2 Samuel 11 – 12 part 7

 

Tonight we will be looking at one the darkest hours is David’s life as he commits adultery with Bathsheba which causes him to add sin on top of sin. Let us begin our study starting in verse 1.

 

2 Samuel 11:1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.  2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.  3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"  4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house.  5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, "I am with child."  

 

Now in verse one we learn that Joab and David’s army go out to take over the capital of Ammon as seen here on the map. Now for whatever reason David decides to remain at Jerusalem which was certainly a mistake because he gave him to much idle time and opportunity to sin. As Amos said, he was taking his ease at Zion. Now one thing we need to keep in mind is what Paul said in,

 

Romans 15:4  For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.  

 

We can certainly learn many valuable lesson from David. In some instances we learn how we should act and in instance like the one we are examining tonight we learn how not to do things. One of the biggest breeding ground for sin to develop is when we allow ourselves to have to much time on our hands. Now I know that people enjoy having rest time and I am not suggesting that we shouldn’t have these times but we should be very careful of having extended times of idleness because when we start getting bored it is then they start searching for things to do even if they are sinful and that is exactly what is happening to David.

 

Here we find David up one evening walking on his roof looking around and he sees into his neighbors yard where Bathsheba is bathing. Now in verse number 4 gives us a clue that this bath she was taking was part of her cleansing process after she had finished her natural discharge from her body. Now we need to remember by this time David had somewhere close to 20 women in his Harem and you would think he would have no reason to be looking upon and lusting after another women but that not how a lustful heart works. It wouldn’t matter if had a 1000 women in his Harem a lustful heart is never satisfied and will always be on the look out for something new. Now what David should have done was to turn away as soon as he saw Bathsheba and he should have ran away from the temptation before him but he did not.

 

There is great lesson here for both men and women. If you see something that starts causing you to lust after it, the best thing you can do it turn your head and to get away from that situation because the more you think about it or look at the more your lust will take you over and before you know you will be buried in sin.

 

Now some have suggested that perhaps Bathsheba was just as guilty for exposing herself or that she had some scheme going on. While that might be possible our text does not say this so I believe this would reading to much into the text after she was on her own property and she probably no idea that someone would be looking down from their roof at her.

 

Well we see that David acts upon his lust and send for Bathsheba and he lies with and then sends her back home. Now David probably thought he gotten away with this sin but Bathsheba became pregnant from the encounter and now both of them are concerned because according to the Law Uraiah would have the right to sentence both of them to death for this adulterous act. Now lets continue on to see what David’s plan is,

 

2 Samuel 11:6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David.  7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered.  8 And David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah departed from the king's house, and a gift of food from the king followed him.  9 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.  10 So when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?"  11 And Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing."  12 Then David said to Uriah, "Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.  13 Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.    

 

Here we see David’s plan is to try and cover up his sin. This exactly what many people try to do today. Instead of admitting their wrong and seeking forgiveness or facing the penalties that go along with their sin many think its easier to simply cover them up which lead them to committing more sin to cover up there initial sin. I think every body in this room knows exactly what I am talking about. How many times as children did you break something in the house and instead of telling the truth on how it got broke instead you came up with some other story about how tripped or slipped which  caused something to get damaged. You see one lie leads to another lie. So we do be careful that we don’t catch ourselves doing this. This was exactly what David was doing.

 

First he lies to Uriah in that he pretends like he wants the latest news of the war. But you and I know that all he his hoping for is that he can get Uriah to go home an lie with his wife so that he will think that the child that she will have is his. However we see that Uriah refuses to go to his home. Then the next day David tries again but this time he makes Uraiah drunk trying to make him loose his reasoning because that exactly what happens when you get drunk but it still doesn’t work because Uriah does not go home. So now what his David going to do? Well let find out as we continue in verse,

 

2 Samuel 11:14 In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.  15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die."  16 So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men.  17 Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.  18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war,  19 and charged the messenger, saying, "When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king,  20 if it happens that the king's wrath rises, and he says to you: 'Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?  21 'Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? (juh-rhub-uh-sheth) Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?' -- then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.' "  22 So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him.  23 And the messenger said to David, "Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field; then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate.  24 "The archers shot from the wall at your servants; and some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also."  25 Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab: 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city, and overthrow it.' So encourage him."

 

Here we see that David was willing to go all the way to make sure that his sin was covered up. He asked Joab to put Uriah right at the front of difficult battle and then to pull back so that that Uriah would be killed and that is exactly what happens. But I want to point out what we miss sometimes and that is that not only was Uriah killed by these arrows so were some other men. According to one version 18 men died that day all because David wanted to cover up his sin. So not only was David guilty of having Uriah killed he was also responsible for these other mens death as well.

 

Well we see that Joab plays his part and makes it look official by sending word that they had lost these men and Uriah and then David also plays his part as well even though we know that he was relived that mission was accomplished. Now he sends encouraging words back to Joab and his men.

 

2 Samuel 11:26  When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.  27 And when her 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. 

 

Now we are not told how long Bathsheba morns for her husband some have suggest about 7 days, but one thing we do know is that they got married very quickly after this which was another effort of David to hide his sin so that no one would suspect that they had relations before they were married. Now we see that David had a very difficult time covering up his sin so that the people around him wouldn’t find out about but now matter how hard David tried he could not hide his sin from God and God was not pleased with what David had done. We learn from this that we might fool those around us but we can never ever fool God and David is about to find this out as we begin in,

 

2 Samuel 12:1Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: "There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.  2 "The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds.  3 "But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him.  4 "And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."  5 So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die!  6 "And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."

 

The OT doesn’t contain very many parables but Nathans gives one to David at this time. Now we know from the NT that Jesus used Parables many times and sometimes he used them to open up peoples eyes to the truth about themselves this is what Nathan was doing for David. David was not thinking about his own sins that he was involved in all he could think about was how selfish and mean this rich was being to this poor man. You see it was so easy for David to see the wrong of this rich man and how deserved to punished but he did not realize that Nathan was talking about him and by own word he condemned himself.

 

It is so easy for us to look at someone else and talk about how horrible a sinner they when many times we just might have the same sin or different one in our own lives but when it comes to ourselves we put our blinders on and we don’t want to see the sin in our own lives.

 

2 Samuel 12:7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.  8 'I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!  9 'Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.  10 '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.'  11 "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 neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.  12 'For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.' "

 

Now we have to know David had been feeling guilty about his sin all this time in fact his expresses his guilt of hiding his sin in,

 

Psalm 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long.  4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.

 

Now you try you best to put yourself in the shoes of David and think about how angry he was at this rich man just taking a lamb from this poor man and he was willing to put the man to death over it yet here David was a man who coveted his neighbors wife, committed adultery with her and killed her husband and now Nathan tells him that he is that man. Can you just imagine how his whole body was overcome with conviction and how probably felt like melting to floor and now he has to listen to the consequences of his sins. First he tells him that the sword will never leave his house hold and that turmoil will rise up from within his own house hold and as we will see in our upcoming lessons all these things come to pass. But this is not all the consequences.

 

2 Samuel 12:13 So 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.  14 "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."

 

Now according to the Law David could be put to death, but as we see here David did not try to blame anyone for his sin instead he confess that he had sinned against the Lord and God allows his sin to be passed over and allows David to live. However David is still going to have to face the consequences of his sins and he finds out that his baby is now going to die. A great lesson we learn from this is that we might not die from our sins today we still have to face the consequences of them. For instance of we do harm to our bodies by taking harmful drugs we can be forgiven of sin of doing this but we will still have to live with what damage we have done to our bodies while on the drugs. As Paul says a man reaps what he sows.

 

2 Samuel 12:15 Then Nathan departed to his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became ill.  16 David therefore pleaded with God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground.  17 So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them.  18 Then on the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, "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!"  19 When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, "Is the child dead?" And they said, "He is dead."  20 So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food before him, and he ate.  21 Then his servants said to him, "What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child died, you arose and ate food."  22 And he said, "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?'  23 "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."

 

Here we see David is truly sorry for what he has done and he praying and morning for his child because he knows that he will die as result of David’s sins. However David know how merciful God is and so he hopes that he if cries out to God that maybe he might allow his child to live but that was not the case this time and once the child was dead then David stopped mourning which took his servants by surprise but David tells them there is no way he can bring the child back so there was no more reason from him mourn. However David points the fact of afterlife beyond the grave as he feel confident that he will see his child once again after his own death.

 

This same thing that we need to realize as Christian today is that when someone that we love passes from this earth that is either a young child or a Christian that we will get to see them again in the future and we can’t change the fact that they are no longer living and we must continue on living our lives as we normally do.

 

2 Samuel 12:24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Now the LORD loved him,  25 and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

 

So David comforts his wife and they have another child whose name was Solomon. While it hard to get over a lose of a loved one especially a young child it important that we continue with life or else our sorry will swallow us up.

 

2 Samuel 12:27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, "I have fought against Rabbah, and I have taken the city's water supply.  28 "Now therefore, gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called after my name."  29 So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, fought against it, and took it.  30 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.  31 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.

 

In these last verses we learn that Joab has proven to be quite the solider as well and learn that the defeat the people of Ammon and they take this valuable crown and it was given to David. Now if this crown weighed as much as talent this means it would have weighed around 100 lbs but one thing we know for sure this was a very valuable crown. After this the war was is over and Joab and David’s men return back to Jerusalem.

 

We learned several great lessons from David in these 2 chapters. We learned that we should be careful about having to much time our hands. We have learned that a lustful heart can never be satisfied. We learned that one sins leads to another. We learned that you cannot hide your sins from God and finally we learned that even when you are forgiven of your sins you still have to face the consequences of those sins. So the best thing we cad do as Christians is to avoid sin to avoid sin to the best of our abilities.