I. The Paths of Disaster 2 Sam.11:1-27
A. The Seduction of Career Dissatisfaction 2 Sam. 11:1
The TIME Kings go to War. Remember in Afganistan when the war was being contemplated. Did not want to go during the winter lest the army get bogged down.
The time KINGS go to war. As God’s representative it was the kings job to lead his army in battle. Let’s go over David’s resume. Fighting was what he was called and anointed to do.
1 Sam. 17 David fought Goliath and the Philistines
1Sam. 18:5 David given high rank in the army
1 Sam. 18:13-16 David given charge over 1000
18: 30 Increasing success
1 Sam. 19-21 Fleeing Saul
1 Sam. 22:1-2 Gathers a ragtag army of malcontents
1 Sam. 23: 1-5 Attacks the Philistines and saves Keilah
1 Sam. 25 Posts guards to protect a rich landowners posessions (army grown to 600 men)
1 Sam. 27 David and his men flee to Gath. Given Ziklag to settle in. Conducted raids against the Geshurites, Girzites, Amalekites, leaving none alive.
1 Sam. 30 David defeats the Amalekites after they capture all the women and posessions at Ziklag
1 Sam. 31 Saul and Jonathan dies
Civil war between the houses of David and Saul 2 Sam. 2-5
David becomes King of Israel and conquers Jerusalem 2 Sam. 5
Wars against the Philistines, Moabites, Arameans, the Kingdom of Hamath, and Edom 2 SAM. 8
BUT THEN SOMETHING CHANGED 2 SAM. 10:6-8; 17-19 READ IT
APPLICATION: CALLED AND ANOINTED TO FIGHT, YET BATTLE AFTER BATTLE DAVID BEGAN TO WANT A BREAK FROM THE PRESSURE. BE CAREFUL OF THE RESTLESS TIMES, THE TIMES YOU WANT RELIEF FROM THE STRESS OF YOUR VOCATION. IN UNGUARDED MOMENTS, SIN CAN STRIKE
B. The Seduction of Unbridled Lust 11:2
* David was in bed, but got up and wandered. What was he thinking about? The army, the kingdom? Bible doesn’t say. But before he encounters Bathsheba, notice something...
a. David wandered away from his seven wives
2 Sam. 3:2-5 Six wives listed
2 Sam. 3: 13-16 David demands Michal returned
b. David wandered from his concubines 2 Sam. 5:13;15:16
Cambridge Advance Learner’s Dictionary: “ A woman, or one of a group of women, usually of lower social rank, who lives and has sex with a man she is not married to”
Maybe some of the marriages were for political convenience, but the only reason for a concubine is for sex.
7 wives and 10 concubines. Over the years David persisted in a pattern of giving in to sexual urges.
This was against the warning of scripture:
Deut. 17:14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”
Deut. 17:15 be sure to appoint over you the king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite.
Deut. 17:16 The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”
Deut. 17:17 He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray.
APPLICATION: A STEADY DIET OF SEXUAL TOLERANCE IS DANGEROUS. DAVID DID NOT FALL IN A WEAK MOMENT...HE CULTIVATED THIS WEAK MOMENT BY ALLOWING LUST TO HAVE FREE REIGN.
THE MOVIES ETC. WE WATCH
THE RELATIONSHIPS WE TOLERATE THAT ARE CHARGED WITH SEXUAL ENERGY. THESE ARE THE PRECURSORS FOR DIASTER.
C. The Seduction of Power and Influence 11:3
The text describes all kinds of power to David
The power to send the army and stay in Jerusalem
The power to send a man to ask about Bathsheba
The power to send messengers to get her.
These were inherent in his power as King. He had these powers over all in his kingdom.
But there are other, more personal kinds of power that David had over Bathsheba
Bathsheba was
a. wife of Uriah the Hittite one of the 30 top officers in David’s army 2 Samuel 23: 39
b. daughter of Eliam, part of David’s personal bodyguard
2 Samuel 23:34
c. granddaughter of Ahithophel, the most respected man in David’s cabinet 2 Samuel 23:34
What kind of power did David have?
-The power to cry wolf-to say she seduced him even if she didn’t.
-The power of life and death over her, her husband, her father, and grandfather.
-The power to ruin the careers of her husband and her family.
Did her father have other kids, dependent on them? Or her grandfather? Can you feel the pressure on her to keep quiet, to not say anything, to maybe let the king have his way and get it over with as quietly and quickly as possible. We don’t know what was said, but the fact that David had this relationship with Bathsheba gave him all this leverage when he made the proposition.
APPLICATION: SOME OF US KNOW WHAT THAT’S LIKE:
FAMILY MEMBER
SOMEONE IN AUTHORITY
THEY MAKE US A PROPOSITION, AND THE CONSEQUENCES AFFECT NOT ONLY US, BUT OTHERS WE CARE ABOUT.
WE KNOW THE GUILT THAT COMES FROM THIS.
WE NEED GOD’S JUDGEMENT
II. The Healing Judgement of God 12:1-13
A. God’s judgement is particular 12: 1ff
Two people committed adultery. Death sentence. But 11:27
David singled out. 12:1 Nathan goes to David.
In fact, whenever the issue is mentioned, David is singled out.
1Kings 15:1 In the eighteenth year of the reign of Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king of Judah,
1Kings 15:2 and he reigned in Jerusalem three years. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
1Kings 15:3 He committed all the sins his father had done before him; his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his forefather had been.
1Kings 15:4 Nevertheless, for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him and by making Jerusalem strong.
1Kings 15:5 For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD’s commands all the days of his life — except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.
Psa. 51:0 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
IN EVERY CASE, GOD PUT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SIN ON DAVID.
Jesus recognized that sometimes we can be lead to sin by others
Matt. 18:6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
APPLICATION: GOD KNOWS ALL THE PARTICULARS. WHEN HE JUDGES, HE JUDGES RIGHTEOUSLY. ARE THERE EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES IN YOUR SITUATION? YOU CAN REST ASSURED THAT GOD WILL KNOW IT AND JUDGE ACCORDINGLY.
You may be struggling with guilt. But sometimes we struggle with guilt that is not really ours. In my practice as a family therapist, I see adults frequently that are struggling with guilt over childhood sexual abuse. "Maybe I should have stopped it, somehow", or "I should have told somebody sooner" In situations like that, we need God’s judgement, for God’s judgement can then set us free. When he judges he is able to penetrate even to the dividing of soul and spirit and joints and marrow. He is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. Nothing is hidden from him when he judges, and he will set responsibility for the sin exactly where it belongs.
B. God’s judgement is specific 12:7-12
Two parts:
Murder of Uriah Violence never leave his house 9-10
Violating Uriah’s wife His wives will be violated v. 11-12
C. God’s judgement leads to repentance 12:13
God’s judgement leads his children, not to condemnation, but it does confront them, challenges them, leading them to repent. This is his goal all along
