2 Samuel Series - Week 12: A Non-Complicit Walk With God

  Looking back on World War II, the horrific nature of the murders of Jewish people and other groups totaled upwards of around 20 million. You know what it took for that many people to be carted off and murdered? It wasn’t simply the SS, there was only 1 officer per 10,000 people. It was neighbors informing on other people. Telling the SS that they were Jews, or communist, or held any anti-Nazi beliefs. It was the civil servants, like postal workers who distributed the propaganda, or teachers who taught.

All it takes for a Nazi-like regime to come to power is for the majority of people to become complicit in doing the work of ideology. Because people tend to look out for their own self-preservation, it is easy to simply go along not rocking the boat, than it is to stand for what God says is right. 

It’s this idea of being complicit that brings us back to our series where, we’ll be picking it back up in Second Samuel chapter 13, verse 1. As we open up to Second Samuel 13:1, let’s review where we are up to this point.

We’ve been calling section two of Second Samuel, the Dark Days of David. We’ve spent several weeks walking through the sin that caused David’s dark days to start. We’ve looked at the first divine punishment of that sin, and God’s momentary reprieve of judgment. These weeks could be summarized by saying, God will expose and deal with our sin in a just and loving way as to bring us back to himself. In First Samuel, we recognized that God’s intention is always to bring about restoration. So even when he has to punish, or discipline us for sin, he will always do so justly and lovingly so that we would have the opportunity to draw closer to him. We see this in God’s peace with David through Solomon and through David’s conquering of another city. 

However, God is also true to his word. God said that David’s punishment for sin would encompass his entire house, and as we will now see, that punishment is going to work itself out. The next incident is one that is a hard topic, because many people have been victims of it. Yet, we cannot gloss over it, as the Bible relays the story as to not shy away from the wickedness of humanity.

Before we read the text, a little background might help us understand who is being talked about and their connections with each other. In First Samuel 25, David encounters a woman named Abigail. She ends up being very wise and once her husband is dead from a heart attack, David takes her as a wife. However, in taking her, we’re also told that he takes another woman named Ahinoam (Ah-hen-o-em) of Jezreel. Fast forward to Second Samuel 3, we learn about other women David has taken as wives, one of which is Maacah (mah-ha). It is the son of Ahinoam, Amnon, and the son, Absalom, and daughter, Tamar, of Maacah that we are talking about in this passage.

With that in our minds, let’s read together the story of Tamar.

1 Now Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David's son, loved her. 2 And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. 3 But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. 4 And he said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.” 5 Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” 6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.”

7 Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare food for him.” 8 So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house, where he was lying down. And she took dough and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and baked the cakes. 9 And she took the pan and emptied it out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, “Send out everyone from me.” So everyone went out from him. 10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. 11 But when she brought them near him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.” 12 She answered him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this outrageous thing. 13 As for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” 14 But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.

15 Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up! Go!” 16 But she said to him, “No, my brother, for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me.” But he would not listen to her. 17 He called the young man who served him and said, “Put this woman out of my presence and bolt the door after her.” 18 Now she was wearing a long robe with sleeves, for thus were the virgin daughters of the king dressed. So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. 19 And Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long robe that she wore. And she laid her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.

20 And her brother Absalom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this to heart.” So Tamar lived, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom's house. 21 When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry. 22 But Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had violated his sister Tamar.

One of the strengths of the Scriptures, is that it doesn’t shy away from the wickedness of humanity. God doesn’t sugar coat his word to make us feel better, but shows us the horrid truth of what sin does to people.

v.1-8, We’re told that Amon has a great love for his half-sister Tamar. This word for love is the general word that is used in all sorts of context. By using this word, Amnon communicates that his love is genuine, but is uncertain as to how to express that love to Tamar. Already we run into the reality that the love isn’t what it is made out to be. Amnon knows its not the type of love that is godly, because it’s directed at his father’s daughter, and because of that he doesn’t know how to purse it. 

Instead, his friend comes up with a deceitful thing to do. Act sick, and ask the father to have his daughter make him some food. This might seem innocent if we don’t know Amnon’s purpose, because they’re siblings. And because the request appears innocent, David agrees. Tamar then brings the necessary ingredients and prepares the food in front of Amnon. When a person prepared such cakes in front of another, it was a sign of care and affection. The purity of the act of making the cakes is on display from Tamar’s side, and is then contrasted with the horrific nature of the next several verses.

v.9-13, It is after Amnon refuses to eat, and sends the other people in the room away, that he assaults her. He wants her to lie with him, which shows his love, wasn’t love, but lust. He did not love his sister, he desired her body. If he loved her, he would not have pursed her, let alone in such a deceitful manner.

Tamar protests with three reasons for her brother to not proceed in his wicked intentions: First, she says, “… for such a thing is not done in Israel …(v.12).” Sex between siblings, even half siblings, was strictly forbidden by the Mosaic Law. Leviticus 18:9 states, “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether brought up in the family or in another home.” Tamar is appealing to God’s word to stop the sexual act.

Her second reason is two parts: First she says, “… where could I carry my shame? (v.13)” She appeals to her brother to keep her like she is, a virgin. A woman who wasn’t a virgin at her marriage would bring shame upon herself and her family. She’s asking her brother to not shame her or their family. But this reason only opens the door to her true second reason: “And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel. (v.13) ” Tamar appeals to her brother’s own social consequence. The word nabal is a term meaning fool, but not just someone who is being foolish, but wickedly so. This word would describe an unbelieving nation in Deuteronomy 32:21, and describes a person who does not believe in God, in Psalm 53:1. Tamar is letting Amnon know he’ll be known as a wicked man throughout Israel. This could also be appealing to the fact that he is in line to be the next king of Israel. She asking him, “Do you want to be known as a wicked/foolish king?”

Tamar’s final appeal is for Amnon to ask their father to make her his wife. She says, “… please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you. (v.13)” Though we have already read the Mosaic Law against such a union (Lev. 18:9), Tamar appeals to the possibility that there might be a chance they could be married properly, since there may be an ancient Hebrew precedent that could be invoked. However, this is more likely that Tamar is trying to provide another appeal as to get out of the situation and have her father protect her.

v.14-17, But none of the appeals work, and Amnon forcibly takes what he wants from Tamar. The great love that he reports to have had for his sister is fully exposed as to be nothing but wicked lustful desire, that cared nothing for the woman, and only for what Amon could steal from her. Verse 15 exposes what his true feels were, “Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her.” The truth is, what he mistook for love was nothing but his carnal desire, and once he had it, he through her out.

Maybe one could make the argument that he was disgusted with himself for commenting that act of rape, and so he didn’t want to look at her. That his hatred was really for himself, and so didn’t want to look at the face of the one he sinned against. But I don’t think so. He wickedly hatched a plan with his friend to get into that very situation, and when he didn’t get her willingly, he took her forcibly. He is the one purely at fault.

Some scholars speculate that because of David’s exposed sin, it might have soften Amnon to purse his own sexual deviances. Probably. It also broke the spiritual authority chain of David over his family. Husbands are to lead well. They are given a spiritual authority over their family, and when that authority is broken, all sorts of evil things can now attack the family. We can see that here. The spiritual protections God put in place have been removed because David let his eyes linger in his sin with Bathsheba.

Verse 16 is a difficult verse to understand because the Hebrew is unclear on exactly what Tamar is trying to communicate. However, it could be inferred that she sees the blame being placed on her rather than Amnon. It could be said that she made advances on him and seduced him, which would make her out to be the culprit. It would be easy for people to believe it. He was sick after all, and why would he lie, he’s the King’s son. If Tamar was seen as the problem, it would compound the injustice of the rape, to now place the blame on the victim. 

v.18-22, Tamar doesn’t allow that to happen. She doesn’t allow Amnon to play the victim in his crime. Instead, she does the only thing she can do, she physically shows what has happened to her without mentioning it out loud. She tears her garment, which had symbolized her virginity, and placed ashes on her head to show her distress and mourning. In this way, she physically shows that she did not want what was forced upon her. And she is seen by her brother Absalom in her mourning. He notices her distress, questions her about Amnon, and then provides for her needs as a “disgraced” women in Israelite society.

Then, the whole situation is exposed and David finds out. We’re told in the text that he is furious over the situation, but there is no action on his part to fix it. The Greek Septuagint renders verse 21 as, “And king David heard of all these things, and was very angry; but he did not grieve the spirit of his son Amnon, because be loved him, for he was his first-born.”

Likewise, the Dead Sea Scrolls renders verse 21 as, “But when king David heard of all these things, he was very angry. But he would not inflict pain on the spirit of Amnon, his son, because he loved him, for he was his firstborn.”

This gives us a probable reason as to why David doesn’t punish Amnon. He is David’s very first son. In the past, David has shown that he will punish people, however, he tends to not punish those who are his relatives. We saw this in the situation in 2 Samuel 3 between Joab, his cousin, and Abner. Though David knew Joab was a wicked man, he was family, and so didn’t punish him the way he should have. Here, that same lack of punishment would lead to a greater problem for his entire kingdom.

The situation ends on a festering of sin. Amnon’s rape of Tamar, David’s lack of justice, and Absalom’s anger at Amnon all call out for action, but for the moment, no justice comes.

Tamar’s story is one of the horrific moment’s that occurs to one person within the Scriptures. It’s a moment where the sins of the father flow down and drown the children. These truly are the Dark Days of David. To have one son rape his sister. For him to wickedly plot to take from her by force, what should have been given in love.

It’s stories like these that could have been easily brushed under the rug. We could have been told that Amnon violated a woman, and Absalom didn’t like how David handled it and chose to rebel. But God doesn’t gloss over the horrific nature of the violation. He exposes the sin, not just to the immediate players, but to all of history. We know of Tamar, because God didn’t want her to go unknown.

In that moment, there is no justice, no immediate consequences, just the sin, festering as an open wound ready to eat away at everyone involved.

God wants us to see that festering, because without him, it’s all we have. Open wounds of decay that are infected because we leave them untreated. David should have stepped up, pronounced judgment on his son, but he didn’t. He allowed his feelings for his first born to get in the way of godly justice. 

It is easy for that same thing to happen in our lives. I’ve heard it time and time again, “My child would never do such a thing!” But it’s not just parents and their children. We might call out the sins of our political rivals, and then passover the sins of those we agree with. We justify our own actions by pointing to others, “look what they have done, so what I have done doesn’t matter!”

But to this, God says these words through the prophet Micah, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (v.6:8)” A lot of times, that means to call out our own sides. It means to not act ungodly because it might make us look bad, which actually makes it worse in the long run. It’s the coverups by the Catholic Church. It’s the money to coverup our national representatives sexual misconduct. It’s looking the other way with our own children, because we don’t want others to think bad about us, or we’re just being plain blind to the fact.

God is calling us to honor him by judging justly, to walk in a godly kindness, and to live humbly before him. David failed his daughter by not acting justly in punishing Amnon. This would eventually lead to an all out civil war.

The same can be seen in our nation. We have injustices all around, from both political sides. We have injustices in our own families, because keeping the peace is greater than standing for godliness. God is calling us to follow him, and that might mean hard decisions. But if we don’t, the alternative is more and greater problems.

My challenge for you this week is this: Take an inventory of the actions of those who are “on your side.” These could be political, or familia. But take time and ask the question, “Am I making excuses for this person, because of my anger towards the other side? Or am I acting justly in my judgments?"

We are to be a people who do not hold the side of sin, but will call it out, because if we don’t, we are complicit in the act. We are the informants on our neighbors. We are the sharers of propaganda. David was complicit in his daughter’s rape because he would not act in godly justice. Let us not be complicit in the areas God has given us to stand firm in him. 

Instead, let us be a people in step with the Spirit of God, that we would hold on to him and nothing else, standing for his justice in the face of this world’s injustices. Amen.

2 Samuel Series - Week 11: Good From the Tornado

  Last week I shared with you the horrific story of the tornados that landed in Rochester Minnesota in 1883. On the modern scale, these tornados ranged from categories F3 up to F5. It killed hundreds of people and decimated hundreds of homes and farms. It was the most tragic tornado event up to that point. One of the reasons why it was so devastating was that a lot of the people died, not from the tornado directly, but from injuries inflected by the event. See, at the time, Minnesota only had three hospitals in the state, and all of them were located in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area, a roughly one and a half hour drive today. A local dance hall called, Rommel Hall, became the emergency room. Local doctors worked to aid the injured, but they didn’t have the facilities necessary to treat them. Aiding the doctors were the nuns of the Sisters of St. Francis. In the aftermath, Mother Alfred Moes, led the charge to build Saint Mary’s Hospital which was established in 1889. Twenty-five years later, the campus had grown to many different buildings, with specialities in surgery’s and pediatrics. Today, this hospital has many facilities across the nation, and is considered to be one of the top clinics in all the world. In 1914, the name changed to what it’s known as today, the Mayo Clinic.

Though tragedy hit in 1883, many people have been cared for since. With many being saved from all sorts of diseases, than were lost in that series of tornados.

It’s this truth that God can bring goodness out of tragedy, that brings us back to our series in Second Samuel, chapter 12. Where we’ll be picking it back up in Second Samuel 12:24-31, as we finish off the chapter.

As we open our Bibles to Second Samuel 12:24, let’s review where we are so far. In our seventh week, we looked at how this whole situation started. David didn’t go out to war as was the custom, instead he stayed behind and allowed his eyes to linger on a woman taking a bath. From there, he let himself enter into adultery, and then murder, killing the woman’s husband. From that seventh week, we talked about how, God uses extreme language to call us away from sin, so that we understand that sin is not something to play with. God wants us to avoid sin, because it is evil, and it will destroy us.

Following David’s sin, we saw how God sent the prophet Nathan to bring judgment upon David. Nathan did this through a story, that led David to judge correctly about another’s sin. When David’s sin was exposed, Nathan revealed that there would be divine punishment on David’s house, which would start with the death of the child that came from David’s first union with Bathsheba. From that week, we recognized that, God will not allow sin in our lives to go unpunished, and will expose sin publicly if necessary.

After David’s sin was exposed, we read his response in Psalm 51. In that response we saw what confession, repentance and seeking cleansing by God looked like. And we understood that, God is calling us to a Psalm 51 attitude of confession, repentance and cleansing so that we would bring right sacrifices to him. Because, only when we are in a right relationship with him, can we truly bring the sacrifice of worship before him.

Finally, as we returned to the situation last week, we walked through the death of David’s child, because of David’s sin. We talked about how sin is not personal, but rather is interconnected in both the spiritual and physical realms. From this understanding, we walked away with the truth that, God is calling us to view sin as it is, an unfair wicked thing that needs to be repented of. Sin isn’t fair, only God’s judgment of it is fair. So instead of blaming God for our faults, let us acknowledge our part and seek his restoration.

This brings us to a moment of hope in between two points in God’s judgment of David. Let’s read together Second Samuel 12:24-31. 

24 Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him 25 and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city. 27 And Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah; moreover, I have taken the city of waters. 28 Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name.” 29 So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. 30 And he took the crown of their king from his head. The weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone, and it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. 31 And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

v.24-25 - We see that after David mourns for his child, and worships God, acknowledging that his judgment was just, David again sleeps with Bathsheba. From this second union, they produce a second son, Solomon. We’re told that “… the Lord love him … v.24),” which shows that God has moved passed the initial judgment on David’s offspring from Bathsheba, because that judgment has been fulfilled. Of course this doesn’t stop the fulfillment of the rest of God’s judgment on David’s life, but it does end the judgment upon David and Bathsheba’s marriage. This shows us that God isn’t vindictive, or he would have continued the affliction onto the second child. God brought judgment and once it was fulfilled, he no longer held that punishment over David.

This relief is also understood by David. He names the second child, Solomon which means, peace. The second child’s name reveals the peace David experiences after his first child with Bathsheba dies. But then God sends Nathan to tell David of his love for Solomon. David then gives the child a secondary name, sorta like a nickname, of Jedidiah. This new name means, beloved of Yahweh. This reemphasizes the peace of God, and that no more judgment is upon Bathsheba’s offspring.

v.26-31 - The chapter then ends on a military victory. Remember, during the entire episode with David and Bathsheba, Israel’s armies had been besieging the royal city of the Ammonites. We’re told that Joab sends messengers to David that the king needs to come out and deal the final blow, or else Joab’s name would be attached to the city. This means that he would be seen as the conquer,  and become its new king. This would put strain between David and Joab, as if Joab was trying to carve out his own kingdom. This is actually a good move on Joab’s part, and shows how loyal he was to David. So David goes out, conquers the city, receives the Ammonites’ king’s crown, and the chapter ends on a high note.

However, I want us to notice something here. Though it is God who gives the victory to David, because only by God’s sovereignty does Israel receive victories, God isn’t mentioned. This victory shouldn’t been seen as God doing away with the coming judgment. David’s not off the hook. Instead, it should be seen as God giving David one last victory before the judgment comes to his family. By giving David this small reprieve from judgment, God is showing that he loves David, and chooses to continue to use him to bring about judgment on the other nations. But judgment is still coming to David’s house, because of David’s sin. Which we’ll see next week. 

But for now, we can understand this one central point of God’s love: though we might do evil, God’s intention is always to bring about his goodness.

We see this in the story of Jospeh, whose brothers sold him into slavery. For years Joseph had ups and downs. He was in a lavish house, then in prison, and finally, second only to Pharaoh. At the end of Joseph’s story, he confronts his brothers and tells them these words, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. (Gen. 50:20)”

Though evil was sought in Joseph’s life, God used that to bring about goodness.

The Apostle Paul would go on to recognize this central point of God’s love when he pens these words to the Roman Church, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8:28)”

God intends his goodness for us. In fact James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (Jam. 1:17)”

God’s desire is for us to experience his good things. But those good things only come through following him. Just as the athlete receives the medal by working within the boundaries of the game, so too does God bestow upon us his blessings as we follow him. Even when we have done evil things, when we have sinned, and broken fellowship with him, by his great love for us, when we repent, he will lavish his love upon us once again, bringing back his goodness upon us.

It’s because of his desire to pour out his love and gifts upon his creation, that I want to challenge you this week to praise God for all the good things he has done after you’ve experienced something bad. This will take sometime and some thoughtful remembering. Think back on the times you experienced some sort of suffering, whether caused by your actions or the actions of another person. Then write down the good that came out of that situation. Praise God for it, thanking him for his work. 

If you are currently in a bad situation, begin the praise now, anticipating what good things God will do from it. 

Life is hard, evil surrounds us, but God is good all the time, and he desires to bring goodness out of the evil, that his people may experience his goodness. So let us be the people who do not look to our bad situations, but rather to our good God. Amen.

2 Samuel Series - Week 10: Sin Tornado

  From late July into late August of 1883, a series of tornado families swept through the southeastern potions of Minnesota. In this month of destruction, the first two tornado’s, one being an F4 killed four people. One month to the day later, another series of tornado’s landed in the Rochester area. The first landed and did some destruction. It swept through the area, hitting 40 farms, completely destroying 10 of them. An hour later, two tornados, with one being a massive category F5, swept through the northern part of Rochester, and in about five minutes, destroyed 135 homes, and damaged another 200. In the end 37 people died and over 200 were injured. An hour and half later, another tornado touched down, killing one more person, and injuring another 19.

The series of tornados carved a 10 mile wide path of destruction, and is considered one of the most devastating tornados to ever hit Minnesota at the time. But that’s what tornados do. They don’t attack certain people, they move, indiscriminately through an area, destroying whatever’s in their path.

And its this idea of indiscriminate destruction that brings us back to our series in Second Samuel, where we’ll be picking it back up in Chapter 12, verse 15. And as we open up to Second Samuel 12:15, let’s look back on the last few weeks.

As we entered into the second section of Second Samuel, we started seeing the dark days of David rise up. From his point of being on top of the world, his eyes lingered and led him to adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. Through David’s sin, we talked about how, God uses extreme language to call us away from sin, so that we understand that sin is not something to play with. If David would have listened to God’s word, then things might have turned out differently.

David’s coverup of his sin led God to send Nathan to confront the king. Through an allegorical parable, David condemned his own sin by rightly judging the sin of another. When the sin was revealed, Nathan told David of God’s judgment upon his house. From this interaction, we walked away with the understanding that, God will not allow sin in our lives to go unpunished, and will expose sin publicly if necessary. Instead, God is calling us to a life of confession, repentance and cleansing.

Finally, we looked at David’s repentant Psalm 51. Through this psalm, David shows us that confession does not try to sugar coat the sin. It also shows us that repentance is seeking God’s cleansing, not just saying we’re sorry. We walked away from last week with the understanding that, God is calling us to a Psalm 51 attitude of confession, repentance and cleansing so that we would bring right sacrifices to him. Because only when we are right with God, can we bring a right sacrifice of our lives to him.

With these things back in our minds, we can look to the next part of the story as David’s sin begins to affect the people around him. Let’s read Second Samuel 12:15-23.

15 Then Nathan went to his house. And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. 16 David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 He said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, ‘Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

From Nathan’s confrontation of David, the story moves straight into divine judgment. The word, “afflicted,” is used numerous times in the Old Testament in connection to God’s act of judgment upon a person. The most notable of these divine judgments is against Egypt, where God instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh that he will “plague” Egypt (Ex. 8:2). So there is no mistake that the consequence of the child’s affliction comes from divine punishment of David’s sin.

Because of this divine punishment, we must stop and ask the question, why would God afflict a child for the sins of the parent? We might even go to Ezekiel 18:20, where God states, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” In fact the whole chapter os Ezekiel 18 is about how a person’s sins will only be judged to them and no one else. So why is God holding David’s sin upon a child?

We need to remember a few things here: First, Israel is under covenant with God. National covenants are a trickle down agreement. As the king goes, so does the nation. The child’s affliction comes through the actions of the father. Within the covenant, God states in places likes Deuteronomy 5:9, “… for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” Judgment within the covenantal frame work can affect those who did not sin. However, if a person repents, God restores. Yet, in this case, David’s sin has already infected multiple people, and so God has to deal with it on a larger scale. This shows us how devastating our sins can be for others. Children are affected by their parents’ sins all the time. They will feel the affects and be under the same judgments as those in authority over them. It’s a hard reality, but sin isn’t a game, and we need to realize how much our personal sins can destroy others.

Secondly, a concept arise from this passage called, the age of accountability. Within theology, there is this idea that a child, or even an adult who does not have the ability, or who has yet to come to an understanding of good and evil, is not judge by God to eternal separation. In other words, every child who dies before they are able to understand good and evil, and every person who is mentally unable to understand the concept, are seen as righteous in God’s eyes. This concept comes from David’s words at the end of the passage, that, “… I shall go to him, but he will not return to me. (v.23)” David has an understanding that the child is with God, and when David dies, he will be reunited with his child in eternity. 

Another verse that supports this idea is Deuteronomy 1:39, which reads, “And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.” In this passage, God did not hold the sin of the parents which kept them from the promise land against their children, because the children did not understand the difference between good and evil. 

So even though David’s child was afflicted through divine judgment because of David’s sin, it did not receive an eternal punishment, but rather entered into God’s presence when it died. John Lenox, a Christian mathematician and apologist was asked about the suffering of children and his response was that, “God will compensate” that child for the suffering it has endured. That answer reminds me of Paul’s words in First Corinthians 2:9, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.” Any person who dies before they understand good and evil, will not face the wrath of God. This is because Jesus’ payment on the cross, covers them in their position of not being able to understand good and evil, and they are ushered into the great presence of God, which is greater than any amount of suffering in this life. So even though David’s child suffered because of David’s sin, that child experienced a greater prize than any of us could imagine.

Yet, though God is gracious towards those who do not understand good and evil, it is the affects of sin that is the focal point of the passage. David’s sin is what caused the child to be afflicted and die. The weight of the pain falls upon David as the cause of death. His lustful eyes led to the death of Uriah and several unknown soldiers, and now his own flesh and blood. And this is a core teaching throughout the Bible that God wants us to understand: There is no personal sin, all sin affects the world around us. This is clearly seen in what God says to Adam in Genesis 3:17, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you …”

God created us as interconnected beings, whose actions affect the world around us. When we understand that our sin can affect those around us, it puts the burden of consequences back on to us, where it should be. 

Through the death of David’s child, he realized these deeper truths that God shows us. Psalm 32 is considered to be the Psalm David wrote after Psalm 51. In it he writes, 

“1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
     whose sin is covered.

2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
     and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
     through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
     my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
     and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
     offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
     they shall not reach him.

7 You are a hiding place for me;
     you preserve me from trouble;
     you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
     I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
     which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
     or it will not stay near you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
     but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
     and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 32 is a recognition of God’s love even for the sinner, and how God’s people need to call out with rejoicing because of God’s love for us. David accepts the blame of his sin, and see that God is good even in the judgments of that sin.

My challenge for you this week, as we did in the previous one, is to recite Psalm 32 everyday. Take time in the morning and read it out loud and thank him that, though we have sinned, he has forgiven that sin through Christ Jesus. We are only forgiven, because he placed our sin on Jesus. And because of that saving work, his steadfast love surrounds us even though our sin has effected so much. God brings good even out of our most heinous sin, which is what we will talk about next. 

But for now, let us be a people who recognize that without the Lord, we would be tornados destroying the lives of others. But through Jesus, the twisters of our lives can see good things happen through them. Amen

2 Samuel Series - Week 9: Psalm 51 Attitude

  If you’re any type of student of history, then the horrors of World War II are etched into your mind. Millions of civilians and soldiers killed. Whole countries decimated. Families torn apart, and we’re still feeling the effects today of decisions made then. One of the stories that came out of World War II was the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, where Jews resisted the Nazi’s transportation to gas chambers. In the Polish Ghetto, ruffly 56,000 Jewish people died. But as the Nazi came in, the people fought back. It need up being the single largest Jewish revolt in WW II, and led the Polish resistance to begin supporting the Jewish people. 

After the war in 1970, West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, was in Warsaw to sign a border treaty with Poland. He visited the monument to the Ghetto Uprising, and laid a wreath. All of a sudden, he fell to his knees in silence. Afterwards he was asked why he did it and he said, “At the abyss of German history and under the weight of millions of murdered people, I did what humans do when speech fails them.” Brandt’s gesture was a sign of repentance for all that the German people had done to the world. That same year he was named Time’s Person of the Year, and a year later he would receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in reconciling West Germany with it’s eastern neighbors.

And it’s this idea of the act of reconciliation that brings us back to our summer series, where we’ll be looking at David’s response to the prophet Nathan over the sin of Bathsheba and Uriah. Today, we’ll be focusing on Psalm 51. As we open up to Psalm 51, let’s look back at what got us here. 

As we began section two of the Book of Second Samuel, we talked about how David was on top of the world. Everything God had promised, everything that we, as the reader, had been waiting for, finally happened. David was king, the people were at peace, and the surrounding nations had been subjugated. 

However, it was at this moment that David let his guard completely down. This gave his sin an opportunity to begin the destruction of all that had been hard fought to achieve. David allowed his lustful desire for Bathsheba to lead to adultery, and then to murder. This sin, unbeknownst to David at the time, would eventually lead to major strife in his home, the death of his sons, the defilement of his daughter, and the destruction of his nation. As we walked away from that week, we talked about how, God is calling us away from all sin, with extreme language, so that we understand that sin is not something to play with.

Then, even though David tried to conceal his sin, God could see the whole thing. He sent the prophet Nathan to confront David over his sin. The prophet does this by telling David a parable, where the twist was, it was an allegory of David’s own insatiable thirst. David condemned himself by acknowledging that the rich man in the story must give recompense for his sins. It was then, that God revealed the judgment that was upon David, and the king finally realized what his sin was about to unleash. From this, we walked away with the understanding that, God will not allow sin in our lives to go unpunished, and will expose sin publicly if necessary. Instead, God calls us to live lives of confession, repentance, and cleansing.

But, to David’s credit, when he was called out by Nathan as the man who had sinned, David’s response was, “I have sinned against the Lord. ( 2 Sam. 15:13)” And from this initial confession, David writes Psalm 51. Let’s read it now. 

1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God,
     according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
     and cleanse me from my sin!

3 For I know my transgressions,
     and my sin is ever before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
  so that you may be justified in your words
     and blameless in your judgment.

5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
     and in sin did my mother conceive me.

6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
     and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
     wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
     let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

9 Hide your face from my sins,
     and blot out all my iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
     and renew a right spirit within me.

11 Cast me not away from your presence,
     and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
     and uphold me with a willing spirit.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
     and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
     O God of my salvation,
     and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

15 O Lord, open my lips,
     and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
     you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
     a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
     build up the walls of Jerusalem;

19 then will you delight in right sacrifices,
     in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
     then bulls will be offered on your altar.

v.1-5 - As I read through David’s confession, repentance and seeking cleanings, I see three parts to it. In the first five verses, David is no longer hiding his sin. He fully accepts it. He opens by throwing himself upon the mercy of God. He’s crying out for the mercy and steadfast love of God to be poured out on him. David recognizes that only God can wash him from sin. That he couldn’t hide that sin. And here, in verse 3 we learn that even though David had tried to cover his sin up, even though he had tried to try to no longer remember it and trick himself into acknowledging it, he had been struggling with it. He tells God that, “… my sin is ever before me.” He couldn’t outrun it or hide it. The sin was there, it never went away, because the only person who can get rid of sin, is God. So all David’s hiding ended up failing.

Then David says something interesting, “Against you, you only, have I sinned …(v.4)” and we should shout at David, “No you sinned against yourself, your wives, your children, your people, against Bathsheba, Uriah, and the other soldiers.” David has sinned against so many people. But we must understand that David isn’t dodging here, he’s going before the judge who is the Convictor of sin. And this word that David uses, is the Hebrew word, bad (bahd) which combines both the physical sense of being separated from something, and a theological idea of being set apart. In the context of Psalm 51, David’s sin sits before God for judgement. God is the only one who judges clearly and without prejudice. So before God David’s sits in sin. It is only the God of Israel who can truly judge what the king of Israel has done. And because of this, God’s judgment is justified and blameless.

It is in verse 5 that David then says something interesting, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This has two interpretations: First, that David was born in an adulterous or an abusive sexual manner; this could be why David is left out of Jesse’s original presentation of his sons to Samuel, or why he is relegated to the fields. The second is that all people are sinners, therefore David is conceived in a world of sin, as we all are. However, the first interpretation fails because David is connected directly to Ruth through Jesse, and there is no other indication that he was adopted. So the second interpretation is the more likely one. Just like all of us, David’s life has been surrounded by sin from his conception to the day he embrace sin’s allure. 

v.6-15 - It’s then, after his confession of sin in verses 1-5, that David turns his attention on God for cleansing. This is combined with David’s plea that his desires change as well. David tells God, that he knows the Lord delights in truth, so he wants that truth in his heart. To bring this truth in, he must be cleansed of falsities. So David calls on God to “Purge me with hyssop … (v.7),” which is a small plant that was used in cleansing rituals.

David realizes that in his present state, he is joyless and he is broken. He desires God to turn his face from David’s sin to blot them out so that a new heart and a right spirit might be placed in him. David doesn’t want to be cast away or have the Holy Spirit removed from him like it was removed from Saul. David seeks to have a restored and willing spirit within himself.

And when God does these things, David will teach others about the restoration of God’s mercy and he will sing about it to the world.

v.16-19 - David ends his Psalm with a focus on what God desires of his people. Not simply sacrifices of animals, but hearts that desire him. David recognizes that God isn’t after a bunch of animals going to the slaughter, but rather that his people would seek him with their hearts. Because when the people of God desire him with their hearts, the acts of sacrifice are then given meaning. Our sacrifices should flow, not to earn salvation, but in response to salvation being bestowed upon us.

And this is where David ends his Psalm, on a triumphal focus on bringing a great sacrifice to God that is propelled to do so by a restored heart.

Samuel once told Saul, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. (1 Sam 15:22)”

It was Jesus who said, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)”

Paul would later write, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Rom. 12:1-2)”

Our heart condition is the first thing God is interested in. Sacrifices are only acceptable when the heart of a person worships the Lord in spirit and truth. When are hearts are being cleansed by his work, then the sacrifices of our lives become acceptable to him. Yet, while we are in rebellion, we cannot please God.

From Psalm 51, we can see what confession, repentance and seeking cleansing looks like. Confession is not holding back our sin, but recognizing that God is right in judging it. Repentance is crying out to God, not just saying sorry, but desiring a change in that area of sin. Seeking cleansing follows on the heals of repentance, because we are to no longer live in the state we were before. And so we seek God to cleanse us of all sin, not just the ones that get us into trouble.

The Lord is calling us to have a Psalm 51 attitude. That when sin is revealed in our lives, we do not hide, but lay it all out. We are to be people who accept God’s judgment of our sin, and we must be willing to have it cleansed from us. When we walk in this attitude, sin is put in its place. The believer lives in a place where they recognize sin only has the power we let it have. Because Jesus has full authority over us, sin has no power in the believer’s life. 

My challenge then for you is to recite, not merely read, Psalm 51 this week. If in the midst of that recitation, God brings to mind sin that has not been confessed, then stop and confess that sin before moving on. Once it has been confessed, repented and cleansing sought, resume the recitation until all nineteen verses are said daily. 

God is calling us to be confessors, repentant and seekers of cleansing. So let us take the example of David when it is the right example, and call out to God with a Psalm 51 attitude. Amen.