In Front | The Adulteries of King David and a U.S. President

December 19, 1998: On this day, President Bill Clinton was impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives, setting the stage for a Senate trial. The two charges against him were perjury and obstruction of justice. These charges against him related to sexual contact between the president and a member of his staff, Monica Lewinsky.

Over the many months during which the country debated Clinton’s behavior, many references were made in the media to King David and Bathsheba—including by the President himself. The President quoted Psalm 51, a psalm traditionally associated with David’s confession of his adulterous affair with Bathsheba. In a speech in which Clinton stated, “I have sinned,” he went on to refer to a “broken spirit” from Psalm 51:17: “what my Bible calls a broken spirit, an understanding that I must have God’s help to be the person I want to be.”

Clinton was not alone in making this allusion. Many others, on both sides of the debate, made comparisons between Clinton and the story of King David and Bathsheba. Regardless of what you think of the politics or the motives of former President Clinton, the allusions to King David and Bathsheba during the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal shows just how much the Bible and its stories continue to be a cultural point of reference. 

Reference: Brian Knowlton and International Herald Tribune, “’I Sinned,’ He Says in Apology That Includes Lewinsky: Clinton Vows He Will Stay and Fight,” New York Times, Sept. 12, 1998.