Hello Jennifer,

Thanks for attending the event. It was such a joy to see folks and their interest in the subject. Thanks for also sharing your area of concern.

My apologies for getting back to you so tardily. I have been on the road.

Now then, your concern. It is a valid one. Let me, however, adjust
what you said and clarify what I said.

1. Definitionally, empathy means: To be aware of and understand how
others feel. In essence to put yourself in someone’shoe.

2. David secretly understood that he committed an incredible sin. When approached by Nathan, he was not aware of whom Nathan was talking about.
He was just aware that Nathan mentioned that an injustice was done to someone to whom David (at the time) did not know was Uriah.

3. In his response, in verses 5 & 6 of 2nd Samuel 12, “David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserve to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, becuase he did such such a thing and had no pity”.

4. Utilizing the defintion only, not formulating any judgment against David, he was showing empathy. In that he was assuming that this person
who who took the sheep from the poor was not him. He was being
empathetic to that poor person. Definitionally he was demonstrating empathy, but not to Uriah, he was showing empathy to the poor person in the story.

5. Sadly though, it turned out that the poor person was Uriah. At that
time, it turned from empathy to shame because he has been found out.

The fact that David showed empathy is non-judmental from a definitional perspective. He didn’t care about Uriah. He killed this wonderful soldier and loving husband. He did have a heart though of being empathetic, but the story demonstrates how sin can warp us and affect us even though our intentions are good, our behavior shows otherwise.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if this clears it up.