STDs are all in the news these days and they are not new. As a health professional I was struck (during a recent reading of Psalm 38) with the query: Did David suffer from a "social disease?" David had many foreign women. And Bathsheba was formerly the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Because Israel's laws of physical and ceremonial purity were of a high level, if an STD was involved it no doubt came from elsewhere. But just listen to David's complaint (from the New Living Bible, unless indicated otherwise):
O Lord, don't rebuke me in your anger!
Don't discipline me in your rage...
Because of your anger, my whole body is sick;
my health is broken because of my sins...
My wounds fester and stink
because of my foolish sins.
I am bent over and racked with pain...
["My back is filled with searing pain," NIV]
A raging fever burns within me,
["for my loins burn with fever," Revised English Bible]
and my health is broken.
I am exhausted and completely crushed....
My heart beats wildly, my strength fails,
and I am going blind.
My loved ones and friends stay away,
fearing my disease....
According to Webster, "loins" includes "the pubic region" or "the generative organs." Possible diagnosis (speculation, of course): In his diddling around, David got more than he bargained for, and considered it to be one more affliction as punishment for his sin(s), here unspecified.