Thou Art the Man!

II Samuel 11-13

Today, we come to one of the saddest chapters in the life of King David. While some of the mistakes he has made before are understandable, this one is inexcusable. Solomon would later write, "He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster" (Proverbs 18:9). The ESV words it this way, “One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys”. David was not busy and found himself in a mess.

In chapter 11, the text tells us that David did not go out to war with his army. Instead, he stayed behind at the palace. As he was walking on the roof of his house, he saw a woman bathing on the roof of her house. Both of these are normal activities and neither David, nor Bathsheba, were behaving inappropriately. However, when David saw that the woman was bathing, he let his eyes linger, rather than look away. He saw that she was beautiful and desired her. Here he allowed lust to enter into his mind. He still has a chance to walk away, but doesn't. He instead chooses to act on his lust and sends for Bathsheba. There is no indication that she resisted the king and they spent the night together.

In the process of time, she discovers that she is pregnant from their tryst. She sends word to the king to let him know. David has to do something. He sends a letter to the army asking for Bathsheba's husband to be sent home. David acts as though he simply wants a report on the war. He then sends Uriah home to spend the night, but he refuses to go home. He would later tell the king that his brothers in arms are sleeping in the field, it would not be right for him to sleep in a comfortable home. David tries again, this time inviting Uriah to dinner, where he gets him drunk. Even drunk, Uriah refuses to go home. So, David feels he has no other choice. He sends Uriah back to the army carrying a letter with his calling for Uriah's execution. Joab, the leader of the army, is to send Uriah into the most fierce part of the battle and abandon him so that he dies.

Joab does as David commands. Uriah dies and Joab sends word back to David that the task has been completed. Upon learning that Uriah is dead, Bathsheba spends the appropriate time in mourning. Once that period is over, David sends for her, and marries her. They had successfully covered their tracks; or so they thought.

In chapter 12, David gets a visit from the prophet Nathan. Nathan tells him a story. It goes like this:

A rich man and a poor man lived in the same town. The rich man had a lot of sheep. The poor man had one that he raised like a child. It ate at his table and slept with his family. The rich man has a visitor one day and want to be hospitable. Rather than kill one of his own lambs, he takes the poor man's lamb and kills it to feed his guest.

David is appalled. He sentences the man to death. At that point, Nathan pointed his finger at David and said, "Thou art the man." He then reveals that God knows David's sins and tells David everything that he has done concerning Uriah. God was going to judge David.

David repents of his sins. However, Nathan tells him that there would still be a price to pay. The baby would die. Then Nathan leaves.

Sure enough, the child gets sick. David fasts and prays the whole time the child is sick. After a week, the child dies. Because of how David has acted during the sickness, the servants are afraid to tell him that the baby has died. However, David sees them whispering and asks them point blank, "Has the child died?" They answer yes.

David gets up, washes his face, and asks for food. The servants ask him why he is now going to eat. David says "While the child was alive I prayed in case God changed his mind." Then David makes a statement that has been used to comfort many parents who have lost children to death. He said, "The child will not return to me, but one day I will go to him." In other words, David believed that he would see his child in Heaven. Let me add, the Holy Spirit inspired the writer of II Samuel to include this statement in the Bible. God placed his stamp of approval on David's statement of faith in little children going to heaven when they die.

We learn one final fact from this chapter. David went in to comfort Bathsheba after the death of the child. They were together again, and she became pregnant a second time. This child would be born healthy and would be named Solomon. He would be the heir to the throne of David.

Chapter 13 is just as sordid as chapter 11. One of David's sons (Amnon) "loves" his half-sister, Tamar. She is the sister of Absalom. Through trickery, he lures her into his home alone and forces himself upon her. Once his evil deed is done, he can no longer stand to look at her. He sends her away. Her brother Absalom learns what has happened and takes her into his home, where he cares for her the rest of his life.

Two years later, Absalom lures Amnon into his home. While there, he has his servants kill Amnon. Because he has murdered his brother, Absalom goes into hiding in another country. David mourns the loss of two sons. He mourns Amnon who has died, and Absalom who is in hiding.

There are two points I want to consider from our text. First, God's judgment of sin is sure and severe. Verse 10 of chapter 12 says, "Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife". Just a short time after the proclamation of judgment, one of David's sons has been killed. He would be the first, but he would not be the last. When God pronounces judgment, we can count on the fact that exactly what he says will happen.

Second, God redeemed David and Bathsheba. I do not mean "redeemed" in the sense of salvation. Rather, he took a bad situation and brought good from it. There are two ways that I see this in the text. 1.) The statement David made about seeing his child again. David is listed in Hebrews 11 as a just man. Just people go to heaven. David was sure of his home in eternity and he was sure of where is baby was after his death. While the baby dying was a terrible thing, David's statement has brought comfort to many parents over the years. God took a bad situation and brought good out of it. 2.) God allowed the relationship between David and Bathsheba to produce the future king of Israel. I don't know why. I know that God did not approved of anything that occurred in chapter 11. However, we serve a redeeming God. Once again, he took a bad situation and used it for good. Bathsheba really the only wife of David that we read about from this point on.

God wants to do the same thing in our lives. Yes, we sin and mess things up royally. Yet ,out of the middle of our mess, God wants to make something beautiful. Will you allow him to do the same in your life. Do not write yourself off as being useless to God. Satan loves to tell that lie. If God can redeem a situation like David's, he can do the same for our lives as well!