2 Samuel 11: Sin Is Living Next Door

0:00We think the worst thing would be to have our horrible truths discovered, no, no, no. The worst thing is for them not to be. We need profound honesty about our personal weaknesses. This is Mission 66, brought to you by TWR and the Bible Teaching Ministry of Dr. Luis Today, we're stepping into Second Samuel, offering timeless lessons of repentance, justice, mercy, and relying on God's guidance. You can follow along with your downloadable study guide at Mission66.org. Here's John Matthews with Esther Sasulu to guide our study. Today, we come to Second Samuel chapter 11 and we welcome you in today's journey. Now, perhaps it would have been better if the Bible didn't have to include this chapter because it recalls a terrible moral failing on the part of one of God's famous servants.

1:03But hey, God doesn't shy away from telling things the way they really happened. And you know, we learn as much from our failings as we do from our successors. So here's our teacher, John Matthews, who will bring us the account of David and Beth Sheba. Esther, thank you so much and I'll go straight in to say I think we learn far, far more actually. If you look at what's written in the Bible from our failures, from the tough stuff that we do from success, I'm not sure I've ever learned too much from success. And so it's a really important chapter, even if it's a difficult one for us to get ahead to our own, but it's so important because actually we see David as much like us prone to failing, prone to sin. And that is reality, isn't it, for for human beings here on earth. So thank you so much for that welcome, Esther, and a very warm welcome to Mission 66, wherever you joins from today, whatever your day holds,

2:06it is so good to be with you for this latest episode. And you're right, Esther, here we find in 2 Samuel 11, David, the man after God's own heart, willing to do the tough stuff militarily. He'd expanded the borders of Israel to the cheers and the approval of the people in terms of personal wins. Well, he was compassionate as evidence by the way that he treated the son of Jonathan. He was a devoted worship leader and extraordinary musician. He was author, wasn't he, of many of the Psalms that will come to hear on Mission 66 in the Bible. So as we have seen so far, God has blessed David. And David is at the climax of his life in every way, militarily, spiritually, and personally as well. David here is in a situation of ascension. The great truth is that the Bible tells us in the New Testament that actually if you think you

3:08are standing firm, we'll be careful that you don't fall. And that was to become David's truth because he was about to fall and to fail. And here we see what happens. And the Bible describes the the background. It was a calm time. The Bible says that it was spring when the kings would head out to war. It was easier to battle due to the climate. Things were a lot better and more predictable. And Joab, he went with the army of Israel to fight against the Ammonites. And the city of Rabat, the capital, was surrounded by the army. And David's great military leader, Joab, was there. And David at the time wasn't there. He was in Jerusalem. And the chapter tells us that one evening, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof, he saw a woman bathing.

4:17And it seems that David just took a little too long in holding what he was seeing. And this woman struck his attention because she was very beautiful. She was taking a bath in her chamber, in her room. It's possible the reason that David saw her was because his palace was elevated, was high up and he was looking down. And so David pursues with this image in his mind. He finds out that she was Bathsheba and that she was married to a man called Uriah. No Uriah was a soldier in the Israelite army. And he was a foreigner. He was of Hittite's origin. Or since David was a powerful king in Israel at the time was a significant enough potency in the region. He therefore had many mercenaries, many people who were foreigners and lived and worked in Israel and soldiers who fought for the army as well. And that was the case here with Uriah the Hittite who had ended up

5:18marrying Bathsheba. So David, who had left room in his heart to stray from the ways of God, he commands this woman to be brought to him and he sleeps with her. That David doesn't fully understand at this stage the sin that had been crouching at his door. And so he falls into adultery with Bathsheba. And it's interesting to see that she had just been cleansed from the impurity of her period. And this shows up and it shows us that she's not yet at the pinnacle of fertility in her cycle. And that probably made it easier for David to commit sin because perhaps he thought the chances of being found out or there being consequences were slim. But look what happens. The sin was committed and it will have consequences because Bathsheba becomes pregnant and she tells David. And David then reacts and again does what is wrong. This

6:19great man of God, this leader who is completely human. And he ends up entering this dangerous chain of events to try and hide his sin of adultery. And he decides to send a message to the captain of his army to Joab. And he asks that Uriah the Hittite be brought to him to speak with him. And Uriah then comes and David tries to talk to Uriah and Uriah before David's question as to how the war is going. And David says, go down to your house and wash your feet. But Uriah doesn't follow David's command. Instead he goes and sleeps at the entrance to the palace where the guards and the servants of his master were sleeping. And David then asks Uriah to come back and when he does he says, why did you do that? Maybe David had this plan that Uriah would go home and sleep with his wife Bathsheba hoping that therein no one would ever find out about what had

7:22happened because she was still at the beginning of her pregnancy. But Uriah doesn't go home and he doesn't lay with his wife. In fact, he says to David the Ark and Israel and Jude are staying in tents. My commander Joab and my lords men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live I will not do such a thing. What integrity are I, shows? And David then asks him to stay another day and then sense him back and during the time that Uriah remains there. David asks him to eat and drink and actually gets him drunk and Uriah remains in the palace. David then sends a letter to Joab and observe how much more complex this situation is getting and how much deeper David is getting himself in and David commands Uriah to be killed. In the letter he writes, put Uriah in front

8:26right out in front where the fighting is fiercest, then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die. So while Joab had the city under siege he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strong defenders were. And so what happens is that when the men came out to fight to battle some of the officials died and among them Uriah died as well. So David's plan had worked but observe how David is slipping into a pit. First he takes too long looking at this married woman, desiring her. After that he has the courage to call her into his palace. He then sleeps with her committing adultery. Then this unwanted pregnancy is a result and David still isn't taking responsibility for his actions. He doesn't repent before God and tries to resolve the situation. He tries to put as much responsibility as is possible on Uriah but his plan doesn't work

9:28so he now schemes away where Uriah would finally be killed. And the Bible is going to tell us that when Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead she mourned for him. 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. What strikes our attention is that despite the blessed position that David was in despite his heart's desire to honor and give his life for God he was still open to sin. He was far from immune to sin. David had felt powerful as a king so powerful perhaps that he maybe at this point believed he didn't have to answer to anybody about his actions or his attitudes. And he fell because he left a small room in his life for sin

10:32but that small room became influential. As soon as this woman and struck his attention the sequence of events unfolded. David committed the sin. He committed murder. And in many ways David did this in a cold way knowing that Uriah died he was from what we can gather calm and collected. And he says look I'm going to take care of this poor widow, this woman who has left alone she has no husband. Her husband died in war there in the battle around the wall to wrap her against the amonites. So I am going to be good to her. Perhaps David still with his bright ideas showing up as the one who was going to end up being perceived as being kind in this whole story. And so he sends for Bathsheba and he has her taken into his palace to become another of his wives, one of the many women. And the Bible tells us that what David had done

11:34displeased the Lord. And what you really have here is the start of the fall of a great leader of God. Well thank you so much for staying with us here on Mission 66 as we look through 2nd Samuel chapter 11. Now of course what a fascinating chapter lots of lessons for us to learn. And John I want us to start off with this woman and who she was who suddenly appeared in the life of King David. And in essence kind of changes the course of his life in a dramatic way. Do we know anything more about her apart from what is written in the chapter? Now yeah no we know that Bathsheba was an Israelite woman. Of course it was actually it was the sin that changes David's life in a dramatic way wasn't it. And Bathsheba was involved in this story.

12:38But difficult to uncover anything more about her than it's written here. The text mentions that she's the daughter of Eliam who was likely a member of David's personal God. Some scholars believe that Eliam was the son of a hitherto fell who was one of David's counselors. And that familial connection makes plain why Bathsheba's home was located so close to the palace. We know that after her interaction with David she had one child described here who later dies. We'll see that in the next chapter. And after her marriage to David she would actually have five children by David. All right John well you know in situations where things go wrong I think it is within us as humans to try to assign blame for the situation. So let's actually talk about that. What do you think about that that idea of assigning blame in this particular

13:38situation or in general in fact. Yeah it's an interesting question and a good point to make Esther because you're right. I think it's part of our sinful fallen nature that we look to become like God in a proud way. We look to become the judge. You know what I mean we want to we want to apportion blame because somehow within our psyche it makes us feel a little bit better about ourselves. But it's a false economy and the truth is that I am to blame for the consequences caused by the deep sin in my heart and soul. I look to nobody else and apportion no blame. That is their responsibility and we should never take the place of judge less. We be judged. God and God alone is judge. Our job on this earth is not to judge people. Our job

14:43as believes and follows of Jesus is to point people to Him so that they can escape the consequences of their sin and the consequences of his guilty verdict which is the verdict that is going to be handed down to every single person who's ever lived. Here what happens here David prefers in the moment Bathsheba God's creation to the creator. In the words of John Piper the essence of our depravity is our deep preference of created things. The glory of created things, the value of created things, the satisfying nature of created things, the joy of created things, the pleasure of created things, the significance of created things over the glory of God such that we are blind and

15:52insensible to the infinitely preferable glory of God. Human nature has to be what it is then. We see this happening today. I see it happen in my life as the force and the allure in this particular story of the attraction between the couple overrides their far better judgment. So John we know that there are a number of players in the story and one of those is Joe App who is the commander of David's army. Do you think in any way he could have been able to stop the death of Eureia? Well look contextually he's a commander who's bound by the military code and you don't have a debate about it. You obey orders from the king full stop and that is the the environment in which Joe App and David would have would have had that relationship. It was

16:56I command you carry out the orders and that is that. Yeah he kind of is the hands and feet of what the king tells him to do. He has to do what the king tells him. Okay well you know in us looking through the life of David we see that he had several wives and he had a number of concubines and you know God didn't seem to explicitly reveal any displeasure at him having these partners but why do you think that God condemned this particular incident? Because of the deceit involved and because deceit always leads to deeper sin in this case it leads to murder and even the God did allow in the Old Testament meant to have multiple wives. They were wives and there was not meant to be any promiscuity outside of those relationships. God commanded men not to go after another man's

18:00wife. It was called adultery and that plus the attempt to get Eureia to assume the responsibility for the pregnancy as well. So that was the first play wasn't it? When David tried to cover up and then the second play was to to have him murdered. Well look this is clearly weighing heavily against David. Yeah and you can imagine why. I wonder if there were any points or perhaps a point where any of this could have been prevented? Well look sin is always prowling, always tempting, always looking too seduced. So once David's base instincts had control and the same goes for all of us today there's an inevitability isn't there about what what followed. So look probably the first 10 seconds was the time to turn his back on his own flesh which would have been roaring and deny himself then. Well if he was able to do that it may well have led to a different outcome

19:03but once those seeds of lust had been allowed to dwell and the thoughts gathered momentum in his head. Well a freight train is in motion and it's rolling down the mountain at that stage at at speed. Earlier on you mentioned this upward trajectory of David's life and I know considering where we are now in his story it may be hard for some to really comprehend how this wise and godly leader who you know he he lived in a way that exhibited God's grace and power how he could fall so dramatically. So how can leaders guard themselves against such pitfalls? Yeah it's an important question and as you say especially for those in positions of spiritual leadership to whom much is given much is required so there is added responsibility and expectation you know let's be honest about temptation it comes very often unexpectedly without warning you know we're not alerted by the

20:09devil that a temptation is on its way nobody ever wakes up do they in the morning say right I think I'm going to go out and some point today commit adultery it starts with a look a gaze a thought followed by an action and before we know it the freight train is gathering pace I think the best defense is to be proactive so you set a standard for yourself before temptation comes along you resolve not to violate those standards what might that be that might be cutting off the source so if it's media if it's media that's unhelpful and it takes you down a route you don't want to go you you cut that media off the source or you don't read or see or look at things that take you down a path you don't want to go down and another thing I think is to have a really healthy mistrust of our own human nature you know don't we see that from Paul in Romans 7 who will rescue me he says

21:14from this wretch of a man that I am a Paul knows himself Paul understands himself you know what what a guy he is to understand who he is most of us think rather well of ourselves and that's a dangerous place to be because if we don't fall well the second worst thing is we judge and neither are great moral failures sometimes stem from our illusions don't they have our own goodness and our ability to resist the leader may think look I'm basically a pretty good moral person and I'm in control of myself I'm not weak like those other people you know who have fallen into sin I'm made of sterner stuff and we think more highly of ourselves than we should and and it's dangerous territory slap bang in the middle of enemy territory actually it will feel by the way anything but that pride that sense of entitlement it can lead to catastrophe

22:22what's the antidote to it it's got to be true humility and I mean true humility here as to not foe humility the self-deprecation that we put on because we know we're not really humble we've all suffered a bit from that haven't we true humility comes when we list the things and take ownership of the stuff we struggle with harsh critical anger lust self-indulgence being abusive pull those things that we are we all are to one extent or another into the light and own them not make excuses are sometimes I can be angry but own them and allow the Holy Spirit to empower us because we can't do it ourselves it's the Holy Spirit that empowers us to overcome what do we do he gives us the power first we've got to be intentioned and make choices as well

23:25our antidote is humility recognizing our weakness and then our dependence on God and our accountability to him time with him holy spirit driven time with him that is the answer we who may be in positions of those who may be in positions of leadership got to remain vigilant everybody you me everybody is in the firing line well done I think on that note we should go ahead and move into summarizing chapter 11 yeah today we looked at the account of David adultery with Bathsheba second Samuel 11 highlighting the devastating progression here of sin when it's left unchecked King David neglects his responsibility succumbs to temptation commits adultery of Bathsheba and attempts to conceal his sin through deceit and manipulation

24:26when his plans fail he orchestrates the death of her husband or Ia this man of bravery loyalty integrity though David successfully hides his actions doesn't he from others the chapter conclude with the sobering truth when it says the thing that David had done displeased the Lord nothing is hidden from him and the story teaches us that sin often begins with a small compromise but can often escalate into grave consequences the hardening of our hearts leading to further harm and self justification and so we're reminded to stay vigilant guard against temptation confess our sins not conceal them above all it emphasizes that guard sees all he holds us accountable calling us to repentance and restoration which can only be achieved through his mercy and his grace and you know what Esther he the incredible loving father awaits with open arms to invite everyone

25:32of us protocols home thanks John and thank you you friend for being with us here on mission 66 we thoroughly enjoy this time that we can spend together and we hope that next time you will join us as we continue to look through second Samuel as we uncover the account of Israel's King David well I'm Esther for John and our team saying thank you once again and until next time may God bless you that's it for today's episode of mission 66 but before you go make sure to check out mission66.org for your free study guide it's a great way to get more from the Bible and to see how it connects with your life cruise through the scriptures with John and Esther chapter by chapter grab your free study guide at mission66.org and be all set for an next episode while you're at the site shoot John and Esther a message or ask them a question you can also become a mission 66 global

26:37partner with your donation helping mission 66 get to more places in more languages all the actions at mission66.org mission 66 is a ministry partnership of TWR and dr. Louise say out