If We Need a Moral, Check David and Bathsheba : Press: If the media could forget the African famine, it can ignore Bill Clinton’s sex life.

Here’s what really happened. The woman was beautiful; the governor had never seen anyone so beautiful, and he was determined to have her. There was just one problem: She was married. So, the governor, a master politician, arranged to have her husband killed and tried to cover up his role in the sordid affair. Then the story began to unravel.

Bill and Gennifer in Arkansas? No. David and Bathsheba in Jerusalem. Although David sent Bathsheba’s husband into battle against insurmountable odds, knowing he would be killed, the Bible tells us that David repented and God forgave him.

If the Omnipotent can overlook a transgression of this scale, why is the journalistic pack pandering after yonder Star? Banks are closing, businesses are going belly-up, tens of millions are out of work. There are other stories.

Yes, sex sells, and we’re eager buyers. Daytime, prime time, tabloids and best-sellers--voyeurism has replaced baseball as the national pastime. The so-called legitimate press is merely a reflection of our insatiable curiosity about what other people might have done--or better yet, might still be doing--in the bedroom, the men’s room and every other room. But just as the press can collectively turn away from the starving masses in Africa when it becomes “old news,” it can turn away from the Scorned Woman of the Week, prepaid at that.

The press is free. It can march in lock-step behind the tabloids to the bitter end, or decide not to.

David committed adultery (and worse), but his story does not end there. Indeed, he is remembered as one of the great leaders of antiquity. (Sequel: He went on to marry Bathsheba, who gave birth to Solomon, the wisest king of ancient Israel.)

We judge David today not solely on his personal peccadilloes; we consider the vast historical and literary legacy of all his public deeds. Call it balanced coverage. It was the right standard then; it remains so today.

Enough already.