HOW THE MIGHTY FALL
David knew the greatest blessings of God. Chosen and anointed as King at a young age, David humbly resumed tending his father’s sheep.
Sent by his father on a mission to check on his brothers, David heard the boastings of the mighty Goliath. Willing to stand for God David defeated the giant. This victory brought Goliath to a position of power.
David served dual role in Saul’s army and on his court. He fought battles on Saul’s behalf, winning great victories. He also served Saul on his court, calming the king with his harp.
Rising to the role of king, David gained great victory. His armies easily defeated the enemies. His wealth increased exponentially.
But all was not well. The great king went through a violent fall. The fall occurred in three steps.
- First, David was where he should not have been (Verse 1)
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
David was resting when he should have been leading. The timing is springtime. The heavy winter rains stopped. This was the prime time for battles. Armies marched. Wars were waged. Kings should lead.
He was laying in bed when he should have been in battle. He was rich, powerful, and vulnerable. He had unquestioned authority which is part of the problem.
In his boredom David is in danger. As is often the case, when things are good, we easily stumble. Boredom leads to temptation.
- Second, David looked where he should not (Verse 2-3)
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
David’s failure started innocently enough. Walking on his roof in the cool of the evening he noticed Bathsheba bathing on her rooftop. Scripture records it simply enough, she “was very beautiful.”
A case can be made that she was far from innocent. She surely knew that his castle was higher than hers. Anyone on that roof could easily look upon hers. But regardless her error in judgment David was responsible.
The “Man after God’s Own Heart” as David is known failed to follow the heart of God. Instead of fleeing immorality David looked on and his heart strayed. His next step was a sin of convenience. He showed no self-control.
Don’t miss the simple truth that David knew Bathsheba was married. He knew it and ignored that truth. She was not available to him.
- Finally, David’s failure included that he did what He should not have done. (Verse 4-5)
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
David first sinned in his thoughts, but then sinned in his actions. He wanted the woman and took her as his own.
He, doubtless, justified his actions by saying, “I wanted her.” People do the same today with language of want, need, or love. All are feeble excuses for sinful actions.
We might ask, “Where is the accountability?” Where are the voices saying that the king should not take her. He took what was not his and no one called him on it.
The consequences of David’s actions were soon to show themselves. A messenger from Bathsheba delivered the news. With three words everything changed, “I am pregnant.” Her husband had been gone for too long for this baby to belong to him. David is now trapped.
David makes three attempts to cover his sin.
- David’s First Attempt to Cover His Sin (Verses 6-11)
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So, Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. 10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So, he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
This first effort was simple enough. Bring Uriah back from the front. He would go home to his wife and then everyone would think that the baby was his. Problem solved. Except it was not.
When Uriah arrived, David feigned interest in the happenings of the war. It was all a ruse as David merely waited for the opportunity to send Uriah home.
To his surprise, Uriah refused to go home. Of course he would have preferred to go home, but his sense of duty compelled him to stay at David’s doorstep. He would not abandon his mission.
- David’s Second Attempt to Cover His Sin (Verses 12-13)
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So, Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
David invited Uriah to stay over another night with a not-so-subtle attempt. This time the idea is that if Uriah is drunk, he will go home to his wife. This effort also failed.
- David’s Third Attempt to Cover His Sin (Verses 14-25)
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” 16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. 18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’” 22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived, he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the *open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” 25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”
David’s third despicable plan soon unfolded. In an ultimate act of betrayal David set up an ambush for Uriah. He was to be taken to the most dangerous spot on the battlefield and abandoned. Uriah takes his own death warrant to Joab.
David’s disgusting act of betrayal worked just as he planned. Tragically, not only Uriah, but also some of the soldiers fighting beside him were abandoned. They were struck down as was Uriah. This is one of the tragedies of sin. It ALWAYS affects others. Sin has collateral damage.
News reached the king that Uriah was dead. Joab need not have worried that David would be upset. While pretending to be upset by the news David must have breathed a sigh of relief.
- David Believes He Has Covered His Sin (Vss 26-27)
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
As this awful chapter concludes David must have thought he had succeeded. He believed he had covered his actions. Sin deceives us so readily.
Painfully, sin never stays hidden. Consider who already knew of David’s actions. The servants who brought Batsheba to David knew. She knew. Those who bore the message of her pregnancy knew. Joab and all his leaders knew of the abandonment of the loyal Uriah.
In addition, everyone could count. The combined time of Bathsheba’s pregnancy, the messenger’s actions, the journeys to and from the battlefield, and the requisite time for mourning would make the sin of David obvious. He thought he had covered his sin, but everyone can count to nine.
David’s “blissful” season with his new bride did not last long. He may have tried to move on this his life, but God also knew of his sin and would not let this action go unpunished.
HOW TO COME BACK IN GOD’S GRACE
Sin finds him out. It always does. (12:1-11)
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup, and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
Scripture is clear, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” Sin is, indeed, sweet for a season. David has displayed the raw sewage of his life. He has deliberately compromised.
Nathan displayed the wisdom of God by telling David a story. The obvious injustice of Nathan’s story is lost on David. He responds with anger, demanding justice. Had Nathan confronted David directly the king would have been less likely to respond.
Having drawn the trap tight Nathan then showed great courage. With his bony prophetic finger pointed right at the king, Nathan said, “You are that man.” God sent Nathan to confront David and he boldly did so.
Nathan speaks God’s words as he lets Uriah know that he would have gladly given the king so much more. The words haunt each of us when we sin. “Why did you despise the word of the Lord.” We show such utter contempt for God when we willingly sin.
The consequence for David’s sin would be obvious. The sword will not depart from his family.
- David repents (12:13)
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
David’s reaction to the confrontation of Nathan shows what set him apart. He was, indeed, a man after God’s own heart. Confronted with sin, David responds with unquestioned and unmeasured repentance. He turned back to God. He dropped to his knees and turned to God.
David wrote his song of repentance, recorded in Psalm 51. He knows he cannot cleanse himself, only God can offer forgiveness. Praise the Lord now as well as then, God covers our sin.
- Sin still has consequences.
12:14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
As we celebrate the grace and mercy of God, we must not miss the next birth. David and his family must recognize that sin always has consequences. The sin would cost David his son.
Sin comes easily to all of us. How easily we fail. And all sin brings consequences to us and those around us. But God shows grace. God restores. God covers.
