Jacob Chanikuzhy

Extramarital relationships are often considered personal affairs, yet they have, at times, significantly influenced history. It may surprise many to learn that even a church – the Anglican Church – was “born” out of an extramarital relationship. King Henry VIII of England had been married to Catherine of Aragon for 16 years when he fell in love with Anne Boleyn. The king requested the Pope to allow him a divorce to marry Anne. The Pope refused, and Henry VIII severed his relationship with the Catholic Church and declared the independence of the Church of England, of which he appointed himself as head.
The long war between the Greeks and the Trojans was the result of the extramarital liaison between Paris of Troy and Helen. Many speculate that, behind the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, his extramarital relationship played a role. Figures such as Mark Antony and Cleopatra (Rome), Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine (France), Catherine the Great and Grigory Potemkin (Russia), Prince Charles and Camilla (England), and Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (US) are just a few names linked with illicit extramarital affairs. Although Thailand and Denmark are considered the most “adulterous” nations where infidelity is rampant, statistics on extramarital relationships can never give accurate results due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Considering the vastness of the biblical literature, the stories of adultery in the strict sense are relatively sparse in the biblical books. Although the stories of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38), and the story of the woman caught in adultery (John 8,1-11) are found in the OT and the NT respectively, the adultery of King David with Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, is the most infamous instance of adultery in the bible (2 Samuel 11).
How could David, the King of Israel, commit such a heinous act? The downfall of David illustrates how power can corrupt. As the mighty ruler of Israel, he might have believed himself entitled to do whatever he wanted. His actions, committed with impunity, reveal the dangerous allure of unchecked authority. In fact, the sense of impunity is the biggest force that encourages one to commit atrocities. First, David committed adultery. When he knew that Bathsheba was pregnant by him, he called back Uriah from the war front and asked him to go home and relax, hoping that Uriah would engage in sexual relations with his wife. In that case, it would be easy to pass off the fatherhood of the child to Uriah. However, Uriah refused to go home because, as a disciplined soldier, he would never have sex with his wife during the war. Some think that Uriah deliberately refused to go home because he might have heard from the courtiers of David’s palace about the recent visit of his wife in the palace. Uriah may have had doubts about what transpired between David and Bathsheba. When David’s plot to escape scot-free from his betrayal of Uriah failed, he hatched another plot to kill Uriah. Thus, David’s passion for Bathsheba made him an adulterer, manipulator, and murderer.
The fact that the scandalous story of the adultery of King David, the archetype of the Messiah himself, found a place in the Sacred Scriptures of the Jews and Christians is mind-blogging. The author of 2 Samuel chose not to gloss over David’s sins, despite recognizing him as a man after God’s own heart. Here we find the honesty and transparency of the biblical authors. They did not want to sweep under the rug the unpleasant truth concerning their powerful leaders. By narrating the miserable fall of David, the author may have intended to warn his readers about the perils of power and to show that no matter how elevated one’s status, one is not immune to temptations and sin. The sacred author also teaches that confession of sins, rather than concealment, truly heals the wounds of both the sinner and the sinned against.
While King David proved unfaithful in marriage, Jesus, the Son of David, epitomized faithfulness as the bridegroom of the Church. Ours is a church that upholds strict moral standards of fidelity for married couples. The question arises: how faithful is the church herself to her bridegroom? If Christ were to apply for a divorce from the church citing cruelty, adultery, and desertion, would he not be granted one?