2Samuel 11:26-12:13a: 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. 1 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 must 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 on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives
and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep 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."
The
David Saga continues this week with Part 9, the conclusion of the David &
Bathsheba story. From what we read last week, right up until 11:27a...
everything seems to be going David's way, but in 11:27b we read the ominous
words: But the thing David had done
displeased the LORD.
Chapter 12 continues the story now with
the prophet Nathan's appearance in the royal court. Commentators are split as
to whether Nathan was setting this meeting up to look like a typical juridical function or not.
Ancient kings of all lands were, among other things, the final arbiter of
justice in the land, and a routine part of the job was to hear and decide
cases. If Nathan intended this meeting to sound like such a case, he wasn't
beginning with very many specifics: both men were unnamed, their tribe or where
they lived wasn't mentioned, etc. In the end, these are trivial matters, given
that in reality Nathan was setting David up. In that sense, what he had
composed was a juridical 'parable.' From vs 5-6, it's obvious that Nathan had
his man: David burned with anger against
the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did
this must die! 6 He must pay for
that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." There's
an interesting lesson here. Often when we succumb to sin, we either rationalize
our choices or we somehow are able to disconnect
ourselves from our own moral compass. By decontextualizing the Uriah
episode and placing the essence of what happened into a seemingly unrelated
parable, Nathan helped David rediscover his moral compass.
But
the problem David experienced by rediscovering his own moral compass was
illustrated in the next statement from Nathan:
Thou art the man! (the words
sound so much more ominous in the KJV). David stood self-condemned.
Commentators
rightly point out that the indictment parable that Nathan uses against David is
essentially about the abuse of power for one's own enrichment at the expense of
the helpless. The writings of the prophets--in particular Amos--develop this
theme at length. But it's important not to lose sight of the extent of David's
crime. YES he abused his power to achieve his own ends at the expense of the
helpless. But in so doing, he murdered a
man. Nathan mentions this fact twice: You
struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites (v9). This is a great evil. Saul disobeyed the word of
the Lord in battle commands. David disobeyed the word of the Lord by breaking
the FIFTH COMMANDMENT.
The
one thing David does right in this
whole narrative is that he immediately repents. He doesn't try to deny it; he
doesn't equivocate; he doesn't throw Nathan out of the palace and continue
on... he repents: Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD."
(v13). One commentator cited a tradition from medieval synagogues that, in
printed manuscripts, intentionally left a space between v13a and the rest of
the verse... the implication being that one would turn immediately from 13a to
Psalm 51, the great penitential Psalm of David.
This
is a "sin boldly" moment--you know, Luther's famous quote so often
taken out of context. Be a sinner, and
sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. In David's
life, the fullness of time had not
yet come; Christ was yet to be born. Yet, David could still repent, believe and
rejoice that even though his sin would have consequences, God was a forgiving
God.
Cheers,
T.M.
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