David and Bathsheba Page #3

- Naturally.

A whole procession of them.

And every one of them

ravishingly beautiful.

I'm jealous of every one of them.

[SHEEP BLEATING]

[CLEARS THROAT]

Ah...

Uh, it's been a dry year.

The shepherds are driven early

to the wells.

Once, when I was a boy, we had a year

when even the wells went dry.

By midsummer we were slaughtering

sheep, saving only the ewe lambs.

That was the year

that I fought the wolves.

Tell me.

Well, they'd been made

desperate by hunger.

I fought them for eight hours

with my slingshot.

In the morning, six of them lay dead.

And you were only a boy.

[DAVID CHUCKLES]

Well, I was quite a hand

with the sling.

[BO Y HOOTING]

Here I'll show you.

DAVID:

May I try your sling?

That tree. Watch.

Very well,

if you think you can do better.

[THUDS]

Yes.

Well, I, uh... I lack practice.

David, did you really kill Goliath?

After seeing me with that sling,

how could you doubt me?

[BATHSHEBA LAUGHS]

Was he truly as big as they say?

Well, I will admit that he grows

a little bit bigger every year.

[LAMB BLEATING]

A new life.

[SHEEP BLEATING]

DAVID:

Oh, that's his mother.

She's caught in the brambles.

- I'll give you some help.

- Thank you, sir.

[GRUNTING]

Let's clear those hind feet.

No, use both hands.

Oh.

I'm an old soldier, sir.

Fought for the king.

- David?

SHEPHERD:
Not him.

SHEPHERD:

But the king.

King Saul.

SHEPHERD:

It was in his last battle.

There.

At the Mount of Gilboa.

SHEPHERD:

It's peaceful now.

Good grazing for the flocks,

though we lack rain this year.

But that day it rained blood.

- Yes.

- I saw the king die.

Saw him fall on his sword

when he knew the battle was lost.

Tell me, did you...

...also see the king's son die?

- Jonathan.

- Yes, sir. I did.

You see that rock that juts out

from the face of the mountain?

SHEPHERD:

The big one, with the sun on it.

Prince Jonathan stood there...

...with a loyal friend

on each side of him.

He fought there the livelong day.

His friends went down

but still he fought against tens...

...then against hundreds

until they overwhelmed him.

Those Philistines...

...and their brass

and heathenish helmets.

Ah, it was a black day for Israel.

The king gone, Jonathan gone...

...none worthy to take their place.

Yet Israel found a king in David.

Saul was king.

SHEPHERD:

Jonathan should be king today.

[CLINK]

Here.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you kindly.

David.

Come.

It's getting late.

[HORSES WHINNYING

AND MEN SHOUTING]

[GRAVEL CRUNCHING

AND ARMOR CLATTERING]

[MAN SCREAMS]

Jonathan.

Jonathan!

[SOUNDS OF BATTLE STOP]

[WIND WHISTLING]

DAVID:

Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

...in the midst of the battle.

Oh, Jonathan.

Thou was slain...

...in thine high places.

I am distressed for thee,

my brother Jonathan.

Very pleasant has thou been unto me.

Thy love to me was wonderful.

Passing the love of women.

How have the mighty fallen.

And the weapons of war...

...perished.

[CHATTERING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

DAVID:

Hyah!

DAVID:

Hyah.

Slow it up.

Greetings, Abishai.

I received your message.

Am I in time?

Yes, sire. Even now

the caravan approaches Jerusalem.

Look, Bathsheba.

The Ark of the Covenant.

A shrine that has traveled with our

people through all their wanderings.

I am bringing it here

to its proper home.

Get in, Abishai.

I'll go down to meet Nathan.

You'll take Bathsheba to her house.

I beg you.

[MOB SHOUTING]

PRISONER [CRYING]:

No.

No.

Mercy. I beg you. Mercy.

Mercy, I beg you.

It's for you to cast the first stone.

PRISONER:

Mercy!

[PRISONER GASPS]

Mercy.

[ROCKS CLATTERING]

An adulteress, sire. She betrayed

her husband in the arms of another.

Judged and condemned under the law.

Go. Take her home.

[ABISHAl SHOUTS]

[MUSIC STOPS]

- Sire.

- Nathan.

DAVID:

God's design is a strange one, Nathan.

Consider how this box of wood

has outlived the flesh that made it...

...and preserved it and venerated it.

A pity that it is mute and blind

and cannot tell us of our ancient dead.

Of Moses on the mountain top.

Of Miriam and Aaron.

Of Joshua at the walls of Jericho.

No, sire!

Do not tempt the thunderbolts

of the Lord.

His dwelling is not to be profaned

by unconsecrated hands.

To touch it is to die.

As you say, Nathan.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The Ark!

The Ark of the Covenant has fallen!

He is dead.

Let all take heed and bear witness

to what they have seen...

...that the people may know

the will of God.

The time is not right

for the entrance into the city.

Unhitch the oxen.

NATHAN:
Let a tabernacle be erected

on this spot.

Let the Ark remain here

outside the walls...

...until God has signified

the appeasement of his wrath.

BATHSHEBA:

David.

Bathsheba.

DAVID:

You shouldn't have come here.

BATHSHEBA:

I had no choice.

My news would not wait.

David...

...I bring you trouble.

Our secret is no longer a secret.

- Who has learned it?

- No one yet.

But soon all will know

who have eyes to see.

I'm sure now of what I have feared

this past week.

I am with child.

Beloved.

No need for tears.

You bring me only joy.

DAVID:
What man would not be happy

to learn that his wife...

...will give him a child?

- I am not your wife.

- You are my only wife.

DAVID:

Please, beloved, do not be afraid.

BATHSHEBA:

I am not afraid.

Soon enough we must all go down

to Sheol.

My tears are for our child

who will never see the light.

Bathsheba, listen to me.

You will not die.

- The law says that I must.

- They would not dare. I am the king.

The Israelites have had kings

for less than 50 years.

BATHSHEBA:
They have had

the law of Moses for hundreds.

I will give them their kingdom.

You and I will flee into Egypt.

BATHSHEBA:

No, David.

Your life is marked out

on a certain course.

Even you cannot change it

if it's God's design.

There is another answer.

Uriah.

Uriah is a soldier.

Soldiers die every day in battle

and not always by enemy hands.

No, David.

Even our love could not bear

the burden of such a crime.

The crime lies in the chance

that I was born a Hebrew.

In any other nation on earth,

Uriah's life would be forfeit.

It would be no less a crime.

If I sent for him,

told him everything...

We both know what he would say.

DAVID:
Yes. Honor is everything,

charity nothing.

For the sake of honor,

blood must flow...

...lives must be ruined,

humanity denied.

I can see Uriah now,

hurrying to the gate...

...eager to be

the first to cast a stone.

ABISHAl:

Sire.

What is it, Abishai?

The orders for Joab, sire.

Yes.

Do not send it now.

I may want to add to the message.

Yes, sire.

DAVID:

There is another way.

Perhaps it will solve nothing...

...but at least it will gain us time.

If Uriah can be made to believe

that the child is his.

But he has been away almost a year.

DAVID:

I will send for him...

...to report on the campaign.

He will be here in Jerusalem

one night...

...perhaps two.

- You called me your wife.

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