David and Bathsheba

Good morning i am glad that we can be here this morning.

We all love stories. In fact stories help us to understand the world around us and help us to grow as people.

The Bible helps is in that way as well.

Have you ever noticed how we tend to gravitate toward the stories?

Think about it for a moment. Growing up or with Kids what do we tend to teach the most?

Stories.

It is okay that we like stories in fact there are many stories outside of the Bible that inform our lives.

A group of stories that came to mind when I was preparring this story about one of the more well known stories of the bible came to mind.

How many of you are familiar with Aesop’s Fables

Aesop’s Fables

Aesop was a slave in Ancient Greece from 620 to 564 B.C.E.

If you aren’t familiar with him I am willing to bet all of us are familiar with at least one of his fables.

Now his fables were first a part of an oral tradition and were passed down through the years. It is difficult to say if they are actually his or if they are just attributed to him.

At the end of the day you might recognize some of these stories.

The Lion and the Mouse

The Boy who Cried wolf

The Tortoise and the Hare

The Ant & the Grasshopper.

I always loved the last one. I thought it was an interesting one that I think really connects well to this mornings passage.

The Any & Grasshopper

For those who aren’t familiar with the story the abbreviated version of the story is simply this.

The Ant worked hard each day all summer to store up food. The Grasshopper was too busy making music to worry about storing any food.

Winter comes along and the Grasshopper asks the ant for food but the Ants turned their backs on the grasshopper and wouldn’t help.

Now this story has many variations and has been tweaked and made more dramatic in many ways. The Moral stays the same for the story.

There is a time for work and a time for Play.

Let’s keep that in mind as we look to today’s passage. Let’s start with the first four verses.

2 Samuel 11:1–4 NIV

1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. 2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.

The Bad choices of David

David made some bad choices. Now I know what many of you are already thinking.

Duh! He was slept with a married woman.

What if I told you that wasn’t David’s First mistake.

He in fact made several other mistakes before that one.

David’s First Mistake

I know you might be thinking. How was this a mistake. Simple, look at verse 1 again. It was spring time the time that Kings go off to war.

David sent his men off to fight instead of going with them he stayed home.

Some of us may not think that is such a big deal he is King after all. What we often don’t realize is that he was violating his duty as King and leader of God’s people.

He made the first mistake by not being where God wants him to be. Leading his Army.

David’s Second Mistake

David’s Second mistake is he got complacent. He was enjoying the finer things of being a King.

In Verse two it talks about the fact that david got up form his bed and walked around. What is interesting is the time of day he got up.

It wasn’t uncommon after the morning work and in the hottest part of the day for people to take a siesta and rest for a bit before getting back to work.

David enjoyed a longer siesta. He didn’t get up after an hour or two he got up in the evening. He was okay with being lazy. He was letting his guard down.

Not only did David like to take long naps but through out this passage you will notice a consistent theme. David liked to Send people to do his work.

He sent his Army to fight.

He sent people to find Bathsheba

He sends people to do all kinds of deeds.

David’s Third Mistake

David saw Bathsheba and he wanted her. He was excited to see that beautiful woman.

He sent someone to find out who she was. He wanted her. When the servant came back to report he found out something very important.

She was the daughter of Eliam, David was probably thinking “Okay not bad she is someones daughter, no big deal”

Then the servant continued and she is the wife of Uriah.

Errrr I guess that is the end of this. Well at least that should have been David’s response.

Instead he sent for her. He slept with her. She went back home, sent away by the king who saw her as nothing more than an object.

David didn’t need to have Bathsheba. At this point he had wives and concubines. He didn’t need her for his sexual satisfaction but he choose to take her anyway.

He rejected that she was someone’s Daughter and wife and pursued his own wants.

David is making a lot of mistakes.

Bathsheba’s Fault

Now don’t be fooled. Bathsheba wasn’t innocent in this matter. It is important to remember she came to David. She wasn’t forced. She came.

IT is often debated and thought about why would she do this if she was a married women.

This is where the context of other passages are important for us to understand.

1 Kings 2:19 NIV

19 When Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king stood up to meet her, bowed down to her and sat down on his throne. He had a throne brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down at his right hand.

It is a common thought that Bathsheba knew what she had to gain from going to the King. It allowed her to move up the social ladder.

At the same time she like David should have never been in this situation.

Choices were made by a variety of parties and they were going to have to deal with those choices.

2 Samuel 11:5–6 NIV

5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.

More Mistakes

Uriah came and of course David is trying to cover his tracks and he is doing everything he can to get Uriah to go sleep with Bathsheba so he doesn’t have to claim the child.

Uriah wouldn’t do it though. It got so bad that David tried to get him drunk. Nothing would work though because Uriah was a man who wouldn’t betray the men he was fighting with and wouldn’t participate in the comforts of home while they were in the field.

David Realized there was no hope so he had only one choice left to him or should I say he thought he only had one choice.

2 Samuel 11:14–15 NIV

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

David Web of Sin

David was stuck in a web of sin that he couldn’t find his way out of. He kept making mistake after mistake as he made bad choice after bad choice.

The Bad choices mounted to the point that Uriah had to carry his own death sentence back to the battle field because David was so deep in it.

The Web of Sin

Can you connect with that situation?

Have you ever been stuck in a situation where you just kept spiraling out of control and there didn’t seem to be any hope of escaping.

It won’t be a big deal if I do this one thing.

Oh now that I have done that I need to lie about it.

Now that I have lied about it i have to keep telling the lie.

Because I have to keep telling the lie I have to fabricate evidence. I have to get others to lie for me.

It just keeps going on and on.

It is horrible how these things can just snowball and build and build till its so big we don’t see any hope of stopping it.

The Ant & Grasshopper

The Grasshopper probably felt very similarly right. He was happy it was a beautiful spring day and he looked down on the ants doing their work and thought.

How foolish of them to waste this beautiful day with work.

That beautiful day turns to two, three, suddenly spring is gone and summer has arrived. Summer comes and go and the Grasshopper makes poor choice after poor choice. The pain then comes when winter hits. When it can no longer be hidden the bad choices that were made.

The truth is we have to realize that like David, the grasshopper, and often our own lives we are going to make mistakes and we are going to sin against God and others.

When we do wrong we are faced with a choice though.

Don’t Let our Mistakes

We have to deal with this hard truth. It is without a doubt one of the hardest things we have to do.

When we sin we have to take responsibility. We are called to confess our sins. To open our hearts to God and to Each other so that we can stop the snowball.

Proverbs 28:13 NIV

13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

James 5:16 NIV

16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

1 John 1:9 NIV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

David and Bathsheba

We are to confess. This is the first step. We have to recognize that there are times in our lives where we have fallen short.

For some of us we may not realize where that is.

Ask God to show you right now where in your life you have fallen short of what his will is for you?

For some of you, I have to be honest. You know where you aren’t in line with what God wants for you.

It may seem like it is impossible to fix the problem. That it is too big. That the snowball is rolling too fast and it has gotten too big. The beauty is that it is never too late. God is a god of mercy and he wants you to experience his grace.

Now let me be clear. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t consequences for our actions. We will touch more on that next week.

It starts though when we confess and we take responsibility.

Let’s Pray.