Thanks so much for the reply, Robin.

I think you made an excellent case here, but David's murder was intentional-certainly it wasn't committed at his own hands, but it might as well have been. According to Ex 21:12, Rom 13 and Gen 9:6, his OWN life should have been taken for this crime.

I'm convinced that the only reasonable conclusion to make in this case is that God can and sometimes will overide His own law in an individual case. What applied for King David certainly did not apply for the masses even though punishment was certainly inflicted here by God having taken the life of David's infant child.

To be honest, very little of this part of it all makes the least bit of sense to me, but maybe that's the way that some of this is supposed to work, too.