I am sure that David knew that his actions displeased The LORD, but he had not listened to the Holy Spirit pricking his conscience, so, God sent someone to him. Sometimes our conscience can be deadened, and we need more promptings. God. In His mercy comes to us, but ‘His spirit will not always strive with us’ (Genesis 6:3).
Probably a year later, the prophet Nathan was sent to David, and (v1-4) he told him a story of a rich man, who had many flocks and herds, and a poor man who only had one little ewe lamb which he brought up with his own children, living with them as if it were his own daughter. A traveller came to the rich man who took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for their meal.
Nathan needed to be very brave to go and confront the king and he was just that. Nathan was faithful to God, and loyal to David, but it took great courage for him to do this. He described David’s action as stealing, just as the rich man stealing the poor man’s lamb.
David’s reaction was within character, that is apart from this very incident. He was enraged at this man and said that he should be put to death, because he had no pity, and compensation be made to the poor man. David was absolutely indignant and passed judgment immediately on ‘that man’ (v5,6).
The aftermath of this sordid affair is ample evidence of the LORD’s displeasure of it. After telling the parable of the rich and poor man and the little ewe lamb, Nathan, fearlessly points out to the king: “You are the man.” It took great courage to say that to the king. He then boldly asked: “Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight?” (v9). A heavy penalty was about to be exacted.
Nathan, courageously, points the finger at David, “You are the man!” (v7). He reminded David that God had given him all that he needed, having raised him from the sheepfold to be king of Israel, and that David had acted against God in doing what he did, taking Uriah’s wife and going so far as killing Uriah (v8,9). There was no need for David to resort to sin.
Nathan proceeded to pass God’s judgment – “Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife” (v10). It is very clear that the later tragedies which take place in David’s household are the consequence of his sin, just as Nathan indicated (v10-12). Nathan went so far as to say that David had despised God (v9) by disobeying His commandments.
Now, having looked at the big picture, let’s look at a few details.
This passage has much to teach us. Let me seek to summarize some of its lessons.
First, the root of David’s sin is arrogance. He has become puffed up and arrogant because of his success and status as Israel’s king. He has come to see himself as different even better than the rest of the Israelites. They need to go to war; he does not. They need to sleep in the open field; he needs to get his rest in his own bed, in his palace, even during the day. They can have a wife; he can have whatever woman he wants.
Second, the nature of David’s sin is the abuse of power. Power corrupts, we are told, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. In the previous chapters, David employed his God-given power to defeat the enemies of God and of Israel. He used his power for good things like restoring to Mephibosheth. Now, David, drunk with his power, uses it to indulge himself at the expense of others. Notice the repetition of the word “send” or “sent” in this chapter. It is a king like David who can send all the men to war but stay home himself (v 1). It is a king like David who can send people to inquire about Bathsheba, and then to send messengers to “take” her and bring her to his palace (v3-4). It is a king like David who can “send” for Uriah and “send” orders to Joab to have him killed. David has the power, and he certainly knows how to use it, only now he is using that power for his own benefit, at the expense of others. This is not servant leadership.
Sexual abuse and sexual harassment are two of the ways people abuse their power. It seems to be rife today and apparently over many years, much of which seems only to have come to public knowledge of late. Parents begin to think they own their children, and that they can use their children to satisfy themselves. Bosses get used to being in control and telling people what to do, and it should not be surprising to learn that they sometimes abuse their power over employees and subordinates to sexually satisfy themselves. We have heard so much of celebrities abusing their followers today. This sin is no different from that of David. Sadly, there have been several accusations of late of religious leaders abusing those under their control.
Third, prosperity is as dangerous — and sometimes more dangerous — than poverty and adversity. We all get weary of the adversities of life. We all long for the time when we can put up our feet and relax a bit. We all tire of agonising over the bills and not having quite enough money to go around. David certainly looked forward to the time when he could stop running from Saul and begin to reign as king. But from a spiritual point of view, David never did better than he did in adversity and weakness. Conversely, David never did worse than he did in prosperity and power. How many psalms do you think David wrote from his palace bed and from his penthouse? How much meditation on the law took place while David was in Jerusalem, rather than on the battlefield? We are not to be masochists, wanting more and more suffering, but on the other hand we should recognize that success is often a greater test than adversity. Often when it appears “everything’s goin’ my way” (as the song says) we are in the greatest danger.
Fourth, sin “happens,” but it seldom “just happens.” Sin does not come out of nowhere. We see this sequence in the Book of James: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.” (James 1:13-16).
David’s sin did not just suddenly appear in a moment of time. David set himself up for this fall. We may choose to ease up in our pursuit of becoming a disciple of our LORD, of the disciplined life which causes us to bring our bodies under our control (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). We may become weary of taking up our cross and begin to take up ourselves as our highest cause. We may back off in the area of separation, having become weary of being laughed at for our Christian principles. We may keep quiet, rather than bear witness to our faith, lest we be rejected by our peers. When we retreat from the battle, a fall is not far away.
Sins of commission are often the result of sins of omission. David committed sin by his adultery with Bathsheba and later by the murder of her husband, but these sins were born out of David’s omissions which came to pass when he stayed home, rather than go to war. These sins of omission are often difficult to recognize in ourselves or others, but they are there. And after a while, they incline us to more open sins, as we see in David.
Whatever sin we are prone to, “Stop now!” How much better it would have been if David had confessed to his sin with Bathsheba before he went on to murder Uriah. Sin is like a cancer: the sooner it is cut out, the better; the longer it is left, the more it grows. If you have fallen as David did (or in some other way), forsake your sin, confess it, find God’s forgiveness, and move on. Let us learn from David’s omissions as well as his commissions.
Job 31:1 “I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. For what is man’s lot from the Almighty on high? Is it not ruin for the wicked, disaster for those who do wrong? Does He not see my ways and count every step?”
All of us should be careful what we look at.
Paul writing to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 4:1-7) reminds, warns and encourages them,“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; …. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.”
The apostle John put it this way: “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1:7-9)
First, David had taken Uriah’s wife and had Uriah killed by the sword of the Ammonites; so, the sword was never to depart from his house. The fulfilment of this punishment is a matter of historical record.
Amnon, David’s eldest son by Ahinoam (1 Chronicles 3:1), raped his half-sister, Tamar. Two years afterward, Absalom, the king’s son by Maacah, had Amnon murdered (2 Samuel 13). Then, later, Absalom “stole the hearts of the men of Israel,” rebelled against his father, and was ultimately killed by Joab (2 Samuel 18). And even after David’s death, Adonijah, the king’s son by Haggith (2 Samuel 3:4), was slain by Solomon (1 Kings 2:24-25). A high price was paid for David’s lust and violence. We shall look at these events in more detail as we come to the appropriate passages.
Second, David committed adultery with this warrior’s wife while the latter was engaged in defence of the nation. And so, (v11,12)“Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”
We shall see that some years later, Absalom openly rebelled against his father. David, upon hearing that the hearts of the men of Israel were in favour of Absalom, fled Jerusalem, leaving ten of his concubines behind to keep the palace (2 Samuel 15:16). When Absalom entered Jerusalem, upon the advice of Ahithophel (Bathsheba’s grandfather – 2 Samuel 11:3; 23:34), the young rebel pitched a tent upon the palace roof (the very place where David had first observed Bathsheba) and “Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. (2 Samuel 16:22).
So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” (V13). He had sinned against Bathsheba, Uriah, even against his own wives and children, and even wider, against the nation but especially against The LORD. This is an important fact that when we sin it is not only against the person(s) but against Almighty God. He is offended by our sin and ultimately it cost Jesus Christ His life on the cross to save us and cleanse us from it. It is right that wherever possible we should confess to the victim and if possible, make restitution, but more so to God Himself. Our victims might forgive us, and they might not, but God will forgive if our repentance is true.
Psalm 32:1-5: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
It is thought that Psalm 32:3,4 described his condition during that first year. Confession of sin was required.
Psalm 51:1-19 “Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight– That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, That the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, And blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise. For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart– These, O God, You will not despise…..”
David made clear that he doesn’t blame anyone else, but himself. It wasn’t an error or an indiscretion, or just one of those things which happened on the spur of the moment. He makes no excuses before God; he doesn’t plead human weakness or point the finger of blame at anyone else. He simply says, “I have sinned….”. I understand that in the original Hebrew, David’s statement I have sinned against the LORD amounts to only two words: hata al-Yahweh.
He did not seek to defend his actions, as some might have done, and even killed the prophet for suggesting such a thing.
Third, Nathan replied (v13,14), “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”
How we must bear in mind that as Christians when we sin, we bring reproach on the Name of The LORD The One we profess to love, and we bring hurt on His Name.
It is not without significance that Matthew, centuries later, in listing the genealogy of Christ from Abraham, records by inspiration: “David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah” (Matthew 1:6). The Greek text literally says, “of her belonging to Uriah.” Seems to be quite curt but honest.
The thrust of this point is this, there were sometimes lifelong penalties attached to sins. God did not simply overlook the sin of David and accept the penitent king as he was. There was a price to be paid.
Even so today, frequently there are agonising consequences that result from illicit relationships. Even though there is forgiveness upon true repentance, sometimes sin leaves scars which never disappear and can haunt us for the rest of our lives. When we sin as Christians, we do not lose our salvation, but we lose the joy of it. (Psalm 51:12) I never cease to be amazed at the mercy and grace of God. God forgives our sin and chooses to remember them no more. He does not hold them against us anymore. One has said, ‘We have a future, but no past’.
David was called “A man after God’s own heart”. One could have doubted that fact in his actions in this illicit relationship, but it is evident that God is working on his heart, He uses Nathan in this great work. We are all a work in progress and when things come into our lives, even when we sin, if our reaction is right before God, God is at work in us.
What David did was just what those enemies of the LORD would do in the same situation. What David did was not unusual among the kings and rulers of the world, but it should be unusual among God’s people. It gave occasion for his enemies to ridicule The Name of God who David represented and ruled in obedience to. It brought dishonour on The Name of The LORD. Sin always does and that’s why we must acknowledge that our sin is against God and confess it accordingly. It is always seemingly worse for a Christian to fall into sin. God takes sin very seriously; He hates it so much so that He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die to save us from it. Non-Christians are always ready to point out our sin, so, we must be doubly careful.
Stoning was the sentence of death for adultery, but Nathan tells David he is not going to die. This displays the justice and grace of God. Who God loves, He chastens, and chastening is always to make us better.
We never read of David committing adultery again because God used these chastisements to drive such sins from him. That is the purpose of chastisement or discipline. Hebrews 12:6 “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” And in v5 “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; These are quotes from Proverbs 3:11,12.
Other interesting points here to remember, “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Unconfessed sin leads to death, so that’s why it needs to be confessed to God.
One writer suggests that the baby’s death was “for David’s sake, that he might not enjoy the fruit of sin”.
Whilst God forgives and remembers our sin no more, sin often leaves scars and more often than not there are consequences. We may even face punishment from the authorities. David had to face the consequences that the child died. One writer has said, “One of the good things about consequences is that they are designed to keep us from repeating the same sins over and over. When we sin and terrible things happen, it trains us not to do the same thing again!” Sadly, some people do not learn from the consequences, our prisons are inundated with them.
Having given God’s message to David, Nathan left (v15).
We move on quickly to probably a year later, the child is now born, and David has taken Bathsheba as his wife; in this case The LORD struck the child born to Bathsheba with illness. She is still described here as Uriah’s wife. Interesting that God still gives her that title – she was still Uriah’s wife at the time this awful deed was done when the child was conceived. She did not belong to David! He had violated another man’s wife and that is serious. God is dealing with the sin which had been committed at the time. It is only in v24 that she is referred to as his wife.
There are some who say that sickness doesn’t come from God. Some who say that Christians should never be ill, and if we are, it is because of lack of faith on our part. I really don’t know how they can explain that in the light of Scripture. Whilst there is ample evidence that some sickness is the result of us misusing our bodies, like alcohol, drugs, smoking, overindulgence and other sinful practices, in this example, illicit sex. The Bible says that we should take care of our bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit.We can also cause injury, some permanent, and even death by the things which we do and engage in. The Bible, however, makes it clear that sometimes Illness is sent by God, and always to bring glory to His Name. It can be a hard thing to take, but we must trust Him in all situations.
The LORD struck this child with an illness, and it was obviously very poorly. “David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.” (v16) Were His prayers and fasting etc a waste of time? Hard to say! Prayer and fasting, however intense are not means to get what we want from God, rather we must submit to His will. We can be guilty of thinking that prayer and fasting are rituals to go through to obtain God’s favour, which they are not.
After seven days the child died and his servants were afraid to tell him for, they thought, “Indeed, while the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!” They had tried to get him to eat and persuade him to get up from the ground, but he wouldn’t.
He saw them whispering and asked, “Is the child dead? They answered him truthfully and he got up, washed etc and changed his clothes and went to the house of the LORD and worshiped. There must have been a place set aside unless it was still the tent because as yet there was no temple yet. (See chapter 7)
He knew the most important thing was to go and worship God. He then went to his own house and requested food. His servants could not understand why when the child was ill, he fasted etc but now the child was dead he ate as normal.
Perhaps nothing more perfectly reveals the sincerity of his repentance than this ready acceptance of the stroke by which God refused to answer his prayer. (G. Campbell Morgan)
Interesting answer! v22,23 “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”
Despite The LORD not answering his prayer, David still worships The LORD. And he has the assurance that the child has gone to be with The LORD. “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” Assuring words which show us that children who die in infancy or very young before the age when they can respond to the call of God go to heaven.
The death of the child is hard for many to accept. Often the innocent suffers because of the sin of the guilty. The child went to be with The LORD, but the punishment was really upon David and Bathsheba in their loss. There is a principle that even when sin is forgiven a price must be paid. This is evident with the death of The LORD Jesus. Our sin was forgiven, but a price had to be paid otherwise God would be simply passing over sin or excusing it. Whilst we plead for God’s mercy, we must repent of our sin to receive forgiveness.
My mother and father lost a child aged three months over a year before I was born, and to complicate matters, my father died after a long illness as a result of an accident at work, three months before I was born, but she never lost her faith in God. It was incredibly hard to bring me up without a father but, thank God, she did. She would always say that God had been good.
Someone has said “God has judged it better to work good out of evil than to allow no evil.” And another, “God is a God of infinite mercy to forgive sin, and yet “He will by no means clear the guilty.” He will surely visit iniquity by fixing its consequences upon the sinner, and even also upon others for his sake.” Abraham, likewise, suffered the consequences of his sin in having a child with Hagar. He was forgiven but the consequences last even to this day. I guess that is why sexual sin particularly has consequences. We cannot have unlawful sexual relations without an outcome. Prior to Nathan coming to him, David seemed to have no thought for the evil and enormity of what he had done. Punishment deepens both our sense of sin and our hatred of it. (Samuel Cox)
Paul reminds us of the law of sowing and reaping in Galatians 6:7-8 – “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” It is thoroughly consistent with God’s grace. It is God’s gracious, although sometimes severe, means of impressing upon us and others the serious nature of our sin. God does this to show His righteousness and if we submit to God’s discipline, God will bring beauty even out of the ashes.
In v24,25. We are told that David comforted his wife Bathsheba and he lay with her, and she conceived a child, a son and called him Solomon. The Lord loved him and sent Nathan, the prophet, and he called his name Jedidah, which means ‘loved of the Lord.’
This is the first time she is named as David’s wife. Previously she is known as the wife of Uriah. David took her as his wife after Uriah died but in account of the sin and aftermath she is still referred to as the wife of Uriah, which she was at the time of conception. Even though the marriage began in sin she became his wife in God’s sight and God blessed them. It sounds very formal that he went into her and made love to her, but he did have several wives and I suppose they all needed attention at some time. How complicated it can get when we don’t follow God’s instructions which from the beginning was ‘one man, one wife’. But here we see God’s forgiveness even further.
God forgives repentant sinners and the son born out of a marriage which started with an act of adultery, becomes David’s heir and an ancestor of the Messiah.
People may not forgive; we may refuse to really believe that we are forgiven. But God forgives repentant sinners.
In 1 Chronicles 22:9 David is preparing for the building of the temple and indicating that he wanted to build it even though in 1 Chronicles 17:4 God had told Nathan to tell David “You shall not build Me a house to dwell in, but …. one of your sons will.” 1 Chronicles 28:3 David recounts this and says that God said, ‘You shall not build a house for My Name because you have been a man of war and shed blood….’ The LORD’s word had come to him saying that he would not be the builder but ‘Behold a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest and I will give him rest from all his enemies all around. His name shall be Solomon…. (which means peaceful)’.
The scene changes away from the troubles and trauma of the palace back to the battlefront (v26-28). Joab fought against Rabbah, the royal city of the people of Ammon and sent messengers to David suggesting he should come and complete the battle because if he (Joab) conquered it he would call it after his name, taking the credit for it, rather than David. Thus, he persuaded David to leave the comfort of his palace and possible temptations. Joab had cut off the water supply to the city. The battle had lasted a long time, probably a year, and it appears that David being at home was hindering the outcome. It seems that the siege of Rabbah lasted for around two years. In that time David had committed sin with Bathsheba, the child had been born and died and Solomon had been born. David had wasted a year or two doing what he shouldn’t have been, now he is back in his rightful place leading his men in battle.
The city had a lower part, and an upper part called the royal city. Joab had seemingly taken the lower part and before taking the upper part urged David to go and join them so that he would get the credit and honour for the royal part.”
“So, David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, fought against it, and took it. Then he took their king’s crown from his head. Its weight was a talent of gold, with precious stones. And it was set on David’s head. Also, he brought out the spoil of the city in great abundance. And he brought out the people who were in it and put them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them cross over to the brick works. So, he did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem” (v29-31).
The city was taken, and their king uncrowned; great spoil was taken. It seems that this is the only record of Israelite armies punishing their captives by putting them into a sort of slavery putting them to work with saws and pick axes and in brickworks. A little like they were doing in Egypt. This seemed to be reserved for these Ammonites who on their part had been carrying out unbelievable cruelties, including ripping open pregnant women in Gilead (Amos 2:13) and threatening to gouge out eyes of Israelites (1 Samuel 11:2).
David, therefore had resumed his position by doing what he should have done by leading Israel out to battle. If only he had done that instead of staying at home? Perhaps he wouldn’t have got in the mess he had!
It is, however, encouraging to see that he had victory and that God, whilst punishing him for his sin, did not bar him from being used. God uses failures, and I’m so glad He does because I’m one. He had confessed his sin and God had forgiven him.
Augustine is reported to have said, “David’s fall should put those who have fallen on their guard and save those from despair who have.”
David and his men returned to Jerusalem only to encounter more family trouble.
