Old Testament - 2 Samuel 11-12 - June 21, 2022

 6/21/2022 – 2 Samuel 11-12

Chapter 11

It is in this chapter that David commits adultery with Bathsheba. This is where President Hinckley’s account of what had happened in his work with the railroad: “We discovered that a baggage car that belonged in Newark, New Jersey, was in fact in New Orleans, Louisiana—1,500 miles from its destination. Just the three-inch movement of the switch in the St. Louis yard by a careless employee had started it on the wrong track, and the distance from its true destination increased dramatically. That is the way it is with our lives. Instead of following a steady course, we are pulled by some mistaken idea in another direction. The movement away from our original destination may be ever so small, but, if continued, that very small movement becomes a great gap and we find ourselves far from where we intended to go.” 

David let himself down by bad decision after bad decision: in v 2 David simply goes out on his roof top one evening, and from that point of view “he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.” He could have immediately gone back into his house at that time and gone about his kingly business, but instead he “enquired after the woman” (v 3) and learns that her name is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah, who was a commander in David’s army—once again he could have gone back to his kingly business. Instead he “sent messengers, and took her: and she came in unto him, and he lay with her”.  He had experienced ‘lustful desires’ and he let himself linger in those desires, until he decided to take the next step of sleeping with her. He did manage to send her back to her home….but what he had done had significant consequences: “And the woman conceived, and sent and told David” (v 5)  David immediately called in Uriah from his position in the war. David asked Uriah’s opinions on how the war was going, and then told Uriah to take an evening to go home and see his wife. But Uriah had come straight from the battle front, and he was not in a condition to see his wife and he felt he needed to quickly return to his place at the battle field. So he simply slept with the king’s servants, and then planned to immediately go back to battle. David was told where Uriah was, and David spoke to him once again asking why he did not go back to his home. Uriah said that the most important thing he could do at that time, was to make hast to get back to his troops. 

David was worried now, that his sleeping with another man’s wife would become public information….because when Bathsheba gave birth to David’s child, Uriah would have known it was not his own child. So then David sent word to the battle front that Uriah should be sent to the most dangerous part of the battle field. Uriah follow David’s commands, and was killed in battle. Bathsheba mourned her husband’s death. And David “sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife and bare him a son. BUT THE THING THAT DAVID HAD DONE DISPLEASED THE LORD.” (V 27) 

We can always go to the Lord and ask for His help in our repentance. But David did not repent of his errors, he just kept trying to hide them, and in those efforts he basically commented the murder of Bathsheba’s husband.  

Here is one opinion of David’s step by step fall from grace: “Things were getting too easy for David; he had leisure to stay at home while Joab and his men were out fighting Ammonites and Syrians. In his leisure he looked from his rooftop at his neighbor’s wife. Leisure and lust led to adultery and then to murder, which sins had eternal repercussions, as well as tragic earthly results. It is one of the shocking and serious warnings of the Old Testament that a man may be ever so good and great and eminent and still have weaknesses which can lead to deeds that entirely overshadow and defeat the better self!” (Rasmussen, Introduction to the Old Testament, 1:185.)

Chapter 12

David learned very quickly, that we can’t hide from the Lord. In David’s case Nathan, the prophet, came to visit him. Nathan tells David a story that was really a parable. It was about a rich man who had a large flock of sheep, but when he needed a sheep he kept his flock full, and took the only sheep the poor man had. (v’s 1-4) 

David was angry that anyone in his kingdom would do such a selfish thing and was ready to have that rich man killed.  And then “Nathan said to David, Thou art the man”!! Nathan went on to review with David, of his rise to kingship and of the Lord’s help all along that way. And then Nathan tells David exactly what he has done: “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and hast taken his wife to be thy wife…” (v 9)  And then comes the Lord’s way of reminding the unrepentant David of his sins: “The sword shall never depart from thine house” 

David had committed some of the most serious of sins. Elder Richard G Scott spoke of the atonement in cases like this: “It is a fundamental truth that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can be cleansed. We can become virtuous and pure. However, sometimes our poor choices leave us with long-term consequences. One of the vital steps to complete repentance is to bear the short- and long-term consequences of our past sins” (“Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2013, 82–83).

David did repent and did live with ‘the long-term consequences’ of his sins. He and Bathsheba lost that child. But they also had another child, and “called his name Solomon: and the Lord loved him.” (v24) 

But I think the deepest lesson here, is that if we refuse to take that first step away from the Lord, then we can forgo a lot of remorse by not taking that second step. As soon as we realize we have stepped outside the boundaries that the Lord has given us for our protection, then our first priority is to recognize what we have done and to quickly back up and repent and return to His safety.