Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalms 51:10-12 NIVUK
There are few kings in Jewish history, or even in any nation’s history, who could approach the status that David has.
A man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22, see also 1 Samuel 16:7), the wellspring of the Messiah (Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:27), designer of the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:5), writer of most of the Psalms, fearsome warrior and tactician, he is known as Israel’s greatest king.
And yet he fell to temptation.
And yet this great man needed to repent.
We are unfortunately used to the fall of men with a great reputation. In this age of twenty-four hour news channels, rapacious print journalists and bloggers, it is pretty much impossible for those with power and influence to get away with anything.
Add to that an easily offended ‘snowflake’ generation and huge scandals are never far away.
Even while I write these lines, the UK has lost multiple Prime Ministers within the last twelve months, several senior leaders have lost their jobs. In fact, right now police are searching off properties belonging to the former First Minister of Scotland and the ruling party and have arrested its CEO alleging financial impropriety. And in America, for the first time in history, a former president has been charged with more than thirty counts of financial felonies.
When the rich and powerful fall, they make a huge noise.
And David is very much among them.
The Bible is rare among ancient literature. It is ruthlessly honest about the failings of its major characters, even those with significant national standing like David. 2 Samuel 11 contains a lurid, no-holds-barred account of his failings.
Firstly, David is in the wrong place. 2 Samuel 11:1 tells us that at the time kings usually go to war, David remained at home. He was clearly neglecting his duties as king and commander of his forces, something which irritated his military leader and relative Joab (2 Samuel 12:26-28).
Secondly, he is looking at the wrong thing. 2 Samuel 11:2 tells us that he saw a woman bathing – evidently in some stage of undress. He might have caught a glance, but that glance turned into a stare.
Thirdly, he thought the wrong thing. The Bible is clear: temptation to take what is not yours begins in the mind with covetousness, something that is expressly forbidden by Jewish Law (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21).
Fourthly, he does the wrong thing. Curiosity aroused, he sends someone to find out about her. She is Bathsheba: the wife of one of his senior military commanders, Uriah the Hittite. (2 Samuel 11:3, c.f. 2 Samuel 23:39; 1 Chronicles 11:41).
What follows next is classified by some authors as rape because a woman in her position in their society was not able to deny or withdraw consent. In any case, it is a flagrant and awful abuse of power.
David has sex with her (2 Samuel 11:4). In full knowledge of who she is, knowing that this is very much against the law (Exodus 20:14; Deuteronomy 5:18).
This is a shocking betrayal of a close colleague and a gross sin.
And then the situation spirals out of all control, as it often does.
She is in the time of purification following her monthly period and so becomes pregnant with David’s child.
Nowadays, we have to be honest. In this situation, the rich and famous would not hesitate to force such a woman to have an abortion. They would rather incite medical murder than face the consequences of their wrongdoing.
David doesn’t have that option. So he invites Uriah back home and tries to induce him to have sex with his wife, which, ironically, out of loyalty to David and his men, he will not do (2 Samuel 11:6-13). So David arranges with Joab, through a letter sent with Uriah, that he should be placed in a dangerous place in the battlefield and slain by the Ammonites (2 Samuel 11:14-17).
And this is shocking.
The prophet Nathan calls out David’s sin (2 Samuel 12:1-12). God forgives him but does not protect him from the consequences of his sin. David loses his child with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:13-23), his moral authority over his family – which collapses into sexual degradation and murder (2 Samuel 13), two more of his sons and, temporarily, the crown (2 Samuel 15).
What an unholy mess!
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of repentance – in a sense, his re-conversion. As such, it gives us strong clues about how to repent when you see the severe consequences of your own wrongdoing.
Firstly, we see a recognition of sin (Psalm 51:1-6). Much like the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:15-20), David has hit rock bottom because of his sin. The great king of Israel begs for mercy and forgiveness from God because he recognises himself for who he is: behind the robes and the crown, he is nothing more than a failure, a sinner and a lawbreaker.
Gallingly, at least for us, he seems to see his sin as only being against God (Psalm 51:4). Certainly we can see that God does not agree with this. Bathsheba, his family and his people were all adversely affected by this one night of illicit passion. Of course David had sinned against them too!
However, we must remember that this is poetry, and Middle Eastern poetry at that. It could be that David is using hyperbole to highlight that his relationship with God is what has taken the biggest hit, and is what is most valued to him. After all, it was God who had chosen him from obscurity and ignominy to become king (1 Samuel 16:1-13).
His actions really were a tremendous insult to God's generosity and grace.
Secondly, we see a plea for restoration (Psalm 51:7-12). David recognises that his sin has made him unclean, that his spirit has been broken by all that he has done, and that he is at risk of being cast from God’s presence.
Thirdly, we see a promise of repentance. David bargains with God that if God will forgive him and overlook his heinous sin, then he will dedicate himself to the service of the Lord in turning others back from sin, and in the worship and praise of the Lord in His Holy Place (Psalm 51:13-19).
David has committed an awful sin - a series of awful sins, in fact. He freely recognises that here. He does not, as many do nowadays, try to deny it, deflect it or escape its painful consequences.
But what he does do is seek to repair the most important relationship he has broken – his relationship with God.
Like Job, David is at rock bottom. Unlike Job, it is entirely his fault.
All repentance – all conversion – begins with a realisation and confession of sin.
There is no other way.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am conscious that I am a sinner: that sometimes I deliberately choose to do the wrong thing, and often the things I do are not good enough. Please forgive me. Cleanse my of my sin and make me whole. Help me to follow You instead. Amen.
Questions
1. What David did was pretty extreme, but is there any part of his temptation, fall and attempted cover up to which you can relate?
2. The consequences of his sin were severe. What does this teach us about how God sees sin? Who does it affect?
3. What did you learn from Psalm 51 about how to repent and be converted? Will you repent now of your sin?
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