Sanhedrin 107A

אוכל לחמי הגדיל עלי עקב״.

who did eat of my bread, has lifted his heel against me” (Psalms 41:10). Bread is a metaphor for Torah knowledge.

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: לעולם אל יביא אדם עצמו לידי נסיון, שהרי דוד מלך ישראל הביא עצמו לידי נסיון ונכשל. אמר לפניו: רבונו של עולם, מפני מה אומרים ״אלהי אברהם, אלהי יצחק ואלהי יעקב״, ואין אומרים ״אלהי דוד״? אמר: אינהו מינסו לי ואת לא מינסית לי. אמר לפניו: רבונו של עולם, בחנני ונסני, שנאמר: ״בחנני ה׳ ונסני וגו׳״.

§ Apropos Ahithophel, the Talmud relates the events that led to his death. Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: A person should never bring himself to undergo an ordeal, as David, king of Israel, brought himself to undergo an ordeal and failed. David said before God: God! for what reason does one say in prayer: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, and one does not say: God of David? God said to David: They have undergone ordeals before Me, and you have not undergone an ordeal before Me. David said before Him: Examine me and subject me to an ordeal, as it is stated: “Examine me, YHWH, and subject me to an ordeal; try my kidneys and my heart” (Psalms 26:2).

אמר: מינסינא לך, ועבידנא מילתא בהדך, דלדידהו לא הודעתינהו, ואילו אנא קא מודענא לך דמנסינא לך בדבר ערוה. מיד, ״ויהי לעת הערב ויקם דוד מעל משכבו וגו׳״.

God said to him: I will subject you to an ordeal, and I will perform a matter for you that I did not perform for the Patriarchs, as for them, I did not inform them of the nature of the ordeal, while I am informing you that I will subject you to an ordeal involving a matter of a married woman, with whom sex are forbidden. Immediately, it is written: “And it came to pass one evening that David rose from his bed” (II Samuel 11:2).

אמר רב יהודה: שהפך משכבו של לילה למשכבו של יום, ונתעלמה ממנו הלכה. אבר קטן יש באדם, משביעו ⁠– רעב, ומרעיבו ⁠– שבע.

Rav Yehuda says: Once David heard the nature of his ordeal, he sought to prevent himself from experiencing lust. He transformed his nighttime bed into his daytime bed, i.e., he had sex with his wives during the day, in an attempt to quell his lust. But a halakha, i.e., a Torah statement, escaped him: There is a small limb in man that he employs in sex. If he starves the limb, and does not overindulge, it is satiated; but if he satiates the limb and overindulges in sex, it is starving, and desires more. Therefore, his plan had the opposite effect.