David: A story of Sin, Repentance, and Restoration
Recap 2 Sam 11
If anybody is just joining us now, here is the recap. David is the king of Israel. Israel is at war, and at this time in history, a king would be at war with his army. David, however, is at home laying around. So he is not where supposed to be. He is restless and can’t sleep, and goes up on the roof and is walking around, and sees a girl bathing. he starts lusting after her and arranges for her to come to his house. He finds out that she is married, but calls for her anyway. He sleeps with her and she becomes pregnant.
He later finds out that her husband is one of his mighty soldiers. He also finds out that the girl is one of his best buddies daughters. He tries to get the soldier, Uriah, to come back from war and sleep with his wife, so he can cover up the pregnancy. However, Uriah is too loyal, and will not go home to his wife while his brother soldiers are still fighting. David then devises a plan to have him killed instead. He thinks he is free and clear and covered up his sin, but of course, in the end, you can never hide your sin from God.
The last thing we read last week was 2 Samuel 11:27 “but the thing David had done displeased, the Lord” and that’s where we start today.
Read:
2 Samuel 12:1-6
- 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.”
Any thoughts?
Do you think there is any small talk first? Came to him and started on a parable??
Do you think David thinks this is odd?
He does not appear to see it as odd or see himself in it.
- The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him…
Throughout this whole deal so far, David has had many chances to stop and repent. However, he keeps ignoring his conscience. Here God sends a person to confront David with his sin. Is God bent on punishing, David, or is something else going on here?
This absolute mercy from God.
Genesis 6:3
Then the Lord said, “my spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be 120 years.“
… My spirit will not contend with humans forever…
Take note when God is convicting you for a sin, repent, right away. The convection of the Holy Spirit might not always be there.
… Who refused to take from his own flock…
He took from the poor man’s lamb. The sin Nathan describes here is theft. There is a sense in which David stole something from Uriah.
1 Corinthians 7:4
The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife.
Not only did David commit lust, and adultery, but he also stole something that didn’t belong to him.
What can we take away from this?
When we sin, we are often committing more than just the direct sin.
In this time, it was common to have a lamb as a pet. Imagine this same story today except they’re using somebody’s family dog which they really love. Nathan came and set David up with a heartfelt story, and David fell for hook line and sinker.
It still seems odd to me that David would sit and hear the story and not think that something was up. Is he callous to what he did? Does he think he’s so clever that nobody knows? Has he just totally forgotten what he did, so he cannot connect any dots here?
- 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.”
David gets extremely upset. He obviously still has a moral compass, even though he ignored it in his own situation. As the king, David has the authority to pronounce judgment over such a sin. And that’s exactly what he does. He pronounces a death penalty on this sin.
It’s funny, Nathan did not ask David to pass judgment on the situation. David, assumes the story is true, and immediately passed the death sentence on the man.
Even though David has the authority to pass whatever judgment he wants, do you think the made up sin in the story is worth a death sentence?
Do you think David is trying to pacify his conscience by having “righteous” anger on somebody else?
David knew that penalizing the rich man, even with death, wasn’t enough. He also had to restore something to the man he took something from. David knew that true repentance means restitution.
… He must pay for that lamb four times…
David also shows that even though he is far away from God, spiritually, his knowledge of the Bible is still there.
Exodus 22:1
If a man steals an ox, or a sheep, and slaughters it, or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep, for a sheep
David has knowledge of the words in the Bible, but currently is missing the relationship.
As parents, how can we use this as an example when we train our children?
Christian children are usually pretty good at giving a biblical answer, or “Sunday school“ answer. But it can be harder to teach them about a personal relationship than I can be a person who has never had Jesus in their life. As Christian parents, this should be one of our greatest concerns.
2 Samuel 12:7-12
- 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.’ ”
….you are the man…
With this, Nathan applied the parable with alarming simplicity. Nathan had to shock David into seeing his sin for what it was.
David was reminded that God is bigger and smarter than we are. Nathan, who hadn’t been a party to any of this incident, recited back to David exactly what he had done, in painful detail, and pronounced God‘s judgment on the king.
What should David’s punishment be?
David, as the king already pronounced the punishment… Death.
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.
What is God saying here thru Nathan?
Through Nathan, God explained to David that his sin was really a base expression of ingratitude. When God gave all this to David and had so much more to give him, David sought out sin instead.
- Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?
Psalms 19:8
”The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.“
In Psalm 19:8, David said: The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. Yet by his sin, he despised the commandment of the LORD. David acted as if God’s command was wrong and to be despised when he did evil in His sight.
- 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.’
God promised that from that day forward David would know violence and bloodshed among his own family members.
Do you remember what David said the restitution should be? (4 x lamb)
Sneak peak: David demanded fourfold restitution for the man in Nathan’s parable. God exacted fourfold restitution for Uriah from four of David’s sons: Bathsheba’s child, Amnon, Absalom, and Adonijah. (Coming in the future)
…because you have despised me…
In 2 Samuel 12:9 God said that David despised the commandment of the LORD. Here Nathan explained that in doing this, David despised God Himself. We can’t despise God’s commandments without despising Him.
1 John 1:6
- If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
Many who live in either open or hidden sin seem to believe it has no effect or little effect on their relationship with God. But despising God’s commandment means despising God Himself, and we can’t have fellowship with God and despise Him at the same time. - “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.’ ”
God warned David that because he troubled another man’s house, God would allow trouble to come upon David’s house – from within the house.
2 Samuel 16:21-22
- Ahithophel answered, “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.” 22. So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
As David violated another man’s wife, so another will violate his wives. This was fulfilled in 2 Samuel 16:21-22.
Where have you heard the name Ahithophel before?
One of Davids trusted advisors, the father of Elian, who is the father of Bathsheba.
…So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof…
Why on the roof?
This could very well be the very same roof that David was walking around on that started this whole chain of events.
So here we are again with David. Throughout this whole ordeal, he has had several times where he could stop and repent. Right now is another one of those times. He could accuse Nathan of lying. He could say I never did that. He could have Nathan killed.
Nathan knew all this when he came, but he came and confronted David because the Lord told him to. Nathan feared the Lord more than he feared David.
Finally, after all the sin upon sin upon sin, David will stop and acknowledge what he has done and repent…
2 Samuel 12:13
- Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.
How do you think David feels now that he finally confessed his sin?
David saw his situation clearly, and dealt with it boldly. With his admission of guilt, it would’ve been fully justified if God had carried out the sentence, pronounced upon him by his own judgment, and struck him dead on the spot. David confessed his sin, and he expected to die for it.
It is when we are truly honest with God, that we find his mercy and grace
In the original Hebrew, David statement “I have seen against the Lord“ amounts to only two words: Hata el Yahweh. These two words, and the heart they reflect, are all it takes. Confession doesn’t need to be long-winded. It is a matter of the heart.
What is good about such a short confession?
The words are very few, but that is a good sign of a thoroughly broken spirit. There is no excuse, no hiding, no concealment of the sin. There is no searching for a loophole, no pretext put forward, no human weakness, pleaded. He acknowledged his guilt openly, candidly, and without any denial of truth. (Keil and Delitzsch)
…Against the LORD…
David said he sinned against the Lord. Did he only sin against the Lord?
This expressed the enormity of David’s sin. His sin against Bathsheba, against Uriah, against Ahithophel, against his wives and children, and against the nation were great. But his sin against the LORD was greatest of all. There are no small sins against a great God, and great sins are even greater.
2 Samuel 12:13
13b Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
This is an important defining moment in David’s life. He confessed his sin, and was prepared to accept his punishment of death. Instead, God showed his grace by forgiving David, and allowing him to live.
For the rest of his days, when David opened his eyes in the morning, he knew that he was alive for one reason, and one reason only: the sheer grace of God. That turning point changed the direction of David’s life, and deepen his relationship with God to a level he would have never known before. Understanding God‘s grace will have the same effect on you and me.
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of repentance. It illustrates that David‘s repentance was not just a “sorry, I’ll try to do better” sort of thing, but a deep heartfelt plea to God for forgiveness, the healing and restoration:
Reading psalms is different than other books of the Bible. Psalms are poetic. You can break them apart line by line or even word for word, but I think first it’s good to read it all out loud and see if the whole theme or message can be relayed.
First, we will read verse 1 through 12
What are these verses about?
Psalm 51:1-12 – NIV
- Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. 5. Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place. 7. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 10. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Verse 1 through 12 is all about David asking God for forgiveness and for God to cleanse David of his sin.
Now read verse 13 through 19. What are these about?
- Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. 14. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. 18. May it please you to prosper Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19. Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Genuine repentance brings forgiveness, restoration and healing, and the end result of that cycle is action. David committed himself to serving God with his restored life, and leading other needy people to him. It is not the “sacrifice“ of labor that produces favor with God; it is favor with God, through honest repentance, that produces a willing servant.
One more key to remember:
David said two words of repentance, (Hata el Yahweh) and God immediately said: 13b Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
What did David do to earn his salvation?
Just like the thief on the cross. He did nothing, but admit he is a sinner and God did the rest. Like the thief on the cross, God can see the heart.