David, Bathsheba, Nathan - Mistakes, Repentance, Forgiveness

David, as described in the books of Acts, was a man after God’s own heart. He did many great and mighty works. He showed great faith in conquering the giant, he expanded the nation of Israel, he wrote some of the most heart-warming and provocative material in the entire Bible. He also wrote one of the classic prayers of repentance. Yes, David did many great things, but he also made some mistakes, as we all do.

In this class I want to look at mistakes and repentance, David’s mistake with Bathsheba in particular, and then examine the great mercy and forgiveness of our God,

We are all well aware of the stories of King David. Recognized by many as the greatest of Israel’s kings, yet, also one who made some of the biggest mistakes. We can learn a lot from King David. Think about yourself for a minute. If there were a big, long recording documenting every minute of our lives, how much would we edit out if possible? How many of us haven’t made huge mistakesas well? How did we handle them? What did we do? Did we brush them under the carpet?

Before we delve into the story of David and Bathsheba, a brief recap of David’s life before this event happened is in order. We know that David reigned over Israel for forty years; seven years he reigned in Hebron and thirty-three years he reigned in Jerusalem (1 Kings 2:11). He was thirty when he became king (2 Samuel 5:4), therefore he was seventy when he died.

As a young person, David fought hand-to-hand with a bear and a lion, and was victorious. As a teen-ager he was anointed as future king of Israel by Samuel. He defeated the giant Goliath, he become best friends with king Saul’s son Jonathan and had been used by the king personally for varius reasons. He played a stringed instrument to settle the king’s nerves and drive out evil spirits. He also won several victories on behalf of Saul. So much so that there was a common expression, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten-thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7). He was actually so good, and at the same time so humble that Saul became very jealous of him. So much to that he tried to kill him more than once.

Likewise, David had the chance to slay Saul at least twice, he was even urged on to do it, but because of his love for God, for God’s authority and Saul, he refused each time.

David spent a great deal of time fleeing from Saul. In fact, David lived in the country of the Philistines for sixteen months, to stay alive. While he was staying in the land of the Philistines, under king Achish, it appeared as if he was doing him favors while in effect, he was actually weakening the enemies of Israel. He also became the leader of a powerful group of 600 of the best warriors in the land who had great respect for him.

He showed great faith and confidence in God, stellar musical abilities, leadership skills and outstanding loyalty to God and man. The loyalty to Saul that was shown at his death has got to be one of the stories of the ages. All of this, and he hadn’t even passed the age of thirty yet! David experienced more in his first thirty years than many people do in their entire lives.

David became king of Judah at thirty years of age and ruled for seven and a half years. In that period of time he showed wisdom as well as political acumen as the tide of the whole nation was turning his direction. Eventually, Saul’s son and Israel’s king Ish-bosheth’s general Abner was killed, and that left Ish-boshethwith no support for the throne. Shortly thereafter, he was assassinated, and it was realized by the citizens of Israel that the only practical solution was to recognize David as king over all the land. With the third anointing of David, the United Kingdom of Israel was established. David would have been thirty-seven or thirty-eight at this time.

One of David’s first accomplishments, plus a highly successful political maneuver, was the capture of Jerusalem from the Jebusites and the selection of it as the new capital of the country. When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel and had taken Jerusalem (or possibly shortly before), they decided to move against David as well. David immediately asked for divine help, and he received it as Israel won a decisive victory.

After some struggle, David successfully brought the ark to a new home in Jerusalem. This was so important, that the story takes up almost all of 2 Samuel 6 and concludes with a great celebratory march.

David and the Israelite’s proceeded to win additional battles and expand the territory further. They defeated the Philistines and Moabites (2 Sam. 8:1-2), Edom (2 Sam. 8:13-14) as well as the Ammonite-Syrian coalition (2 Sam. 10:13-19).

It has been suspected by many that David was about 49 years old when in the springtime of the year (“after the return of the year,” 2 Sam. 11:1), at the time when “kings go forth to battle” (v. 1, KJV), David sent his general Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army to Rabbah and the land of Ammon.

David had experienced quite a life up to this time. He had been God’s instrument in many great and wonderful events. Israel was an emerging kingdom, actually becoming a powerful nation of size to be reckoned with. It seemed that everywhere David went and everything he did was blessed by the LORD. It must have seemed to him that he had it all, everything he needed and everything he wanted.

In what must have been a great feeling of accomplishment and safety, David sent Joab and his armyto battle by themselves while he decided to sit this one out. He must have been feeling pretty good, pretty confident. Probably too confident. That faith or confidence might have turned into a bit of self-confidence. That self-confidence may have turned into pride, and that pride must have caused a lapse in his good judgment. A slip-up of David’s sound mind leading to a blunder of immense proportions.

While David’s soldiers were at war with the Ammonites and David was at home in Jerusalem, David caught a glimpse of a beautiful woman“washingherself” (KJV – “bathing” – LXE, NAS), Bathsheba. He succumbed to temptation, and had the woman brought unto him. Then he impregnated her. David then deceived his general Joab and soldiers and had her husband ––Uriah the Hittite ¬¬–– one of his trusted warriors, put on the front line of battle, where he was killed. Then he married Bathsheba and she bore a child.

Nine months later, the grand cover up seemed complete. David had a new wife, and life seemed fine. Yet we read in 2 Sam 11:27 –“And when the mourning [for Uriah the Hittite] was past, 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” (2 Sam. 11:27 KJV).

Realistically, all was probably not well in David’s heart. Guilt may have been stirring from a simmer to a hot boil. He even stated in Psalm 32:3-4: “When I refused to confess my sin, my whole body wasted away, while I groaned in pain all day long.For day and night you tormented me; you tried to destroy me in the intense heat of summer (Psalm 32:3-4 NET).”David may have feltlike he was walking on eggshells, knowing what he had done. But still, on the outside things might have appeared just fine. Nine months went by and a son was born. It appeared that just possibly David dodged the bullet. It appeared that God had turned a blind eye.

Although, just when the outsider would think things were ok, and David hoped so, one of David’s most trusted advisors stepped in with an unexpected message. God sent the prophet Nathan to David. Let’s take a look at the name Nathan before we go any further.

The name Nathan comes from the Hebrew Natan(נָתָן).Natan comes from the root word Natan (נׇתַן), which is spelled the same in Hebrew transliteration but with a small difference in vowel markers in the Hebrew text.

The word “natan” is a verb that means to give. Whenwe think about it, this is a very appropriate description of Nathan the prophet.David had committed a grievous sin, one worthy of the death penalty, yet he was the powerful king over Israel at its height. God gave Nathan the charge to go and tell him face-to-face, “David, you really blew it. I am disappointed!”

Do you think Nathan may have been a little frightened at this request? Frightened for his life? After all, David had Uriah killed, and Uriah had done nothing wrong. What might David have done to him?

Yet Nathan – “natan” – whose name means “to give,” gave to David in one of the highest forms of giving and love possible. He confronted him with his error regardless of the circumstances. If David did not repent, who knows what might have happened to Nathan. Nathan was aware of the consequences, but he GAVE as the LORD instructed him to.

This makes me think of my life. It is not easy to confront someone when they are doing wrong. It’s so easy for us to act “cool and calm” about situations and just go along with it; to ignore the incident or do our best to try to forget it. It’s hard enough for a person to admit being wrong, but to tell someone else they are treading on dangerous ground, I think that might even be harder.

It’s not the easiest thing to do to follow Jesus’/Yeshua’s instructions in Matthew 18:15-16 (KJV): “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” Nathan did this but on a different level. He didn’t come to his brother or friend, he came to the king.

Nathan came to David with a simple story of a poor man with one little lamb. This poor man loved his lamb, it was almost like a daughter to him. His neighbor was a rich man with many flocks and herds. A traveler stopped by this rich man’s fine estate. Rather than slaughter a sheep from his own flock, of which there were very many, the rich man (or probably his assistants) went out and stole the poor man’s only lamb and used it for dinner instead.

As David, the former shepherd, listened to this story, you can almost see him clenching his fists, his knuckles turning white and a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead. You could almost see the steam emanating from his body. He instantly connected to the story. He was a shepherd for his father before he became king, he knew the love of an animal and he knew what it was like to be from a “less than wealthy” family.

Without delay,“David became furious at this man. He said to Nathan, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!Because he committed this cold-hearted crime, he must pay for the lamb four times over!’’’
(2 Sam. 12:5-6 NET)

David never saw it coming. He never saw Nathan building the gallows and throwing the rope over the beam. He never felt his hands being tied behind his back, being led up the steps and placed right squarely over the trap door. Only when the noose was squeezed around his neck, only when Nathan tightened the rope with the simple Hebrew words: