denial, whether of motives or ethical issues, and its purpose is disclosure and exposition. The way in which Nathan’s juridical parable achieves its purpose has been shown most clearly in a paper by Roth (1977), who relies especially on Crossan’s studies of story (1975). Roth (p. 8) stresses the problem in the story created by the contrast between David’s roles as king and rich oppressor. As king, David is expected to administer justice; as rich oppressor, however, he subverts justice. The parable,