2 Samuel 11:1-17
I would like to focus on one verse from our Old Testament lesson that Maddy read so well for us ;
The one that reads
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, …..David remained in Jerusalem.
At first blush it seems an insignificant verse, but it is the key to understanding the whole story.
When we read the Bible, I believe it is important that we give the Bible its plain meaning.
In other words, if you presented the passage to a judge in a Court of Law, how would he interpret it.
I want to say that plain meaning doesn’t always mean its literal meaning to us.
But in our present case it does have its literal historical meaning.
To understand the plain meaning, my hypothetical judge would first look to see what the original text said.
This has been done by many scholars and is called “textual criticism”
And out of textual criticism we have a large number of English translations of the Bible.
So the best way to try and understand what the original text says is to take a look at a few different translations of the Bible.
3. Literary Genre
Then the hypothetical judge would look at the literary Genre and there are at least 14 different Genres in the Bible.
Genres like History, Poetry, Revelation, Parables and Hyperbole.
Then my hypothetical judge would then ask “ What was the meaning of the passage to the first recipients of the text”
And here he would take into account their culture and what would be assumed by the first hearers.
What I mean by assumed by the first hearers is what is implicit in their culture that isn’t implicit in our culture today.
It is only after asking these questions that we can start to try to consider how the passage applies to our ever day lives.
Clearly its plain meaning is literal and historical.
In the culture of David’s day, kings were expected to lead their troops into battle.
Mary J Evans in her book The Message of Samuel puts it well when she said
…It must be remembered that the main function of a king in this period was as a military ruler.
Saul had been appointed in order to remove the Philistine threat and David inherited the role.
She goes on to say
…in staying at home, David was ceasing to behave as a king. (The Message of Samuel by Mary J Evans p. 208)
In 2 Samuel 12:26-29: we see David’s successful general Joab reminding David of responsibility as the King to be the military commander of the troops
Let me read the text to you
26 Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel.
27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply.
28 Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it.
Otherwise I will take the city, and it will be named after me.”
29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it
So what is it all about?
2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, …...David remained in Jerusalem.
Once we understand the responsibility of the King to be the military commander in the field, we can see clearly how this verse shows us how David came to commit adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
He was in the wrong place at the wrong time
Unfortunately for David his one-night stand with Bathsheba resulted in her becoming pregnant.
And so David tried to pass off the baby as Uriah’s.
However, Uriah smelt a rat and didn’t play ball, so David had Uriah murdered.
Let us now look at the story in more detail
However King David didn’t just commit adultery with Uriah the Hittite’s wife.
David compounded his felony by having Uriah murdered, so that David could be free marry Bathsheba.
And he hoped that no one would be the wiser as to when the baby was conceived.
This is one of the most notorious acts of treachery in the Old Testament.
And that is saying something
What makes this event so despicable is that Uriah wasn’t just any old soldier.
He was one of David’s special SAS force - known as the Thirty Chiefs - who had been with David from the days of Adullum’s Cave (2 Sam 23: 39).
In other words Uriah was a trusty companion of David’s.
A friend even. And David had him killed!
I haven’t come across anyone who could break so many of the 10 commandments at one sitting!
As far as I can make out David managed to break at least 4, possibly 5 of the 10 commandments
You shall not murder (No. 6)
You shall not commit adultery (No. 7)
You shall not steal (No. 8)
You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife (No. 10) (Ex 20:1-17)
And possibly also Commandment No 9
16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
But just before you think that David was a special sinner, I’d like to park a verse with you that St. Paul said about King David:
(God) testified concerning (David)
’I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13:22)
A murderer, an adulterer, a thief - a man after God’s own heart?
So how do we marry up all these paradoxes?
I am not going to answer the question now- though I will touch it later!
But back to my Bible reading:
In the spring when kings go out to war…David remained in Jerusalem.
God had called David to be king and so David SHOULD have been at the head of his troops.
But instead David stayed behind in Jerusalem.
I would like to suggest to you two reasons why David fell for the temptation.
Reason No. 1.
David fell into temptation because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There was nothing wrong with being in his palace in Jerusalem – but not when he should have been at the head of his army!
We will often fall for temptation when we are not where we should be - in the Will of God.
Reason No. 2
The second reason David fell into temptation was that he gave into the “sin of the second glance”.
There was nothing wrong when he saw Bathsheba naked for the first time – he couldn’t be blamed for that.
But it was sin when he looked the second time.
When Bathsheba told him that she was pregnant, David tried to get Uriah to come home and sleep with his wife.
Why? So David could pass the child off as Uriah’s!
But when you are so public a figure you can’t get away with that!!
The palace guard probably wasn’t taken in.
I bet Uriah wasn’t taken in either.
Or Uriah might have been told by the Palace Guard that David had been sleeping with Uriah’s wife.
Having called Uriah back from the front, David invited him to go home and sleep with his wife .
However Uriah’s answer had quite a sting in the tail:
"The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields.
How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife?
As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"
And - in other words – that’s where you should have been too, my Lord - not messing round with my wife!
And one sin often leads onto another. And in this case, David has Uriah murdered so he is free to marry Uriah’s wife.
So why did St. Paul call David a man after God’s own heart?
After all, King Saul whom David replaced never did anything quite this despicable.
I think you will find the key to Paul’s comment about King David in the following chapter - 2 Samuel 12, where Nathan the prophet confronts David over his sin.
Nathan tells David the parable of a man who had one single little sheep that he loved very much.
One day a friend of the rich local landowner comes to visit.
In those days, it was usual to offer hospitality especially to a friend.
But instead of taking a lamb from his own flock, he stole the poor man’s only sheep, killed it and put it on the table for his friend.
David is getting caught up in the story
He gets so incensed at the injustice of it all – and you see David’s real heart coming through – that he said that the man who did this must die!!
And in probably the most moving scene of the Old Testament - Nathan looks David in the eye and says: “You are that man!” (2 Sam 12:7).
What does David do?
Instead of putting Nathan in prison or executing him (like many of the later kings of Israel did to prophets who brought unwelcomed prophecy) , David confesses his sin to Nathan.
He says: “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam 12:13)
And he confesses his sin publicly in Psalm 51
The title to the Psalm is
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Let me read you some excepts from the Psalm
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
That’s genuine repentance
And I think that THAT is the key to Paul’s statement that King David was a man after God’s own heart.
It was when David stopped covering up and threw himself on God’s mercy, that he found forgiveness.
St John in his first letter says this:
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth.
But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from every wrong.
(1 Jn 1:8-10)
David was quick to repent and God forgave him – but there were consequences within David’s own family of this sin.
His son Amnon raped his own half-sister Tamar and was killed by her brother Absalom.
Absalom himself (also a son of David’s) was killed as was another of David’s other sons Adonijah.
Even David’s successor King Solomon who was wise in many things was unwise in his love life
He had 300 wives and 600 concubines. (And how many mothers in law!!!)
And they led Solomon astray from worshipping the one true God - Yahweh, to worshipping the gods of the nations around.
As Mary J Evans puts it so well:
David did not foresee or intend the ongoing consequences of his actions - but he remains responsible for them. (Ibid p.215)
So what can we learn from this for ourselves?
1. Make sure we are in the right place at the right time.
Are you sure you are where God wants you to be?
Are you doing what God wants you to do?
You might ask, how do we find out
i) where God wants us to be and
ii) what He wants us to do.
I believe the answers will come by spending time in regular prayer and Bible Study.
I also believe it is important to be part of a local worshipping community.
I believe it is important to have good Christian friends, people who you can trust to talk things over with.
When you feel that you need to make a big decision ask the Lord to give you a word of prophecy. Or some special verse of Scripture.
Sometimes, when you walk close to God, you will simply know the Lord’s guidance.
Are you are close enough to Jesus to hear guide you.
In closing I would like to leave you this verse from Isaiah 30:21
"Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left."
The question I ask myself is "Am I listening?"
