The Cost Of Cheating Series

The Cost of Cheating!

Let me tell you a story. It all started with a man; figures doesn¡¦t it? He wasn¡¦t just any man he was the most powerful man in the nation, top political dog. He was it, he had arrived, he had it made and he was on the top of the heap. But he hadn¡¦t done it by himself, he had a little help, you know what they say, ¡§Behind ever great man is a greater woman and a surprised mother in law.¡¨ This guy had a wife with political connections and political smarts, some might even say that she was the reason that he had gotten where he had. And that made it all the worse, because this story is a story of betrayal, a story of how a man betrayed his wife, his beliefs and ultimately his country. And some people were outraged and others, well he was doing a great job of running the country, so what¡¦s a little hanky panky on the side. I¡¦m sure you are familiar with the story, it¡¦s pretty well known. A lot of people have talked about it, and it¡¦s been the topic of a lot of sermons. I¡¦m sure this guy wished that it would just go away. And you know if he had of just been Joe Blow off the street then maybe it would have, but that wasn¡¦t who the story happened to, and if you are going to venture into public life and then play in the dirt you gotta expect people to take notice.

Here¡¦s a picture of the scoundrel here. Well actually it¡¦s not a picture because they didn¡¦t have cameras 3000 years ago. That¡¦s right, it was King David. Who were you thinking about? No! What could possibly have made you think of Bill Clinton?

The story is found in the book of 2 Samuel. A little background. 2 Samuel is the 10th book of the bible and it was originally combined with 1 Samuel as one book. Although Samuel has been mentioned in the titles for three thousand years authorship was never attributed to him and the actual author remains a mystery. Scholars estimate that the books were written around 900 BC shortly after Israel was divided into the Northern and Southern Kingdom. Why was 1 Samuel written? It continues the history of the Israelites, connecting the time of the Judges to the time of the Kings.

So back to the story which we find in 1 Samuel 11, part of which Heather read this morning. Here¡¦s what happened, it was the spring of the year. Now you and I know what spring means. It¡¦s time to do yard work, clean up the property, maybe do a little painting, a little raking, I¡¦ve got some burning to do this year. Those are spring things. But in a different time and a different place, well it was different. We read in 2 Samuel 11:1 The following spring, the time of year when kings go to war, Ah, spring when the robins come back, the bulbs come up and kings go to war. Why spring? I don¡¦t know, maybe in the winter it was too cold to go to war and in the summer everyone was at the beach.

Anyway here¡¦s the story. It¡¦s the spring of the year and the nation of Israel is at war with a couple of different factions, but the King, that would be David is not there. He¡¦s at home, in Jerusalem. His troops are fighting the Ammonites in Rabbah and David¡¦s in Jerusalem. Now today that might not seem all that strange, after all the heads of states only start the wars and keep them going, they don¡¦t actually fight in them, and in most cases they don¡¦t even send their children to fight in them, but that¡¦s a different story. In David¡¦s day and age Kings went to war, they lead the troops, but not David, not this time. This time he¡¦s home and one afternoon just after he had gotten up, honest that¡¦s what the Bible says: 2 Samuel 11:2 Late one afternoon David got out of bed after taking a nap and went for a stroll on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. So he gets ups from his afternoon nap, must be nice to be a king, and he¡¦s taking a stroll around the flat roof of his palace and he looks over and this lady is out in her back yard taking a bath. And she¡¦s not just any lady the Bible says that she was a woman of unusual beauty.

Now I¡¦m not saying that she ought not to be bathing in the back yard starkers, but I would think that when you neighbour¡¦s house is much taller then yours that the thought might possibly cross your mind, ¡§Hey this might not be such a good idea.¡¨ Regardless as the story goes David sends a messenger to fetch Bathsheba, and she arrives at the palace.