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The Bible later pictures young David, the shepherd king, as a lustful young man with the usual sexual relationship with a number of wives, beginning with Michal, king Saul's daughter. When Michal saw king David dancing nude, or nearly nude in front of all the people during a parade to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, she criticized him. One version of this story is in 2 Samuel 6:16-21. King David considered that he was dancing for the God that he presumed dwelt in the ark of the covenant, perhaps as Adam, God's original naked creation and friend, and paid no mind to anyone else watching his naked dance. From then on, however, David had nothing to do sexually with Michal. Such stories as these in the Bible have been exploited by artists, who sometimes enjoyed picturing David as a very handsome youth, and totally naked. Michelangelo's "David" as seen on the left, is one such example. |
| Many artists have taken the many opportunites in the Bible to draw or paint naked women, since the established church of the Middle Ages was more tolerant if a Bible theme was used. On the right the theme is supposedly Lot's daughters seducing their drunken father [Genesis 19:30-38], but could represent any old man enjoying, or about to enjoy, two younger females. Since children were produced by these "one night" sexual encounters, it's supposed to be "all right". |  |
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The Catholic Church fathers have mimiced the Jewish priests before them, and allowed any type of sexual encounter that produced new Jews or Catholics. Rape was only a serious crime if another person's wife was attacked. Indeed homosexual acts were considered as "rape" in both Jewish and other societies of the first century AD, and the passive partner considered innocent. |
