Gospel Prism

In reading this age old story, I am struck by a few thoughts on David and Bathsheba, observations that I hope will be unfolded some time later in a sermon.

1. David Succeeds and Sin Does Too

It seems while David was hanging out at home, Joab’s army was doing pretty well, something I never noticed: “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.� I guess sins do not only happen when things are going awry.

2. Sin in the Midst of Worship

Here is something that I have overlooked in reading this text before: “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.)� Bathsheba had just finished menstruation and for her to be ceremonially clean for worship in the Temple, she was cleansing herself. Wow, as she as preparing for worship, David sends for her and “lays with her.� Sins do happen even in the midst of a preparation for worship.

Two things come mind for me here, the first about Bathsheba: “Did she want to lay with David?� The text is ambiguous here and so it would seem that we just do not know. But the second thing is that David was the king. He could have ordered her to do so. As things go, there probably was a bit of both.

3. David the Mass Murderer

Most people think of this as David’s murder of Uriah. But look at verse 16: “And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell.� Others fell because of David’s evil schemes. In fact verses 19-21 give us this picture in Joab’s battle plan. He pushed the men towards the wall, which was obviously a suicide mission since those men would be defenseless, all so that one man might be killed on the orders of the king. This one man did die but so many others as well.

David’s sin led to the grief and mourning of these men. Not only did Bathsheba mourn but so did many wives and mothers and children mourn. Why did they mourn? They mourned because David’s eyes saw some pornographic material one morning, and he acted on his hormonal impulses.

Sin, and yes lust, has dreadful and deathful consequences. This is what God sees every day.

And God would punish David righteously for this act of rebellion against God. And God would also extend grace to David by forgiving him. We only need look at Matthew 1:1 to see how God was gracious to David: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.� It doesn’t say the son of Ezekiel or Amos. It says David.

God’s Son, the Messiah, was born as a descendent of David’s despite his rebellion. That is called amazing grace!