Introduction
The title of this lesson might sound slightly familiar
to some of you. Right now you're banging your head on your computer screen
trying to figure out where you've heard it before. Relax! It's a take-off from
one of my favorite movie lines. It was something Uncle Ben said to his nephew,
Peter Parker (Spiderman), just before he dropped Peter at the
"library." That was the lie Peter told because he didn't want Uncle
Ben to find out that he had entered an organized fighting event so that he could
win money to buy a car to impress a girl at school. Stupid right? I know! Like
guys never do anything stupid when it comes to girls! Anyway, after the fight,
which Peter (Spiderman) wins of course, the fight promoter cheats Peter out of
his winnings. As Peter is leaving, the promoter is robbed of the
evening’s proceeds while Peter (Spiderman) does nothing even though he could
easily have used his power to do the right thing and stopped the robbery.
Instead, he simply steps aside after the thief steals the promoter’s money and
runs away. Peter then leaves the fight venue to meet his Uncle Ben back at the
"library" where this entire lie originated. However, before he could
get there, the thief he failed to stop earlier arbitrarily ran up to Uncle
Ben's car in an effort to get away, shot Uncle Ben and stole his car. By the
time Peter (Spiderman) got to where Uncle Ben was supposed to pick him up,
there was nothing he could do and his Uncle died in his arms. Not everyone has
seen this movie so I've included the video clip of this line below. If
you follow the trail of events backwards, you will see how each step, beginning
with the desire to impress a girl led to the next step of an inappropriate use
of power that was followed up by a lie that finally led to the death of someone
completely innocent in the matter. Peter (Spiderman) had tremendous power, he
had the physical strength to overcome any assailant, he was already a brilliant
scientist and as Spiderman, he had the power to inspire others to do great
things. However, he neglected the best advice anyone could have given him:
"With great power comes great responsibility."
Lest you think this storyline is limited to Hollywood
movies, there's a well known biblical story that mirrors, in some respects, the
illustration from Spiderman. I'm taking today's lesson from 2 Samuel 11-12:1-14.
The main characters are the very powerful King David, the beautiful and married
Bathsheba, the faithful soldier and husband of Bathsheba, Uriah, the military
leader and enabler Joab, and the wise prophet Nathan. Let's read the story
before we begin.
2
Samuel 11-12:1-14
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. 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, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” 4 Then David sent messengers to
get her. She
came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent
word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” 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
When David was told, “Uriah did not go home,” he asked him,
“Haven’t you just come from a distance? Why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah
said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my
lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and
drink and lie with
my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 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. 14 In the morning David wrote a
letter to Joab
and sent it with Uriah. 15 In
it he wrote, “Put Uriah in the front line 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 Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman throw 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, ‘Also, 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 to 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.” 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.
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 deserves to 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 the house of
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 upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one
who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing
in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
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. 14 But
because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.”
Context
If you've been reading my blog for any length of time
then you know what's coming next: Context! Let's place this text into its
proper context. The story takes place in Spring (by coincidence) with part of
the setting in Jerusalem and part of the setting taking place with Israel at
war with the Ammonites at the capital city of Rabbah (modern day Amman).
Text Analysis
Chapter 11
V. 1 is an odd characterization as an event recurring
annually not unlike a sporting event. However, it is important to remember that
unlike the battles we are familiar with as we watch a television program
that has a specific starting and ending time, battles to capture major
fortified cities during the Old Testament era could take years to complete. In
essence, attacking forces would blockade the entrance and exit routes of the
city and eventually starve the inhabitants into submission or to the point of
being so week that attacking forces could eventually break through the
fortified perimeter and conquer the city. The text literally reads "the
return of the year." "'The return of the year,' wherever it occurs,
is taken to mean springtime on the basis of the present passage, since military
campaigning began after the onset of the dry season...But the reference here is
not to the marching out of kings in general but of some specific kings...This
can only refer to the coalition of Aramean kings summoned by the Ammonites in
10:6...Thus 'the return of the year' does not refer to the spring but rather to
the coming around again of the time of year at which the Aramean kings marched
to the aid of the Ammonites...This was, as a matter of fact, spring."[1]
Casual observers of this text believe that David's
trouble began when "Kings go off to war...But David remained in
Jerusalem." However, as explained above, this is not what the text is
intending to convey. It was not unreasonable for David to remain in Jerusalem
until the appropriate time in the battle when he could lead the final push to
capture the city, which does in fact occur as recorded in the latter verses of
chapter 12. Instead, David's trouble
begins in earnest in v. 2. Here we see that David sees a woman bathing from his
rooftop vantage point. The text doesn't describe her as just any woman but as
" very beautiful." In v. 3 we see that he sends someone to find out
about her. David learns that the woman's name is Bathsheba and that she is
married to a man named Uriah. Uriah was a soldier. Actually, not just any
soldier, Uriah was one of David's 30 elite fighters. In essence, Uriah was a
Navy Seal before there were Navy Seals. Before we go any further, I'd like to
take some time to tell you a little bit about David's position as king at this
particular point in time.
David was in a position of great favor with God. He
was blessed beyond measure. David is blessed with power as the anointed king of
Israel. He is blessed with safety and security as he is delivered from the murdering
rage of King Saul. He is blessed with riches as he is given all of Saul's wealth
when God dethrones Saul. He is blessed with women as he takes over Saul's harem
and can certainly choose from any and all available women to add to his own
harem. It's hard to imagine something that David could possibly be lacking.
However, such blessings come with a price. The price is: Responsibility!
Responsibility not to abuse the power of being the king of God's chosen people;
Responsibility to provide safety and security for those least capable of
protecting themselves; Responsibility to use riches without oppressing those
who are less fortunate; Responsibility not to use people, especially the weak
and helpless, for personal satisfaction or gain. David had tremendous,
unimaginable blessing. But With Great
Blessing Comes Great Responsibility. V. 4 is the beginning of David's
neglect of his great responsibility in every area of the blessings of his life.
Vv. 4-5 introduces us to the sins that start the ball
rolling. David wants what is not his to have. David covets another man's wife
when he sends a messenger to bring Bathsheba to him. The NIV says that
"She came to him, and he slept with her." Well that doesn't seem so
bad. I mean it's kind of like in the movies where the handsome king summons the
beautiful maiden to his chamber for that romantic scene! Right? Actually,
wrong! The english translation is really not very good in this respect in order
to convey precisely what happened when David summoned Bathsheba to his palace.
The Hebrew word that translates "He slept with her" is the same
Hebrew word used in 2 Sam 13:14 to describe Amnon's rape of his sister Tamar.
So, just to be clear, this was not a consensual encounter. David raped another
man's wife and got her pregnant!
Vv. 6-25 records David's attempt at a shameless and
despicable cover-up. It is often said that the cover-up is far worse than the
original crime. In this case, it is difficult to say which is worse, the rape
of Bathsheba or what follows. Enter Joab—the leader of David's army and willing
accomplice to David's cover-up. David sends word to Joab to send home Uriah
under the pretext of simply wanting an update on the status of the battle (as
though Joab as the leader of the army wasn’t better equipped to give the King a
military update). In any event, Uriah comes to David and gives him a report on
the personnel and battle status. Thereafter, David sends Uriah home thinking
that he would sleep with his wife after being away at war for probably quite
some time. In this way, David was hoping to disguise the fact that he got
another man’s wife pregnant and he could claim that Uriah got her pregnant and
no one would know what David had done—except Bathsheba and she wasn’t about to
tell anyone that the King had raped her! Just David’s luck, Uriah is a man who
has something David seems to be lacking—honor! Uriah refuses to return to the
comfort of his home and the arms of his wife while his country is at war.
Instead, Uriah sleeps in the palace entryway along with all the other servants.
Note as well something else that Uriah says: “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents…” One of the reason’s
Uriah refuses to return to the comfort of his home is because the ark was being
kept in a tent as the temple would not be built until the rule of Solomon. The
point I’m trying to make is not that the ark was being kept in a tent but that
those were the precise sentiments of David at the beginning of Chapter 7! David
was indignant that he would reside in a beautiful palace while the ark was in a
tent. “Uriah’s oath is almost a paraphrase of the oath attributed to David by
the tradition reflected in Ps 132:3-5:
3 ‘I will not enter my house or go to my bed 4 I
will allow no sleep to my eyes, no slumber to my eyelids, 5 till
I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.’
Now, however,
David seems perfectly content to remain in his house, and he must be reminded
by one of his own soldiers—one he has wronged—that it is not right to lie in
one’s bed when the ark is in the field.”[2]
David orders Uriah
to stay one more day before returning to the battle front. The evening before
Uriah is to leave, David invites him to dinner at the palace where David gets
him drunk in the hope that he would do drunk what he refused to do sober—go
home and sleep with his wife. Certainly a soldier who has had too much to drink
couldn’t possibly maintain his integrity—David should know, he couldn’t
maintain his integrity sober. Unfortunately for David, Uriah was a man of
integrity—drunk or sober so he slept at the entrance to the palace again.
After learning
that Uriah again did not return to his home, David orders Uriah back to the
battle front. However, David sends a letter with Uriah giving Joab specific
instructions to place Uriah in a forward battle position and then leave him
there without support. David is instructing Joab to hang Uriah out to dry!
Uriah unknowingly delivers his own death sentence! Uriah returns to the battle
front and delivers David’s letter to Joab. Joab does exactly as he is
instructed by David. Joab orders Uriah’s team to the deadliest part of the
battle then withdraws his team leaving him to fight all alone. Although Uriah
was killed, he was not a casualty of war. Uriah was murdered by David and Joab!
Their weapon of choice just happened to be the Ammonite fighters but that’s
merely a technicality. Their premeditated and intentional actions and inactions
killed Uriah. But before we go any farther, I’d like to say a few things about
Joab.
I don’t want to
venture too far off the path of our lesson but, from a different perspective,
Joab is no different than David. He too has been blessed. He has been blessed
with the King’s favor and considerable power along with many other blessings
I’m sure. His blessings likewise required great responsibility. Ultimately,
Joab, although he was a military warrior was nonetheless a coward! Joab had a
duty—a responsibility to refuse to obey David’s instructions. Joab had a
responsibility to be obedient to God’s instructions first and foremost, in this
case God’s prohibition of murder, and thereafter David’s instructions only if
they did not contravene God’s instructions. Refusing to follow David’s
instructions may have cost Joab his life but sometimes doing the right thing is
costly. Ironically, years later David instructed his son, Solomon, that he was
to have Joab killed for Joab’s part in shedding innocent blood (1 Kings 2:5-6)!
Unbelievable! You just can’t make this stuff up!
Getting back to
the text, Joab sends word back to David giving him a casualty update including
the death of Uriah. When David hears about the casualties sustained in battle,
he is angry and critical of Joab’s battle strategy until he finds out that
Uriah was among the casualties. Suddenly, David’s demeanor changes as he feigns
sympathy for the casualties Joab’s men suffered rationalizing that such things
are just naturally a part of war. With that, David must have thought that he
had succeeded in sweeping this inconvenient mess under the rug. However, there
is one last insult to be added to the memory of Uriah. Vv. 26-27 tie a nice
little bow on this ugly package that includes, covetousness, adultery, deceit
and murder, as David takes Bathsheba to be his wife after she has finished
mourning the death of her husband. However, as always, God would have the final
say in this matter.
I don’t know about
you but this story up to this point always shocks me. But if we were really
honest with ourselves, we’d have to admit that we’re really not so different
from David. Think about it, there are times that we are very conscious of our
actions because we are keenly aware that nothing, absolutely nothing, can be
hidden from God. However, there are other times, darker times, when we behave
as though God is deaf and blind. Why we do this is probably different for
everyone; we think we can outsmart God, or we think God somehow won’t notice,
or we forget that God notices everything, or we simply don’t care that God
notices. Whatever the specific reason for this dichotomy between our belief at
one moment that God is aware of everything and our actions the next moment that
seem to say that God is irrelevant, the general reason for what can only be
described as a kind of spiritual schizophrenia is the never-ending battle
between the already/not-yet aspect of our salvation. We are already saved yet
we are also in the process of working out our salvation (Phil 2:12-13). This is
true for everyone, including King David. Therefore, because we are a work in
progress, God does not give up on any of us. Instead, God brings people and/or
circumstances into our lives in order to reorient us back toward a more
holistic relationship with him. For David, that process began when the prophet
Nathan entered his life.
Chapter 12
In vv. 1-4 Nathan
tells David a parable about a rich man that steals the only beloved lamb of a
poor man in order to feed a visiting traveler instead of preparing one from his
own sheep or cattle which were many. The way that Nathan describes it, the
animals belonging to the rich man were for the purpose of physical sustenance while
the lamb belonging to the poor man was really a family pet. The rich man stole
the poor man’s family pet, killed it and ate it! Let that sink in for just a
bit before you rush ahead in the text. In vv. 5-6 David is rightly furious with
the rich man as described by Nathan as anyone with a modicum of decency would
be. David judges the rich man’s guilt and passes sentence on him. Note the
irony: Uriah, in the previous chapter, unknowingly delivers his own death
sentence ordered by David and now David unknowingly sentences himself. David’s
sentence of restitution is consistent with that prescribed in Exodus 22:1.
However, I want you to remember the fourfold restitution and we’ll come back to
it later in the lesson.
When David’s
righteous indignation seemed to reach its climax, Nathan drops the bomb on him
in v. 7 and reveals that the rich man in the story was none other than David
himself! Nathan, speaking for God in vv. 7-8, reminds David of the many
blessings he enjoyed from God—power, security, riches, and women. God gave him
everything and would have given him more. But With Great Blessing Comes
Great Responsibility and David neglected that responsibility when he raped
another man’s wife and murdered her husband. Nathan reveals in vv. 9-10 that
God was fully aware David’s rape of Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. This time
judgment is rendered by the one and only righteous Judge in vv. 11-14. God’s
sentence is that; 1) the sword would never leave the household of David (2 Sam
13:26-30; 18:14; 15; 1 Kings 2:23-25; 2) there would be strife from within
David’s own family (2 Sam 15:13); 3) David’s wives would be taken and raped in
broad daylight (2 Sam 16:20-23); and 4) David’s child would die (2 Sam 12:18).
I previously asked you remember the fourfold restitution principal. Well I’d
like to circle back to that here. David’s child would not be the last child to
die in David’s family. His child would in fact be the first of 4 children to
die. “In the Talmud the fourfold compensation was related directly to David’s
case: His punishment was the death of four children, viz. the first child of
Bathsheba, Tamar, Aminon and Abishalom.”[3]
Some might think that even though God’s judgment of David was appropriate, the
punishment seemed excessively harsh. However, when we say that With Great
Blessing Comes Great Responsibility, it necessarily requires that with
great blessings the negative consequences for failing to accept the
responsibility that accrues to those blessings are equally great. Yet God does
not abandon David and David does not abandon God. Instead, David confesses his
sins, repents and asks for forgiveness. In return, God pours his mercy on David,
as he does on all of us when we do the same thing, and forgives David and
restores the relationship. This pattern is consistent throughout scripture:
Confession—Repentance—Forgiveness (See previous post—Label: Pastoral Care; Title:
Tough Love; Date: 5/16/12). However,
it is very important to remember that forgiveness of sin is not synonymous with
forgiveness of consequences. And David suffered every last one of the
consequences of his sins.
Application
Although few, if
any, of us can claim that we have committed rape or murder let alone both, we
are hardly different from David. Most of us, if we think about it, have been
tremendously blessed by God. Most of us (although I know not all of us) live
free of persecution. Most of us live in relative safety and comfort. Most of us
have adequate and sometimes more than adequate financial resources. And most of
us have access to fulfilling relationship—sexual and/or otherwise. In short, we
have received great blessings. But what is the purpose of those blessings? Are
we blessed for our own benefit? I believe we are, but only in part. God blesses
us because he loves us. Although God loves everyone, he does not bless everyone
the same way. This is clearly by design as we were intended to live in
community with one another so that our unique blessings could also be a
blessing to others. When we have been blessed with great power, we have a
responsibility to use that power to care for those who are weak and stand up
for those who are oppressed. “No matter how much power we hold, we too can
fall. We must learn from David to guard our relationships carefully and to use
power in ways that are never tyrannical and despotic.”[4]
When we have been blessed with safety and security, we have a responsibility to
advance the safety and security of those most vulnerable in our society. When
we have been blessed with riches, we have a responsibility to resist the urge
to keep our riches only for ourselves but instead we must use our riches to
care for those who are least able to care for themselves. This is not a matter
of wealth distribution. I’m not talking about caring for those who will not care for themselves. I’m
talking about those who cannot care
for themselves. Finally, we have all been blessed with the ability to be in relationship
with one another. Granted, some are better at it than others. Nevertheless, we all
have a responsibility not to exploit anyone for any reason but especially not
for our own personal satisfaction. I’d like to extend this line of thinking in
two other areas as well. As believers, we have been blessed by the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Therefore we have a responsibility to be faithful
to his commands and tell others about him. As unbelievers, you have been blessed
by God’s common grace as the sun rises and falls the same on everyone, as the
rain is just as wet when it falls on believers and unbelievers. Similarly,
unbelievers have been blessed with the opportunity to accept God’s free gift of
salvation and have a responsibility to consider the offer with all sincerity. Many
of us float through life assuming that the blessings of our lives are only for
our own personal enjoyment and satisfaction. However, that attitude ultimately
leads to manipulation and exploitation of people for selfish gain. David had to
learn a hard lesson and we would do well to learn from David’s mistake in order
to avoid making the same mistake ourselves. We must learn that With Great Blessing Comes Great
Responsibility.
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