2 Samuel 12 David and Nathan
2 Samuel 11 gives us the story of David’s adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of David’s soldiers who was away fighting with the army at the time. When Bathsheba turned up pregnant, David sent to the army to have Uriah brought home so the adultery might be covered up. To David’s chagrin, Uriah was a loyal soldier who would not consider enjoying the privileges of home while his comrades were in battle. Uriah would not sleep with his wife so David’s sin would eventually be discovered. Desperate, David arranged to have Uriah betrayed on the battlefield and Uriah was killed. David took quickly took Bathsheba as his wife and surely David thought he had gotten away with his treachery.
In 2 Samuel 12 David is confronted by Nathan the prophet who points the finger at the king and reveals his sin. The conversation that goes on between the prophet and the king is powerful and emotional. But the thing that strikes me is the strong emphasis that is put on the fact that in killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba for himself David had sinned against God! Undoubtedly he sinned against both Uriah and Bathsheba but when you read the chapter you see that the clear emphasis is place on his sin against God. Notice these passages:
12:9 “Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes?”
12:10 The Lord says, “Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me…”
12:13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”
12:14 Nathan says to David, “By doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt.”
David had seduced Bathsheba into committing adultery. He had destroyed her marriage to Uriah. He plotted against Uriah and finally had him killed. But the thing that stands out above these other things is that David disobeyed God’s word!
This is extremely personal between David and God! It’s not just that David broke the rules. He considered the word of God to be insignificant! He caused God to appear insignificant in the eyes of his enemies who hated him.
What a weak view of sin we have in our American Christian culture! We really do act as if sin is merely the breaking of rules or the failure to be good. We see sin as something that is all about us. Our failure. Our shame. Our disobedience. But sin is so much more than that. Sin is a personal affront to God and a disregard of his word and his holiness! As we see things, focus is laid almost solely on the person we hurt when we sin. God and his word are just left out of it! It should be just the other way around. Yes, apologies are necessary when we’ve hurt others with our sin but God is the one we have infinitely offended!
Perhaps if we looked at our sin in this light we might be less likely to treat it so lightly!
No comments:
Post a Comment