Post Mortem of a Mistake

When we sin, it is always wise to examine the reasons we fell. Reflection is part of the lesson. The Bible gives us several hints at why David failed...let's take a look.

Remember that David's armies had defeated Nahash of Ammon, who insulted David's messengers, and his alliance which included the Syrians. Now, the following year, Joab leads a campaign against them that reaches into the heart of their kingdom, besieging their very capital city. (Remember the Ammonites descended from the son/grandson of Lot. When Israel took the Promised Land God told them to respect Ammon's borders. The two nations had an uneasy brotherhood that was on and off again...mostly off...throughout their history. Now they had openly insulted David and David's army retaliated.)

Joab broke through the strength of their capital city. Just before the military victory was complete, Joab sent to David saying almost sarcastically, ""Come over here and at least take credit for this, if that's not too much to ask. Otherwise they'll name the city after me." Joab was a lot of things that were despicable, but he did seem to have a real investment in David's interests.

David came with the rest of the army, and they finished off the capital city, taking their kings' crown that weighed 131 pounds! (And more amazingly, setting it on his head...I wonder if there is something I am missing here? Perhaps the weight was "weight worth in gold?") He also claimed the spoil of the city, and made the Ammonites slaves.

So why, again, was David not fighting with his army?

Uriah proved himself a far better man when he refused to be comfortable while his comrades suffered in the field. He would not even go home at night...so dedicated was he to the cause. David, it seems, was happy to stay at home in comfort, even carefree enough to think of indulging his lusts. He had been sleeping all day when he saw Bathsheba.

Perhaps he was indulging in self-pity because of the recent snafu with Nahash, to whom he tried to show kindness. Now embittered about the situation and the messy war that had ensued, he wanted no more to do with it. Maybe also he felt he just needed a break from fighting every year. This would be his season to take a break and recharge. His self-indulgence left him weakened to temptation. Caught "without his armor," he was easy prey to his own lusts.

Far from despising David, I recognize too much of my own heart in him. I often become desensitized to my responsibilities in favor of self-gratification, discouragement, and self-pity!

Back

It's been almost a year since I posted last. My excuse is pretty pathetic...we moved, I lost track of my old notebook, and really wanted to list my posts in chronological order! So, now that we've moved again & the notebook is relocated, I'll continue where I left off.

II Sam. 12

David's child died because of his sin. David wept, fasted and prayed while it was still alive, but ceased after he died, going into the tabernacle to worship. He "quieted himself as a weaned child." He accepted God's will and did not question it.

God's punishment of David hit on his vulnerable spot...his children, whom he loved very much. God said because of his sin with Bathsheba, his child would die and there would be no peace in his household. We later see the heartache his children caused him, from Amnon's rape of Tamar to Absalom's betrayal and death. The consequences continued for David's own good...to keep him dependent on God and to rein in his wandering heart.

But yet God showed he had forgiven David and Bathsheba by giving them a son--Solomon, whom "the Lord loved." If I were God, I would probably make the couple barren for the rest of their lives, just out of decency if nothing else! But God, being Who He is, delights in bringing good out of evil. Solomon's reign would become a glorious picture of Christ's wise and righteous reign on earth. And through the "unholy union" of David and Bathsheba, would come, in the fullness of time, the Messiah.*

How different God's ways are from mine! He used a union that never should have been, a broken man and woman, as a key element in his plan to save all mankind.

David & Bathsheba's sin reminds me of Adam and Eve's. The same hiding from God. The same guilt, the same brokenness. And yet there is the same fact that God turns their failure into something epic, something good, a tool for redemption.

* Joseph, the assumed father of Jesus, came from Solomon. Mary's genealogy springs from Nathan, a younger, barely-mentioned son of Bathsheba and David. Any real son of Joseph would be prohibited from being a king because of the curse pronounced on one of the last Hebrew kings, Jeconiah. So the "root of David" was necessary, since the main line of kings had been cut off. Yet the Messiah still came from David and Bathsheba's union.