Term 1 – Week 7
Big Idea – David sinned; he despised the word of Lord, and yet God forgave him and did not reject as king.
2 Samuel 11-12
Outcomes
- To know that David is the Lord’s king, chosen by God and for the God.
- To understand that David despised the word of the Lord when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah, the Hittite.
- To appreciate that God showed David undeserved kindness, forgiving David of his sin, and remained faithful to his promises, restoring David as man and king
Implications
- Belief (Head / Heart) – We should understand the seriousness of sin (despising the word of the Lord) and appreciate God’s character (in the face of human sin, two things are truly remarkable: God’s undeserved kindness, and God’s faithfulness to his own promises)
- Behaviour (Hands) – David repented of his sin. We want to encourage repentance and faith and what that looks like in practice.
Introduction
The events of 2 Samuel 11 are shocking. David, the Lord’s king, the one who was chosen by God for God, the one who trusted God, defeated Goliath and received great promises from God (2 Sam 7), sins against the Lord. In essence, he despises (rejects) the word of the Lord, just like Saul and humanly speaking, his sin seems greater. For David not only commits adultery with Bathsheba, but he also murders her husband, Uriah! Therefore, we are left wondering, will God keep his promises to David or will he reject David like he did Saul? Thankfully, 2 Samuel 12 gives us the answers. Not only does God show David undeserved kindness, and forgive David of his sin, but God restores David as both a man and as king, and God remains faithful to his great promises.
To understand 2 Samuel 11-12, it’s helpful to break the story down into five separate scenes [1]:
Scene 1: The Disaster (2 Sam 11:1-5)
David sees a woman bathing. He looks and lusts after her and then seeks her out. Her name is Bathsheba and she is the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. David takes her and has sex with her and she falls pregnant.
Scene 2: The Deceitful Heart (2 Sam 11:6-13)
Rather than confessing his sin to God, David tries to cover it up.
Plan A – He sends for Uriah the Hittite and brings him back from war and sends him home to his wife. But that plan fails, because Uriah doesn’t go home.
Plan B – David gets Uriah to stay in Jerusalem an extra day and gets him drunk. But that plan fails too, because Uriah still doesn’t go home.
So, David comes up with a Plan C and things just get worse
Scene 3: The Murder (2 Sam 11:14-27)
Plan C – David has Uriah sent to frontline where the fighting is fiercest and has the rest of army withdraw from the frontline, leaving Uriah exposed so that he would be struck dead. David (The Lord’s King) orchestrates the murder of Uriah the Hittite, in order to cover up his sin. Not only does he commit the adultery, but now he also commits murder. David thinks he gets away with it, but the Lord sees everything (v.27b).
Scene 4: The Word of the Lord (2 Sam 12:1-15)
God confronts David with his sin through the prophet Nathan, ‘Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own’ (v.9). He then outlines David’s punishment; God was going to raise up evil against the House of David (vv.10-12). The sword will never depart from his house and the Lord would bring calamity on his household (family).
David then repents, ‘I have sinned against the LORD’ (v.13) and amazingly, God ‘takes away’ his sin. God forgives David of his sin, but he still suffers the consequences of sin (the baby will die vv.13b-14).
Scene 5: The Restoration (2 Sam 12:16-31)
Remarkably, not only does God forgive David of his sin, but he also David as a man and as king. Firstly, God restores David’s household; he blesses David’s marriage to Bathsheba and gives him another son called Solomon, who is loved by God and heir to the throne (vv.24-25). Secondly, God restores him as king when he gives David victory over his enemies and brings peace (vv.26-31).
God showed David undeserved kindness by taking away his sin and chose to remain faithful to his promises and not reject David as king. We see the beginnings of this promise fulfilled when God restored David as man and king and gave him a son (Solomon), the heir to the throne. It is completely fulfilled through the Son (Jesus), the king of Kings who though his death and resurrection shows sinners undeserved kindness and restores sinners back to Him.
[1] John Woodhouse, ‘2 Samuel: Your Kingdom Come’, Preaching the Word, (Crossway: Wheaton, Illinois, 2015), 281-338.Memory Verse
1 Samuel 16:7b
The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
Songs
God’s People in God’s Place (Awesome Cutlery) – YouTube
Leaders PDF
This has been put together using purchased external material and therefore this resource may only be used by Dundonald Church. For more information please contact kids@dundonald.org
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