considered weak Anas رضى الله عنه narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that David had looked at the woman [Bathsheba] and then ordered his army commander to send her husband [Uriah] when faced with the enemy toward the Ark of the Covenant where he was slain. Then David married the woman and the two Angels descended upon him – referring to the two litigants as mentioned in the Quran. David prostrated in repentance for forty days until the Angel Gabriel came to him and announced to him that Allah had forgiven him:

عَنْ أَنَسٍ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَقُولُ إِنَّ دَاوُدَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ حِينَ نَظَرَ إِلَى الْمَرْأَةِ قَطَعَ عَلَى بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَوْصَى صَاحِبَ الْجَيْشِ فَقَالَ إِذَا حَضَرَ الْعَدُوُّ تَضْرِبُ فُلانًا بَيْنَ يَدَيِ التَّابُوتِ وَكَانَ التَّابُوتُ فِي ذَلِكَ الزَّمَانِ يُسْتَنْصَرُ بِهِ مِنْ قُدِّمَ بَيْنَ يَدَيِ التَّابُوتِ لَمْ يَرْجِعْ حَتَّى يُقْتَلَ أَوْ يَنْهَزِمَ مِنْهُ الْجَيْشُ فَقُتِلَ وَتَزَوَّجَ الْمَرْأَةَ وَنَزَلَ الْمَلَكَانِ عَلَى دَاوُدَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ فَسَجَدَ فَمَكَثَ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً سَاجِدًا حَتَّى نَبَتَ الزَّرْعُ مِنْ دُمُوعِهِ عَلَى رَأْسِهِ فَأَكَلَتِ الْأَرْضُ جَبِينَهُ وَهُوَ يَقُولُ فِي سُجُودِهِ رَبِّ زَلَّ دَاوُدُ زَلَّةً أَبْعَدَ مِمَّا بَيْنَ الْمَشْرِقِ وَالْمَغْرِبِ رَبِّ إِنْ لَمْ تَرْحَمْ ضَعْفَ دَاوُدَ وَتَغْفِرْ ذُنُوبَهُ جُعِلَتْ ذَنْبُهُ حَدِيثًا فِي الْمَخْلُوقِ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ فَجَاءَ جِبْرِيلُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ مِنْ بَعْدِ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً فَقَالَ يَا دَاوُدُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ غَفَرَ لَكَ وَقَدْ عَرَفْتَ أَنَّ اللَّهُ عَدْلٌ لَا يَمِيلُ فَكَيْفَ بِفُلانٍ إِذَا جَاءَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَقَالَ يَا رَبِّ دَمِيَ الَّذِي عِنْدَ دَاوُدَ قَالَ جِبْرِيلُ مَا سَأَلْتَ رَبَّكَ عَنْ ذَلِكَ فَإِنْ شِئْتَ لافْعَلَنَّ فَقَالَ نَعَمْ فَفَرِحَ جِبْرِيلُ وَسَجَدَ دَاوُدُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ فَمَكَثَ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ ثُمَّ نَزَلَ فَقَالَ قَدْ سَأَلْتُ اللَّهَ يَا دَاوُدُ عَنِ الَّذِي أَرْسَلْتَنِي فِيهِ فَقَالَ قُلْ لِدَاوُدَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَجْمَعُكُمَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَيَقُولُ هَبْ لِي دَمَكَ الَّذِي عِنْدَ دَاوُدَ فَيَقُولُ هُوَ لَكَ فَيَقُولُ فَإِنَّ لَكَ فِي الْجَنَّةِ ما شئت ما اشتهيت عوضا

(Tafsir Ibn Abi Hatim: p.3239, #18344)