In three swift verses, the succession is accomplished, finally. And David sleeps with his fathers and is buried in the city of David. Our prayer for David, companion in these past weeks, is that David sleeps, at last, in peace. For in those last years, David is so advanced in years, so old, that he cannot get warm. They cover him with clothes, but he does not get warm. They bring him a young maiden to lie beside him, but he does not get warm. I imagine David shivers in the knowledge of all that his life has taught him, the hard way. At the end of his life, David shivers in the knowledge that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Until Nathan and Bath-Sheba come to him.

They come to David to remind him of the promise for Solomon to succeed him. "Yes," David thinks to himself, shiv…