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2001
27th May (am) - David and Bathsheba
2 Samuel 11 - 12

Today we come to one of the most surprising and shocking and sad episodes in the whole life of David.

The life of this King of Israel, this Bible hero, this role model for faith has been impressive and inspiring - a man for God and a man full of practical goodness - but now, we find him as the guilty party in a story of adultery, which leads on to arranging for an innocent husband's death in a way that is little short of murder. King David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba would make most of the Tabloid stories about our royal family pale into insignificance!

The events surrounding David and Bathsheba fall into 2 parts: Firstly, the adulterous affair itself, and then, secondly, the time it all came out into the open when David was confronted by Nathan, the prophet God sent.

So I want to suggest 2 headings for those 2 parts of this sad episode.

Who is that woman?
Who is that man?

Who is that woman?

This was the question which David asked about Bathsheba - the woman he had noticed from his roof top patio. She was very beautiful, it says - and David was very foolish! Even though he was clearly told that she was the wife of Uriah, one of the soldiers in David's army, this did not stop David from immediately initiating a passionate adulterous affair with her.

It's a shocking episode by any standards, but it's even more shocking because it's David - this man who in so many other situations has shown strength of character, self control, integrity and generosity in behaviour.

This is the man who refused to lay a finger on Saul, the Lord's anointed, when he had him at his mercy in the cave; this is the man who worshipped so gladly when they brought the Ark up to Jerusalem; this is the man who treated Mephibosheth, Saul's grandson, with a generosity that went far beyond the call of duty ...... And yet here we find him the guilty party in a sordid, selfish, sorry act of adultery with Bathsheba.

It's a shocking and painfully sad blot on the life of David - as it would be in the life of any respected Christian person or Church leader.

And we find ourselves wondering why did it happen.

maybe the story of David has already given us hints, now and again, that David was a bit of a ladies man! This was David's Achilles heel - this was the dimension of life where David was very vulnerable - the part of his life in which he should have been extra vigilant and excessively careful ....... as he admired the view over Jerusalem, he should have known that this was his weakness, and taken himself out of harm's way - but he didn't. He didn't act decisively and say, Get behind me, Satan, and before he knew it he was beyond the point of no return. Literally he ran headlong into temptations arms!

the second thing to say is that maybe David shouldn't have been anywhere near the roof patio of his palace - he should have been with his armies, as any good king of the day would have been - and they were off fighting at Rabbah - for as vs. 1 says, this was the spring, the time when kings go off to war. If David had been attending to his responsibilities as King, he wouldn't have been next nor near the palace in Jerusalem, and Bathsheba wouldn't have been a temptation. David didn't take his particular blind spots seriously enough, he had begun to neglect some of his responsibilities as king, he found himself in a palace where he really didn't need to be - and out of that situation came a terrible tale of sin and woe - the adultery with Bathsheba, the attempt to cover up the fact that it had ever happened, the eventual scheme to get rid of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, for good.

 

I wonder do we know ourselves well enough to realise what our particular Achilles heel might be?

Are we honest enough to face up to that potential source of temptation?

Are we wise enough and determined enough to keep ourselves away from the situations which might ensnare us?

For this story is not just a warning about the sin of adultery - it's about the fact that most of us have our Achilles heel - the particular ways in which we are liable to fall. - it's about the fact that even Christian people, fine Christian people, are never too far away from sorry, sinful traps into which we might very well fall.

And if we feel fairly sure that we are safe - that we do not have any vulnerable areas in our lives, we are probably deceiving ourselves and putting ourselves at greatest risk!

In his book, Temptation, Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it like this: It makes no difference whether it is a sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity, or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money....'

In our members there is a slumbering inclination towards desire, which is both sudden and fierce. With irresistible power, desire seizes mastery ....'

As Paul puts it to the Corinthians, 'So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall.' David fell in one very particular and terrible episode - could we honestly say that we have not or could not fall in one way or another?

We need to know ourselves - we need to be extra careful about the things that can take over in our lives - we need to be extra careful about the situations in which we place ourselves. We need to make this a priority matter of care and prayer.

And, of course, we need to recognise that the particular way in which David fell is still a source of very great temptation - and that it still traps lots of people - and it still causes untold damage to so many individuals, marriages and families. We must never close our eyes or pretend that these are not issues for people who belong to churches.

A recent survey among young adults in England, professing Christian commitment, showed that 33% said that it was all right to live together before marriage - suggesting that even in Christian circles, traditional Christian values are being questioned and eroded - and we are all at risk in this area of sexual morality and relationships - maybe we can put some of the blamed on the influences of TV and magazines and high profile sports stars and pop idols - but maybe its also just one of those big parts of life that have always been a potential pitfall and powerfully dangerous pitfall in life.

David's story is a sad warning of what happens when the Maker's instructions are forgotten - when the warning label is ignored or rejected. If we had time we could have had a closer look at the disastrous damage that came about because of this affair - not to mention the more long term consequences in David's wider family situation. It's a sad tale indeed.

The Bible's clear emphasis is on marriage as being the right and proper and only setting for the full expression of love
- we ignore or forget this at our peril - and we all need that reminder.
- we need to be careful ourselves.
- and we, who are a little older, need to be good, positive role models of these good Christian principles for our families and young people.
- and as we try to commend that way of life to our young people, our church needs to be reinforcing it in our youth groups and organisations.

We must never close our eyes or pretend that these are not issues for people who belong to the church.
Sometimes the church gets a very negative image when it comes to matters like this - like the line-dancing article which appeared in the Belfast Telegraph the other week - that's not the message we are sending or want to send.
Our message is that God's ways are good ways, and that God's gifts are good gifts when we live by the Maker's instructions.
Who is that woman? - when asked out of purely selfish and lustful interest this kind of question has nothing to do with God's good gifts or good ways.

Who is that man?

That was the question that David asked a year later.
In a very clever way, Nathan, the prophet, told David a story about a rich man who took the only lamb that his poor neighbour possessed, in order to serve roast leg of lamb to his guests!
What kind of selfish man would do such a thing? asked David. Who is that man - he deserves to die!
And before he realised it, David had condemned himself - You are the man, said Nathan, for you took Bathsheba, Uriah's wife You are the man guilty of this terrible selfishness - this adultery, hypocrisy and murder - it's you that we are talking about - and you have passed judgment on yourself.
David's defences were demolished - the guilty secrets with which he had been living for a year or so were out in the open - he made no attempt to put up any excuses. David just said to Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord - there was no other way of putting it, as far as David was concerned - no point in putting any gloss or spin on it - David accepted, honestly, that he had done wrong with Bathsheba and towards her husband - and that he was utterly in the wrong before God. David's words were very simple and short and straightforward, but they can't have been very easy to say.
They brought the most remarkable response from the prophet - the only words that could bring David any help or hope -
The Lord has taken away your sin - God's reply through Nathan: There is forgiveness, the matter is dealt with - even though there will be practical consequences that will have to be lived with in the days and years ahead.
It's almost too simple to accept isn't it - that because David was willing to admit his sin before God, his guilt was forgiven;
- that even though he could not put right many of the sad things that had happened., he could trust that God had put things right with forgiveness - he could really trust that his life was not cut off or separated from God. Who is that man, said David? - It's you, said Nathan - and David accepted the verdict and received God's forgiveness and restoration.

This section about God's forgiveness of David can be a parable about God's forgiveness for all of us - even though we may not have anything like David's sorry story to face up to.

Who is that man, we might ask, when we hear the story of the Cross - what kind of person would do that or would need that sort of forgiveness? Who would have the sort of sin in their lives that would deserve the judgment and death of the cross? 'My blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins', as Jesus put it. Could that really be me it's talking about?

Is it really possible that, from God's point of view, the Cross was necessary to bring forgiveness for me?

Who is that man, or that woman, or that young person for whom the Cross was the only way of forgiveness and hope? Could that really be me?

I think that we find it very hard to see it was for us that he hung and suffered there - and yet that is what the Scripture tells us - he bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness. 1Pet.2:24
He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10

Maybe we do have to face the music, as David did - more than likely, not for the sort of sin that David knew he was guilty of - but for all manner of falling short of our own markers and measurements of how we are doing in life, never mind God's!

There is a story about the famous composer, Franz Joseph Haydn - whose wife had so little real regard for his work that she used to cut up his music manuscripts and use then for hair curling papers - what she did showed that she really just lived for herself whatever she might have said, she showed contempt for her husband's music and dignity - it could probably be said that we have all done the same towards God and towards other people.

Who is that man, that person, for whom the Cross of Jesus Christ was necessary - Could I be the answer to that question, just was David was the answer to his own question?

David made no attempt to excuse himself - it was no good running away from the truth - there was no point trying to say that there were a lot of good things in his life that would maybe help to make up for this bad slip-up even though there undoubtedly were many good things and strong points in David's favour! He just accepted the truth about his life and the judgment of God upon his life.