STUDIES IN SAMUEL No. 52
2 Samuel 12:1-14
December 30, 2001
Text Comment
Now begins the second half of the account of David's reign. It will prove to be the outworking of God's judgment upon him for his sins against Bathsheba and Uriah her husband. The David of 2 Samuel 12-20 is a man under judgment. [Gordon, Com, 252] Grace is not taken from him, to be sure, and we will talk about that amazing fact, but the consequences of his sin dog him and under the weight of them his family disintegrates and his kingdom is badly damaged. It is now clear that we will need a king better than David proved to be. The account of chapter 12 begins at least nine months after the initial adultery, for we have been told at the end of chapter 11 that the baby conceived in that sinful liaison was born.
v.1 It was one of the characteristics of the righteous prophets of the OT that they challenged, in the Lord's name, a king's abuse of his power and position. Nathan is every inch the true prophet here. [Gordon, Com, 256] This is not the only place in the Bible where a story is told to draw someone to pronounce a moral judgment who does not yet realize how the story illustrates his own situation. David will be led, without realizing it, to express moral outrage at himself.
v.6 David does not yet realize how he has condemned himself or how his own violent response to the rich man's sin of stealing the lamb anticipates the Lord's judgment of him. In any case, David does not pull "four times over" out of his hat. That is the requirement of the law, that theft be restored four-fold. We will come back to that.
David's sin of adultery was a capital crime. But there is no doubt in the narrative that his sin against Uriah was the far greater crime and the one for which he is most severely punished. Terrible as the adultery was, it was more an act of temporary passion. But the murder of Uriah was pure pre-meditation. It took four days to send a messenger to Joab and bring Uriah back. Uriah was with David in Jerusalem three days and nights as David attempted to cover up his crime. And then the death sentence was sent by Uriah's own hand back to Joab and involved, at the last, the killing of other innocent men to mask the plot to eliminate Uriah. This is cold calculation on David's part. And, as we shall see, it is this that David and his family will pay such a steep price for. [Waltke, Humble Rulers, ad loc.]
v.8 In an ominous beginning, Nathan recounts all that the Lord had done so graciously for David. In fact, Nathan's pronouncement begins in much the same way that Samuel's denunciation of Saul began in 1 Samuel 15:17: "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel." Is David now going to go the way of Saul?
What is more, the Lord had given David Saul's house and his wives. That made his behavior with Bathsheba all the more disreputable. In other words, David had plenty of women he could have enjoyed; he didn't need to steal another man's wife. It is hard to know exactly what the reference to Saul's wives means. Harems were transferred from king to king in the ANE as a way of bolstering a claim to the throne, but we do not know if or to what extent this may have been done in David's case. Absalom will do a similar thing, if you remember, when he rebels against his father, as a way of demonstrating his claim to the throne and, perhaps, as a way of burning his bridges. He took his father's concubines into a tent pitched on the roof of the palace so that the public could see what he was doing.
v.10 In Psalm 51, in confessing these very sins, David makes the famous statement to the Lord, "Against you, you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight." People have often stumbled over that, as if David were saying that he didn't sin against Bathsheba or Uriah or his people. Some have even claimed that that statement is evidence of the inferiority of OT faith that believers then did not fully appreciate their obligation to love others. That is preposterous. That is not what David means. He is speaking, in typically extravagant terms, of where the deepest and truest horror of his sin is to be found, against whom he is most deeply guilty of betrayal, and, especially, from whom, alone, he can obtain forgiveness for his sins. The same point is made here by Nathan. What David did he did against the Lord. It is the first thing that Nathan says - "Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?" - and the last - "You despised me."
In any case, the Lord knew everything: what was done; how it was done. "The sword will not depart from your house" could be a title to the remainder of the book.
v.12 This is a reference to what will happen during the rebellion under David's son, Absalom. Here is a case of the principle of the punishment being made to fit the crime being taken to the limit. [Gordon, Com., 258] David took another man's wife. Now his wives are to be taken by another and more publicly and more disgracefully. And the one who betrays him will be his own son, not just an acquaintance, as David was of Uriah.
v.13 When Samuel confronted Saul about his sin, Saul responded with explanations and self-justification. David responded with honest acknowledgement of his guilt. Nathan, with his parable, was able to get David back to his true self. Saul's true self was never anything else than that of an unbeliever.
v.14 Both adultery and murder were capital crimes in Israel, though, as scholars have pointed out, there is no record in the OT of anyone ever actually being executed for adultery. David will be spared that sentence - the sentence he himself had demanded of the rich man who stole the lamb - but that is not to say that there will not be consequences for what he has done.
Now there is an interpretation of the remainder of the history of David's reign that is based on his own statement to Nathan in v. 6 to the effect that the one who stole the lamb should have to make four-fold restitution. It is an interpretation that is very old, going back to the Jewish targums. The targums were interpretative translations of the OT, from Hebrew into Aramaic, dating from before, during, and shortly after the time of Christ. People had stopped speaking Hebrew and so needed to have the Bible read to them in Aramaic. The targums, or translations into Aramaic, were used in synagogue services. But they often contain more than a word for word translation. And in their elaborations, they often reflect the interpretation of the Bible then current in the Jewish synagogues. And this interpretation of what now will happen to David can be found in those ancient targums.
It seems to me that the narrator himself has signaled this interpretation of the unfolding catastrophe that would overtake David's house in the chapters that follow. He has David speak of four-fold restoration for the stolen lamb, makes sure we hear David say that with all his vehemence and anger, and then, right afterward, we hear the Lord speak of the sword never departing from David's house, and, then, we hear the Lord himself pronounce the death sentence on David's child by Bathsheba. That suggests rather clearly that death in David's house will be the consequence of his sin and that a four-fold death may well ensue. Here, then, is the interpretation of the chapters that now follow in 2 Samuel and into 1 Kings.
David had stolen the lamb. In his particular case, he stole the wife of Uriah. He had stolen Uriah's lamb. Now, if you go back to Exodus 22, you will find there the law of restoration. The law went this way.
1. If a lamb was entrusted to a man and it strayed and he lost it, he would have to restore that lamb to the original owner.
2. If the man stole the lamb and was caught with it, he would have to restore two lambs to the original owner. As he himself intended to defraud he must be defrauded, as it were, in turn. You see the perfect justice here.
3. If a man eats the lamb he stole, and so cannot return it, he must restore four lambs to be sure he has adequately compensated for the loss. And, perhaps, this is also to ensure that he has been adequately punished for a sin from which he derived some personal profit. Once again, perfect justice. The punishment escalates with the nature of the crime.
David stole a lamb and, as it were, he ate that lamb and cannot restore it. He cannot restore Bathsheba's purity and he cannot restore Uriah's life. He will, therefore, have to restore four-fold the wrong he did to Uriah. His punishment, therefore, is that he will lose four sons. The first is the baby he conceived with Bathsheba. He is the first to die. Then Amnon dies at the hand of his brother Absalom. Then Absalom himself is killed by David's soldiers. And, finally, Adonijah is executed following his abortive attempt to steal the throne from Solomon. David stole a lamb and God required him to restore his theft four-fold.
There are, perhaps, other consequences to be borne. Eliam, whom we learn in 11:3 was Bathsheba's father, is said in 23:34 to be the son of Ahithophel. There is an Ahithophel, you may remember, who was David's advisor, famous for the wisdom of his counsel. In fact, in 16:23 we read that in those days the advice that Ahithophel gave was "like that of one who inquires of God." Athithophel may very well have been, perhaps likely was, given the way the names are used in 2 Samuel, Bathsheba's grandfather and, therefore, it is very likely that he never forgave David for what he did. It was that bitter animus that explains why he participated in Absalom's rebellion against his father and it was, perhaps, Ahithophel's participation that made that rebellion as consequential as it proved to be.
In any case, what is painfully clear is that God's forgiveness does not eradicate the historical fact of the sin or its consequences in the world. Evangelicals often speak as if that fact is somehow inconsistent with God's grace or real forgiveness, but it is not. Time and again we hear the Lord saying,
"I am with you and will save you... Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished." [Jer. 30:11]
And God's people learn to say:
"O Lord our God, you answered them; you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds." [Psalm 99:8]
Sometimes the punishment the Lord exacts is, as here, to defend his honor among the nations. Sometimes it is to be sure that his people learn to hate and fear sin. In 2 Chronicles 12:7-8 we read:
"Since [my people] have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands."
The Lord's punishment of his people's sins, even when he forgives them, is a frequent teaching of the Bible. What is more, it is not uncommon, as here, for others to suffer the consequences of the sins of someone else. That too we find frequently in the Bible.
And, of course, we know this from life, all too well!
1. When a man who is drunk gets behind the wheel of a car and kills an innocent person in the ensuing car accident, he may be forgiven, but he cannot bring back to life the person he killed, he cannot undo the devastation he visited upon the loved ones of his victim. [Waltke]
2. When a man or woman ruins a marriage by infidelity, we know that he or she can be forgiven. It is not, however, at all a certainty that the marriage can be restored or restored to its former happiness.
3. When a minister loses his charge because of a sin that he commits, he may be forgiven. We know cases in which we have no doubt that his sins have been forgiven. But, that does not mean that the man can have his ministry back or that his life will go on as it was before.
4. Rabbi Duncan, the godly Scottish Presbyterian missionary to the Jews and, later, professor of Hebrew and OT at the Free College in Edinburgh, confessed, "I had a godly upbringing, but I broke off from it. I had three years of dreary atheism, and during that time I made a doctrinal atheist of a pupil of mine, who died." [Just a Talker, 8] There was no going back to evangelize that man; he was dead. Duncan's period of rebellion contributed to the damnation of a soul and all the forgiveness in the world couldn't undo that fact.
Over the remaining chapters of 2 Samuel, we will have plenty more of this so solemn and solemnizing teaching about the consequences of our sins. And we will not be faithful to the Word of God or to the heart of our heavenly father if we do not take these warnings to heart. We need particularly to do so, because there is a great deal of sentimental teaching circulating in the evangelical world that would lead a person to believe that a forgiving God would never require a price to be paid for the sins, the forgiven sins, we have committed. But it remains the case that God is not mocked, that even in the world of grace, what a man sows he also reaps. I don't want this congregation failing to take that warning seriously.
However, I also don't want us, in our concern to take seriously the lesson of the mounting disaster that follows upon David's sin, to miss the truly extraordinary fact of David's forgiveness. In some ways, there is nothing very surprising about the fact that sins have consequences. We see this so often in life that we anticipate it to be so in the kingdom of God as well.
What is very surprising, what is truly remarkable, is that God forgave David of sins so pre-meditated, so inexcusable, so horrific, so cruel, so disgusting, so unmanly, so cowardly. David is guilty, he was caught red-handed. What is worse, he didn't confess his sins to God on his own, he didn't come to God to acknowledge what he had done. He didn't confess until his sins were disclosed by Nathan. In our Presbyterian Church in America's Book of Church Order, if a minister confesses to a scandalous sin only because he has been found out or knows that he is about to be found out, he must be deposed immediately. But David was found out, he didn't confess his sins out of his own sense of guilt and remorse. Only when he was found out did he feel remorse and did he confess.
And, yet David was forgiven, fully and freely. This is what is meant by amazing grace! Great crimes swept away. Terrible sins no longer held against us. Forgiven as if we had never sinned or been sinners. That is what Christ achieved! That is the measure of his triumph over sin and death for us.
The skeletons you have in your closet, even those past sins that have had enduring consequences in your life, real and painful consequences, perhaps not only for you but for others, forgiven, because you sought their forgiveness, begged their forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ God's son who saved his people from their sins.
That abortion you had long ago or caused another to have and that you can never forget and must remember every time the issue of abortion is raised in a conversation or in a sermon. That sexual liaison that resulted in a child that you have not raised. That marriage that was ruined by something you did or never did. That harm you did to another that has haunted you ever since. Those years with your children that you wish somehow you could have back to do again. Even perhaps a theft from your company or a lie told that did some innocent person some substantial harm or that time long ago among some friends you brought serious discredit upon the Lord and your faith. Terrible things that you once said that you wish now with all your heart you could take back. Cheating, lying, anger, cowardice, and on and on. You look back over your life and, because you are a Christian and have an honest heart, you say, "David has nothing on me." I have done the same, I have done more. But no one has yet found me out except God.
And, for you, the great message of our text is not that sins have abiding consequences and that even Christians must suffer those consequences. You knew that already. What is amazing to you here, what is deliverance itself, is the fact that after all that David did, after all the inexcusable evil he committed, God forgave him and continued to treat David as his child, a member of his household.
This is the greater thing. The world knows about sins having consequences. You can see that. But you cannot see God's forgiveness. That must be believed! And that is a far harder thing to do: to believe, when you know yourself how unforgivable your sins have been!
I imagine that by this time, in heaven, David and John Donne have become fast friends. And I expect that David, a great poet himself, is a great admirer or Donne's poetry.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin where I begun
Which is my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt Thou forgive those sins, through which I run,
And do run still: though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done thou has not done,
For, I have more.
Wilt Thou forgive that sin by which I have won
Others to sin? And, made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year, or two: but wallowed in a score?
When Thou has done, Thou has not done,
For, I have more.
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
Swear by Thyself, that at my death
Thy Son Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And, having done that, Thou has done,
I fear no more.
"Oh, yes, John," David said to John Donne, when in heaven he read that famous poem, "I had the same fears, my sins being what they were. But for me, as for you, where sin abounded, grace and Jesus Christ did much more abound. I am here to tell you that it still seems to me, long as I have been in heaven, the most amazing, the most remarkable thing, that having done what I did, I, of all people, should be here. But here I am. Thanks be to God."