David is a Murderer

This will be our last sermon about King David. He was a mighty man, and truly a valiant leader. He relied upon the Lord and was obedient to Him. He wrote a good portion of the book of Psalms including Psalm 118, which is the longest Psalm and chapter in the Bible. In this Psalm, he documents and compels the reader how they should get closer to the Lord, by spending time in His Word each day and meditating on it throughout the day.

David is called a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14). He repeatedly led the Israelites into victorious battles against their enemies. He was noble and honorable. He is humble as he relies upon the Lord to conquer, like in the story of David facing the giant Goliath. He was anointed by God. He was a shepherd skilled in the protection and provision of a flock, which translated to his leadership style as well. He was a talented musician and poet. He was used by God to write most of the Psalms. His son was the wisest man to ever live. David was the greatest king that Israel ever had.

He was the epitome of the type of man we want our young men to look up to. Being called a man after God’s own heart? We should all strive for that title. It means we are so obedient to the Lord that we take after God. I want that for myself. David is a good role model for us.

Today we’re going to be covering another important part of David’s life. This first reading is from 2 Samuel 11:1-5.

David’s Big Sin

2 Samuel 11:1–5 (ESV)

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

David was a rapist who used his power and authority as the king to require a married woman to have sex with him. There are some scholars that claim Bathsheba was a seductress who went onto the roof with the intent to seduce David. Folks, that is not what Scripture says. It says David went looking. She was in the privacy of her roof taking a bath when David looked, saw, and desired. Even if she was a seductress, it’s still David’s fault for falling into adultery with her. But no. The circumstance is David pursued and got what he wanted. In fact, it describes that Bathsheba, after being forced to sleep with her, washed herself of her uncleanness. That’s not the action of someone who wanted this to happen. There’s remorse. She knows what happened was wrong, she never pursued it. How could she say no to the king? The king commands her to come to him. She must obey. He’s the king. Her options are to obey the king and live, or disobey the king and possibly face consequences up to and including death to her and her husband.

Matthew Henry points out a few things that the occasion of David’s sin and what led to it:

1. Neglect of his business. He tarried at Jerusalem. When we are out of the way of our duty, we are in temptation.

What Matthew Henry is saying here is that this time is the time when kings lead their armies into battle. Kings lead their armies. Where is David this time? He’s in the comfort and safety of his own home in the capital city.

2. Love of ease: idleness gives great advantage to the tempter.

David was sitting back and relaxing. Proverbs 6:10-11 says, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.” Essentially, don’t be lazy and push off your work, because it’s a slippery slope in which the lazy person finds themselves with nothing.

3. A wandering eye. He had not, like Job, made a covenant with his eyes, or, at this time, he had forgotten it. And observe the steps of the sin.

This goes for everyone, but especially men. We need to guard our hearts and that includes guarding our eyes. There’s a difference between seeing and looking. Seeing happens innocently. You can help, unless you walk around blind with your eyes closed, to maybe see something tempting. It happens as a fact of having visual receptors located in the middle of our faces. When we see, we don’t need to look. Looking is where you pause and you take in that sight that tempts you. The difference between looking and seeing could be a fraction of a second. Maybe you see, pull your eyes away, but then you are drawn to look back again. When you see, don’t look. Try not to put yourself in a situation where you might see. Seeing and not looking can still lead to sin in your heart. If you see and your mind dwells on it and you start thinking about whatever it was that drew you in, then that is sin as well.

It’s my opinion that helping to mitigate temptation is something we can do for one another. So not only should we seek to not be tempted, but also seek to not tempt others, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

See how the way of sin is downhill; when men begin to do evil, they cannot soon stop.

Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), 2 Sa 11:1.

David’s Coverup

Let’s pick up the story from 2 Samuel 11:14-17

2 Samuel 11:14–17 (ESV)

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.

Again, Matthew Henry says it best when he says,

“Giving way to sin hardens the heart… Robbing a man of his reason is worse than robbing him of his money; and drawing him into sin, is worse than drawing him into any worldly trouble whatever.”

Matthew Henry and Thomas Scott, Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997), 2 Sa 11:6.

2 Samuel 11:26-27 rounds out the story of David murdering Uriah and assault of Bathsheba

26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the 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 Bathsheba is trapped as David’s wife. To make matters worse, the consequence of David’s sin is rearing. The child conceived with Bathsheba would not live. Now Bathsheba is to live under the roof of the man who violated her, who murdered her husband, and whose punishment was the death of her son.

This is where the story starts to turn. David made a mistake. And she made another mistake in trying to fix his mistake. These actions resulted in the death of his son. David’s heart was still hard, and it took a prophet named Nathan to awaken David and realize his sin. David’s heart was so hardened, that Nathan could not at first be direct. So, he told him a story that we can read starting 2 Samuel 12:1-15

2 Samuel 12:1–15 (ESV)

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 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.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of 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. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’ ” 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. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house.

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick.

Transformational Point: A heart that repents of sin will be made clean.

David, the adulterous, murdering, rapist was forgiven of his sin. Even he and the terrible things he did can be forgiven. David was made clean, but still, he faces the consequences of his sin. His heart has been made new, but he now lives with the fact of being a murderer, and the fact that his son was born by Bathsheba.

Church I wonder...

Is there anything you need to ask forgiveness for? Is there anything you need to forgive another for?

David Repents and Seeks Forgiveness.

The result of all this culminates in David having a restored heart. You see, back in the Old Testament times sacrifice was required for the forgiveness of sin, but what God cared most about that process was a person’s, obedient heart.

That’s what gets won in this process: David’s obedient heart. From these experiences David pens a very raw and real Psalm, called Psalm 51. We will read verses 1 -13 together.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

My sweet church family, we have sinned. We are not perfect, of course not. Perhaps we haven’t murdered and pillaged, but every sin is equally distasteful to the Lord our God. Not a single one of us is beyond or better than any sin. We all face the possibility of committing any sin. The way we persevere through those moments of temptation depends on how we have relied upon the Lord leading up to those moments.

Pray to the Lord with me.

What, if anything, do you need to make right today either by offering forgiveness or being forgiven?

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