177. DAVID'S SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

"The thing that David had done displeased Yahweh"

In our previous lessons we have following the life of David. We have come to admire his trust in God and we have seen how God blessed him by giving him that wonderful promise of a seed, even the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen him delivered from all his enemies, and now we come to a section of the Bible that, at first reading, causes us to stop and ask the question, “how could David do such a thing?” But, when we find the right answer to that question, we then have learned a very important lesson, a lesson that each one of us must learn. It is a lesson that will humble us in our own sight and cause us to realise that only through God’s mercy can we hope of eternal life.

2 Samuel 11 and 12

DAVID’S GREATEST ENEMY

Really David’s greatest enemy was not Saul, or the nations around Israel, or any other man or beast, for God was able to deliver David from all of these. David’s greatest enemy was the hidden enemy of inward temptations – sinful lusts or desires, which if followed, would lead to sin. This desire, which each of us has, is our greatest enemy which we must overcome; for if we do not, then we will be led to do things which are not pleasing to God, and will bring shame and grief to us and our family.

DAVID'S SIN. 2 Samuel 11.

The army of Israel was out fighting against Ammon under the leader­ship of Joab, but David had remained home in Jerusalem. One evening David walked upon his housetop, from which he saw a beautiful woman washing herself. She was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of David's valiant soldiers who was out fighting with Joab in the army.

David desired to have Bathsheba for his wife and David invited her to his house and committed adultery with her. God had forbidden this when he gave the Ten Commandments. It was evil for a man to take another man's wife (Exodus 20:14-17). The proverbs clearly express this disastrous course upon which David had started: "He who commits adultery has no sense; He who does it destroys himself, wounds and dishonours will he get; and his disgrace will not be wiped away" (Prov. 6:32-33 R.S.V.).

ONE SIN LEADS TO ANOTHER.

Although David originally had not set out to disobey God, he now realised that he had sinned. What was he to do? He tried to cover his ways so that no one would ever know. He sent a letter to Joab, asking him to put Uriah in a dangerous position in the battle so he would be slain. He had Uriah killed so he could take Bathsheba to be his wife. Now David was guilty of breaking three commandments: covetting his neighbour's wife, murder as well as adultery (Exod. 20:13-17). But Yahweh, who sees and knows all things, knew of the evil and terrible thing that David had done (2 Sam. 11:27). Let us never try to cover our sin's, but openly confess them to God, for in so doing we will save ourselves much heartache and suffering.

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS. 2 Samuel 12:1-14.

Months later, Nathan the prophet came to David. He spoke a parable about a certain rich man with "exceeding many flocks" who refused to take a lamb of his own flocks to provide food for a traveller who had come to his house, but instead took the one lamb of a poor man which was cherished by him. David's customary sense of justice was immediate­ly aroused. He pronounced judgment upon the callous act, "the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And he shall restore fourfold ..." But in so saying he had condemned himself. Nathan replied, "Thou art the man!" The words were a terrible revelation.

David was shattered. Nathan told him "Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of Yahweh . . . thou hast killed Uriah . . . and taken his wife to be thy wife . . . now, therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house" (v.9, 10). David had done it secretly (v.12) and acted as though God had not existed, and for this reason his punishment would be open.

David did not excuse or justify himself, he confessed and said "I have sinned against Yahweh". Nathan replied "Yahweh also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die" (v.13). Under the law David knew that he was guilty of death. Although Yahweh had forgiven him his sin, his sin brought forth many years of sorrow. David felt from that day on that he could no longer judge others, even though they may deserve it.

Nathan went on to say "Because of this deed you have given great oc­casion to the enemies of Yahweh to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die" (v.14). Because of David's sin people would mock Yahweh. We must be careful not to give people reason to speak evil against the Truth. The baby that was born to Bathsheba would die.

David fasted and wept in the hope that God would save the life of the baby, but the baby died after 7 days. During this time David wrote two psalms — Psalms 32 and 51. In Psalm 32 David speaks of the pain and suffering he felt when he tried to hide his sin and "kept silence" (v.3-4), and the sense of relief he felt when he confessed and God forgave him (v.5).

We should note that in 2 Sam. 12:4 sin is described as a "traveller" and a "wayfaring man". David was not an habitual sinner for he is described by God as "a man after mine own heart" (Acts 13:22). His sin was a tem­porary departure from his Godly way of life. This did not reduce the wickedness that David committed but it did give Yahweh a basis for forgiveness that was absent with Saul.

God's forgiveness of David contains a great lesson. There was nothing he could do, no sacrifice he could make (Psa. 51:14-17), to avert the penalty of death according to the law. Although David was guilty he was delivered from death. Here lies hope for all who sin — if they repent. God by His grace has offered us a hope of salvation through baptism into Christ (Eph. 2:8-9).

THE CONSEQUENCE OF DAVID'S SIN

Although the actual sin of David was forgiven, its effects were to be far-reaching. The first child that David and Bathsheba had, died in accor­dance with the words of Nathan, the prophet (2 Sam. 12:15-23). Then they had another son whom they called Solomon, though Yahweh called him Jedidah meaning "Beloved of Yahweh". Nathan told David that Yahweh would cause evil to come upon him out of his own house (v. 11) and this took place. Three of David's other sons caused him great heart­ache, Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah, all of whom were slain for their wickedness.

LESSON FOR US:

We have just heard a sad and terrible story, but it is a story that must be told, because of the great warning it gives us if we want to be followers of Christ. David brought upon himself a terrible punishment and unhappiness to others because he was thoughtless for a moment. He allowed his mind to become idle and his thoughts strayed from God's ways. Sinful thoughts deceived him and caused him to sin.

We must realise that sin is caused by doing unlawful desires which come from our own heart (Mark 7:21-23). We must concentrate our minds upon the word of God, and always do that which is pleasing to Him. We should be occupied in doing the work of the Truth. If we do this then we will not be taken off-guard by idle thoughts that can lead to sin. And a moment of sin can bring years of sorrow. It has been said that sin stains, warps, scars, the life of the sinner and clings to his heels as if in hot pursuit. We are told quite clearly, "flee fornication" (1 Cor. 6:18, 9-10). The lesson of David's sin is "He that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). We live in an evil and an adulterous world where the sin of David is part of their wicked, pleasure seeking life-style. Young people, beware! Although teenagers all around us may have little or no morality left, we must "fear God and keep His commandments", mentally and morally resisting such tempta­tions and with purity of mind and heart make a determined effort to flee youthful lusts and rather pursue after godliness".

David was called a "man after God's own heart" (1 Sam. 13:14). Even though David sinned he loved God and devoted much of his time writing psalms and teaching others of God's way.

God was merciful to David because David had repented and had been merciful to others, (remember the lessons on Saul — on two occasions David spared Saul's life, 1 Samuel 24 and 1 Samuel 26). This is why God forgave David. It is important that we should be merciful to others. We pray "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" — if we forgive others then God will forgive us (Matt. 6:12, 14, 15).

REFERENCE LIBRARY:

"The Man David" (H. Tennant)—Chapter 7.

"The Story of the Bible" (H.P. Mansfield)—Vol. 4, No. 3.

"The Ways of Providence" (R. Roberts)—Chapter 17.

PARAGRAPH QUESTIONS:

1. What is sin — and how can we overcome it?

2. How had David broken the Ten Commandments in his sin with Bathsheba?

3. What was Nathan the prophet's message to David after he sinned?

ESSAY QUESTIONS:

1. How did David suffer because of his sin?

2. What lessons do we learn from God's forgiveness of David's sin?