Two Sons

INTRO

Alan Highers lesson on Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

We always reap more than we sow.

David’s life illustrates this fact. Much of the quarter will focus on the repercussions of David’s sin with Bathsheba

Text

David and the child’s conception

David’s idleness (2 Sam 11:1)

David’s fornication (2 Sam 11:2-5)

David’s coverup (2 Sam 11:6-26)

David’s guilt before God (2 Sam 11:27-12:12)

David’s confession (2 Sam 12:13-14; Ps 51)

David during the child’s sickness

David’s son struck with illness (2 Sam 12 :15)

David’s fasting (2 Sam 12:16-17)

David at the child’s death

David’s servants (2 Sam 12:18)

David worships (2 Sam 12:19-20)

David’s trust (2 Sam 12:21-23)

David’s second son with Bathsheba (2 Sam 12:24-25; 1 Chron 22:9). Solomon beloved by God and named “beloved of the LORD.” NIV on 2 Sam 12:25: “and because the YahwehLord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.”

Lessons

Danger of idleness: “Resolve upon a constant diligence in a lawful calling. Poor labouring men aare seldom so vicious in lust as idle gentleman are” (Richard Baxter, Puritan Catechism 275).

Sin will take you to places you never intended. David never imagined killing one of his best and most loyal soldiers (2 Sam 23:8, 39)

The LORD removes guilt but not consequences

1 & 2 Samuel Death of Newborn; Birth of Solomon (12:13–25)

Nonetheless, the death of Bathsheba’s new son leaves today’s readers with one of the most difficult aspects of Old Testament faith. Why is David forgiven while the innocent newborn has to die? The answer lies in the Bible’s distinction between punishment and consequence. The child’s death is a result of David’s sin, but this is not the same as punishment. It is a fundamental principle of life that God may forgive and cleanse us of all wrongdoing, but the consequences of our sin may, and in fact often, remain. The innocent suffer for crimes committed by someone else, but such suffering is not punishment for those crimes. A crack baby may die soon after birth because the mother used crack during pregnancy. The child dies; the mother lives. The child’s death is not the punishment but the consequences of the mother’s sin. Her punishment will take a different form.

Illustrates Ex 34:6-7. Consequences eventually end but God’s love does not.

The innocent often are the victim of another’s sins.

Grief effects people differently. He appears “over it” after the child died.

We will know one another in eternity. “I shall see him” indicates he would recognize his son.