David, Bathsheba, God, and Me
David is anointed King of Israel. He defeats the Philistines. The Ark is brought back to Jerusalem. God makes an everlasting covenant with David. David rejoices with gratitude. David enjoys many more military conquests. He shows grace to Saul’s only living descendant. He defeats Ammon and Syria. And then, in the spring, when kings usually go out to battle, David does not, and sends Joab instead. While David is home he walks along his rooftop one evening and sees a woman bathing, a very beautiful woman.
What does David do when he sees Bathsheba? He covets her. (Ex. 20:17) David sends one of his servants to find out who this woman is. The servant informs David that the woman is “Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite” In Numbers 23:39 Uriah the Hittite is listed among David’s top warriors, one of the “thirty” mighty men. While Uriah is off fighting battles for David, David sends for Bathsheba to come to him at the palace.
What does David do when she comes to him? He commits adultery. (Ex. 20:14) David lays with another man’s wife. Come to find out Bathsheba’s bath was probably a cleansing after her monthly menstrual cycle, making the timing of David’s adultery ripe for conception. After returning to her house, Bathsheba discovers she has conceived and sends word to David that she is pregnant. David immediately sends a message to General Joab saying, “Send Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sends Uriah.
What does David do? He lies. David has not sought Uriah to repent to him of his sinful actions, but rather to conceal those sins. He has not sent for Uriah to hear a report about how things are going on the front lines. He has sent for Uriah to cover his own tracks. David’s hope is that Uriah will come home and lay with Bathsheba. Thus, the assumed father of the child would be Uriah.
What David did not factor in is that Uriah is a man of character. As a warrior, Uriah is unwilling to go to Bathsheba and lay with her while his men are sleeping in the fields unable to lay with their wives. In this scene, David is the coward, and Uriah is the man. After two failed attempts to get Uriah to lay with Bathsheba, David sends Uriah back to the battlefield. David gives Uriah a note to deliver to Joab. Unknowingly, Uriah is delivering a message from the king that reads, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”
What is David doing in his command to Joab? He is murdering Uriah. (Ex. 20:13) Joab did as David commanded him and Uriah was struck down dead in battle. David has finally covered his sinful tracks. When Bathsheba hears of her husband’s death, she laments over her husband. When her mourning was over, David sent for her and she became his wife and bore David a son.
“But the thing that David had done displeased God.”
While the whole Israelite nation was in the dark as to what David was doing, God was watching it all. “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.” Proverbs 15:3.
What does God do? God speaks. God uses the same prophet, Nathan, he used to make his everlasting covenant with David. God rebukes David through Nathan via a parable. Nathan tells David a story of two men, one rich and one poor. The rich man who has everything takes from the poor man who only has one treasured thing. After hearing the story David grows very angry and he says to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the rich man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the poor man fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had not pity.” Nathan then looks at David and says, “You are the rich man!”
What does God do? God disciplines the children he loves. Nathan, a messenger of God, explains what God has done for David, and yet even though God has blessed David beyond measure David has despised the Word of God. To break God’s commands is to despise God’s Word. God tells David that he is guilty of the murder of Uriah. As a result of David’s disobedience, God declares that the sword will never depart from David’s house, God will raise up evil against David out of his own house, God will take David’s wives and give them to David’s neighbors. David’s neighbors will lay with David’s wives in the light of day, not the cloak of darkness.
How does David respond? “I have sinned against the Lord.” In God’s OT law adultery and murder both result in death. David makes no excuses. David knows that with God there is no hiding. The word of the Lord reveals sinfulness. Justice for David is death. David believed with his whole heart that the only thing he deserved was death.
What does God do? He puts away David’s sin. Nathan says to David, “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.”
What is the result of David’s scorning of the Lord? The death of Bathsheba’s child. After the birth of his son, David fasts and prays for seven days, yet the Lord sill permitted the infant to die.
How does this apply to us? We are all David. We all have God’s law written on our hearts (Romans 2:12-16), and we have all utterly scorned the Lord through our blatant disobedience to His Word. Jesus explains that the breaking of God’s law begins in one’s heart. We commit adultery in our lust, we murder in our anger, and we covet in our envy. (Matthew 5-7) It is not that we are appalled with David’s actions, it is that we can all too easily identify with David’s actions.
What does man need? New life, not more laws. The gracious holy laws that God writes on our hearts reveal our sinfulness, our just death sentence, and the realization that salvation cannot be found within ourselves. We are dependent on God for redemption from the guilt of our own sinfulness.
What is the Good News? God redeems sinners. Jesus is the Word of God, and the Lamb of God. In the fulfillment of His promise, God sent His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. The presence of the Word of God, Christ, brought the realization of personal wickedness to mankind. Jesus helps everyone see that if they don’t look to His death on the cross for their salvation from their sins they will surely die. (John 3:14-15) Whoever believes in Christ has died in Christ, and is resurrected with Christ. The death of Christ on the cross is the complete payment for our sins. The resurrection of Christ from the grave is the death of death and thus eternal life for all who believe in him.
We have a covenant making and a covenant keeping God, and He has now made a new covenant in Christ. Christ proclaims that if we repent and believe, we will be given a new heart, we will receive God’s Spirit in us, and we will become a new creation. God’s Spirit in us will move us to obey God’s Word. (Ezekiel 36:26-27) It is not a covenant of law, but a covenant of grace. (Romans 6:14-15) So for Christians the message is, “put to death” that which is earthly within you and set your mind on the things above. (Col. 3:5) But, for the non-Christian the message is repent and believe in the one whom God sent to redeem you of your sin.
Persevere,
Joey Turner
Pastor of Missions and Adults
What does David do when he sees Bathsheba? He covets her. (Ex. 20:17) David sends one of his servants to find out who this woman is. The servant informs David that the woman is “Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite” In Numbers 23:39 Uriah the Hittite is listed among David’s top warriors, one of the “thirty” mighty men. While Uriah is off fighting battles for David, David sends for Bathsheba to come to him at the palace.
What does David do when she comes to him? He commits adultery. (Ex. 20:14) David lays with another man’s wife. Come to find out Bathsheba’s bath was probably a cleansing after her monthly menstrual cycle, making the timing of David’s adultery ripe for conception. After returning to her house, Bathsheba discovers she has conceived and sends word to David that she is pregnant. David immediately sends a message to General Joab saying, “Send Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sends Uriah.
What does David do? He lies. David has not sought Uriah to repent to him of his sinful actions, but rather to conceal those sins. He has not sent for Uriah to hear a report about how things are going on the front lines. He has sent for Uriah to cover his own tracks. David’s hope is that Uriah will come home and lay with Bathsheba. Thus, the assumed father of the child would be Uriah.
What David did not factor in is that Uriah is a man of character. As a warrior, Uriah is unwilling to go to Bathsheba and lay with her while his men are sleeping in the fields unable to lay with their wives. In this scene, David is the coward, and Uriah is the man. After two failed attempts to get Uriah to lay with Bathsheba, David sends Uriah back to the battlefield. David gives Uriah a note to deliver to Joab. Unknowingly, Uriah is delivering a message from the king that reads, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”
What is David doing in his command to Joab? He is murdering Uriah. (Ex. 20:13) Joab did as David commanded him and Uriah was struck down dead in battle. David has finally covered his sinful tracks. When Bathsheba hears of her husband’s death, she laments over her husband. When her mourning was over, David sent for her and she became his wife and bore David a son.
“But the thing that David had done displeased God.”
While the whole Israelite nation was in the dark as to what David was doing, God was watching it all. “The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.” Proverbs 15:3.
What does God do? God speaks. God uses the same prophet, Nathan, he used to make his everlasting covenant with David. God rebukes David through Nathan via a parable. Nathan tells David a story of two men, one rich and one poor. The rich man who has everything takes from the poor man who only has one treasured thing. After hearing the story David grows very angry and he says to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the rich man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the poor man fourfold, because he did this thing and because he had not pity.” Nathan then looks at David and says, “You are the rich man!”
What does God do? God disciplines the children he loves. Nathan, a messenger of God, explains what God has done for David, and yet even though God has blessed David beyond measure David has despised the Word of God. To break God’s commands is to despise God’s Word. God tells David that he is guilty of the murder of Uriah. As a result of David’s disobedience, God declares that the sword will never depart from David’s house, God will raise up evil against David out of his own house, God will take David’s wives and give them to David’s neighbors. David’s neighbors will lay with David’s wives in the light of day, not the cloak of darkness.
How does David respond? “I have sinned against the Lord.” In God’s OT law adultery and murder both result in death. David makes no excuses. David knows that with God there is no hiding. The word of the Lord reveals sinfulness. Justice for David is death. David believed with his whole heart that the only thing he deserved was death.
What does God do? He puts away David’s sin. Nathan says to David, “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die.”
What is the result of David’s scorning of the Lord? The death of Bathsheba’s child. After the birth of his son, David fasts and prays for seven days, yet the Lord sill permitted the infant to die.
How does this apply to us? We are all David. We all have God’s law written on our hearts (Romans 2:12-16), and we have all utterly scorned the Lord through our blatant disobedience to His Word. Jesus explains that the breaking of God’s law begins in one’s heart. We commit adultery in our lust, we murder in our anger, and we covet in our envy. (Matthew 5-7) It is not that we are appalled with David’s actions, it is that we can all too easily identify with David’s actions.
What does man need? New life, not more laws. The gracious holy laws that God writes on our hearts reveal our sinfulness, our just death sentence, and the realization that salvation cannot be found within ourselves. We are dependent on God for redemption from the guilt of our own sinfulness.
What is the Good News? God redeems sinners. Jesus is the Word of God, and the Lamb of God. In the fulfillment of His promise, God sent His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. The presence of the Word of God, Christ, brought the realization of personal wickedness to mankind. Jesus helps everyone see that if they don’t look to His death on the cross for their salvation from their sins they will surely die. (John 3:14-15) Whoever believes in Christ has died in Christ, and is resurrected with Christ. The death of Christ on the cross is the complete payment for our sins. The resurrection of Christ from the grave is the death of death and thus eternal life for all who believe in him.
We have a covenant making and a covenant keeping God, and He has now made a new covenant in Christ. Christ proclaims that if we repent and believe, we will be given a new heart, we will receive God’s Spirit in us, and we will become a new creation. God’s Spirit in us will move us to obey God’s Word. (Ezekiel 36:26-27) It is not a covenant of law, but a covenant of grace. (Romans 6:14-15) So for Christians the message is, “put to death” that which is earthly within you and set your mind on the things above. (Col. 3:5) But, for the non-Christian the message is repent and believe in the one whom God sent to redeem you of your sin.
Persevere,
Joey Turner
Pastor of Missions and Adults
Recent
Archive
2024
January
February
March
April
May
June
August
September
October
2023
August
September
Impossible Christianity: Why Following Jesus Does Not Mean You Have to Change the World, Be an Expert on Everything, Accept Spiritual Failure, and Feel Miserable Pretty Much All the TimeTwo Distorted Versions of Discipleship: Part TwoGiving Your Children a Better Why: The Primary Purpose of Going to ChurchJesus and My Identity Crisis
October
November
Categories
no categories