David & Bathsheba

David a man after God’s own heart

The Bible refers to David as being a man after God’s own heart

from the time of David throughout the rest of the OT era, God repeatedly has mercy on a rebellious Israel for the sake of His servant David.

When Samuel anointed David to be King, we are told that God chose him because “man looks on outward appearances but God looks on the heart”

David wrote at least 73 out of the 150 Psalms in the Bible.

These Psalms often speak of the love and reverence David has for God’s law

So how did a man like this fall into such desperate and deplorable sin?

Before we get into today’s text, I think the first lesson we need to learn is that if it could happen to David it can happen to anybody.

No one is immune from the dangers of sin

Its tempting to read stories like this and shrug it off with thoughts that “it would never happen to me. I’d never do something like that” And hopefully you are right, but if it could happen to even David....

Despite all the wonderful things the Bible has to say about David, it also doesn’t hide from us his great failings.

The story is left to us so that we can learn from his mistakes and failures, just as we also learn from his victories and his positive example.

Pride and overconfidence comes before the fall

The occasion for sin

2 Samuel 11:1 ESV

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

The first indicator that something is horribly wrong with David is found in this opening verse.

It is the time when Kings go out to battle but David stays at home and abdicates his responsibilities to others.

He isn’t where he is supposed to be and he isn’t doing what he is supposed to be doing.

This is often the occasion for sin in our lives.

When we get out of the will of God we open doors in our lives that make us vulnerable to sin and temptation.

Little sins precede big sins. Sins of omission precede sins of commission. Private sins precede public sins.

A sin of omission is when we sin by not doing something we are supposed to be doing. a sin of commission is when we are doing something we shouldn’t be doing.

When we aren’t doing the things we are supposed to be doing, we set ourselves up for trouble.

What has God called you to do? Are you walking in obedience to His calling and guidance to the best of your ability? Or have you started walking down a different path?

David was supposed to be at war

this is another way we find ourselves in danger of falling to sin.

When we don’t have a battle to fight. We don’t have a mission to accomplish. or a goal to struggle towards, we leave a void inside of us the devil would love to come and fill.

The Bible says “Without a vision the people perish”

The human heart is designed to need a battle to fight or a goal to accomplish.

We were all created for a purpose with works that were predestined for us. We were knit together with an internal drive to pursue that purpose. When we fail to do so, we instead find ourselves seeking to fill the voids we have created with other things.

2 Samuel 11:2 ESV

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

Not only was David not at war with the rest of Israel, we see here that he arose from his couch late in the afternoon. While his people are off dying to enrich him and expand his kingdom, David is lounging around and napping late in the day.

Maybe he was just being lazy, maybe he was depressed and/or bored. The scripture does not tell us for certain, but any of these things can open us up to the dangers of temptation.

“Idle hands are the devil’s playground”

Sometimes our mental state makes us more susceptible to temptation.

When we are tired, depressed, bored, angry, or in any number of other similar mental states we are more likely to give into temptation.

we need to realize this and be extra cautious and vigilant when we find ourselves in a state we are more prone to be weak in.

The extent of David’s Sin

There is major flaw in the human psyche that the church is very much not exempt from.

We have a tendency to want to cover up and defend the wrong doing of the people put on a pedestal or that we feel are on our side.

We find ourselves making excuses and justifications for our people that we would never even consider making for those outside our camp.

We see it all the time in politics and other secular arenas, but we also see it a whole lot within the church itself.

The Bible does not take this path with the “heroes of the Bible”.

It could have easily have left this whole scenario out of the narrative and we would likely never know about it. But that isn’t God’s way and it shouldn’t be our either.

When we look at this whole scenario try not to fall into the temptation of trying to defend David or making excuses for him.

I think we are better served by accepting the full horror of the divinely inspired narrative God has chosen to give us.

2 Samuel 11:2–5 ESV

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

One of the major tactics we often use when seeking to defend or justify the wrong doing of our heroes is to seek to shift blame to the victim.

I’ve heard quite a few sermons on this text over the years that have sought to do exactly this with Bathsheba.

They have often painted Bathsheba as a seductress who managed to snare David.

I’ve heard it argued that Bathsheba obviously was trying to catch David’s eye or else she wouldn’t have been bathing on the roof.

The problem is that the text never says Bathsheba was on the roof. David is the one on the roof, we don’t know where Bathsheba was bathing.

What the Bible does tell us is why she was bathing, she was bathing to purify herself from uncleanness. It was a religious ritual cleansing seeking to be in right standing with God and His law.

Any negative motivation or connotation we want to put onto Bathsheba does not come from the text itself and must be forced onto it from outside. The biblical text seems to portray Bathsheba as a victim in this story. The story is clearly and firmly directed at exposing the sin and guilt of David alone.

In fact it has been argued by many OT scholars that what happened with Bathsheba may not have been consensual. There is certainly some textual evidence which might support that possibility.

We don’t know for sure what the exact details and inner workings of this affair were well enough say for certain, but what we do know is that the text says “David sent messengers and TOOK HER”.

Maybe this was just an affair, or maybe it was something worse, but either way it is just the beginning of David’s great sins.

Bathsheba becomes pregnant as a result.

2 Samuel 11:6–13 ESV

So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

David seeks to cover up his sin by bringing Uriah home so that when Bathsheba’s condition becomes known, everyone would simply assume it was Uriah’s and David’s shame would be covered.

But Uriah doesn’t play along.

It’s possible that Uriah knows the truth and isn’t willing to play along, and is exposing David. or maybe he really is just making a principled statement and being unwilling to embrace the comfort of home while Israel’s troops are in the field.

Either way it is a rebuke of David. He sleeps at the door of the kings house where everyone is sure to see him and when asked why he won’t go home he points to the conditions of the army and says “Shall I then go to my house, to eat, and to drink, and to lie with my wife?”

Note that David, who was supposed to be in the field leading his army was instead at home where he was eating, drinking, and lying with Uriah’s wife”

So regardless of Uriah’s intent, the rebuke had to sting.

So David tries again, this time he gets Uriah drunk to try and impair his judgment first. but Uriah still won’t go.

2 Samuel 11:14–27 ESV

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ” So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell. The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.” David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.” When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

So David plots to have Uriah killed. And he even has Uriah hand deliver the very message consigning him to death.

David who is supposed to be the leader of Israel to care for, protect, and watch over his people now uses his power instead to orchestrate a tactical blunder that not only kills Uriah but also kills an unspecified number of other Israelites as well., in order to cover up his sin and so that he can steal Uriah’s wife.

As the ruler of God’s holy people, David should have been like Christ who laid down his life for His people, but instead David abuses his power and is using people as pawns to have his way and cover his shame and sin With absolutely no regard as to whether they live or die.

look at his response when he is told about the death of Uriah and all the others. “Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another”. there is absolutely no remorse or conviction, he’s just like “it happens no big deal”

In this one chapter David, the man after God’s own heart, who wrote 73 Psalms and repeatedly declares his love for the Law of God has arguably broken 5 of the 10 Commandments.

He covets his neighbor’s wife (10)

He commits adultery with her (7)

He seeks to lie and cover it up with elaborate deceit (9)

He then murders an unspecified number of Israelites, including Uriah (6)

Finally he steals Uriah’s wife and marries her himself (8)

This is one of the darkest tales in the Bible. David’s sins seem to dwarf the sins of Saul who had the kingdom stripped from him for making a sacrifice to God rather than waiting for the Prophet.

One king makes a premature sacrifice to God and has everything taken from him, the other commits adultery (or worse) and kills a bunch of people to cover it up and is known in perpetuity as a man after God’s own heart. How are we to make sense of this?

I believe the answer lies in one of the verses I quoted at the beginning of this sermon. Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart.

By all outward appearances David is the bigger sinner

But luckily this is not where the story ends.

The consequence of sin

2 Samuel 12:1–15 ESV

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 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.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, 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 and before the sun.’ ” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick.

The Prophet Nathan comes to confront David.

Keep in mind that one of the roles David had as King was to pass judgment on situations like the one Nathan presents to David.

David likely thought this incident being shared by Nathan was a real event and didn’t see it as Nathan giving a parable.

David thinks he is passing judgment on a real person, and he is, but that person is himself.

The difference between the heart of Saul and the heart of David is revealed by their response when being confronted with their sin.

David does not offer up excuses, he acknowledges his sin. is sorrowful over it, and genuinely repents.

Listen to David’s response from Psalm 51

Psalm 51 (ESV)

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Because David was repentant of heart Nathan tells him “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

The Lord forgives David and puts away his sin.

His life and soul are saved by God’s grace and mercy

But that does not mean there are not still consequences and temporal punishments for his sins.

On one hand God forgives and shows mercy but on the other He delivers very severe judgments.

First, the child born of David’s sin with Bathsheba became sick and died.

God also declares that the sword will never depart from David’s house, and that just as he took Uriah’s wife so his wives would also be taken by another. And this indeed came to pass. For the rest of David’s life he has to deal with strife and rebellion, we see this most especially in the rebellion of his son Absalom.

What can we learn from this story?

No one, not even the man after God’s own heart, is immune from temptation and sin

We need to guard our hearts and lives lest we fall into a downward spiral of sin like David did.

small sins precede large sins, sins of omission precede sins of commission, and private sins precede public sins.

Stay faithful in what God has called you to. Keep fighting the good fight and hold fast to the vision God has given you for your life.

Don’t abdicate your responsibilities or battles to others. Only you can fight the good fight of faith for you. Your pastor, your family, and your friends can help you, support you, pick you up when you fall, but ultimately you alone are responsible for your own growth and spiritual life.

The easiest way to not fall into temptation is to not give occasion for it in the first place.

sin is a slippery slope. Once you start down that path it quickly escalates and disorients, leading you further and deeper into its grip than you ever thought you could go.

we never want to downplay sin or view it in any way as less horrible than it really is.

this Goes for our own sins and the sins of others.

If we downplay our own sin and justify and excuse it, then we cannot truly and genuinely repent and be delivered. We are being like Saul rather than like David.

If we downplay and excuse the sins of others then we cannot be like Nathan and call them to a repentance that will save their souls. We leave them in their sin and give them a false sense of security

The only way out of sin and the only escape from sin’s eternal consequences is genuine repentance and the mercy and grace of God through the atoning work and blood of Jesus Christ.

Even though you have repented and God has put away your sins, and promised that you shall not die but have eternal life, there may still be natural and temporal consequences for your sins

story of boy that killed the duck