David, Bathsheba, and Uriah the Hittite

Bible Passage: Matthew 1:6

I. About David

1. A worshipper of God
2. A man after God’s own heart!
3. A well-known psalmist
4. A seasoned and accomplished leader
5. 2 Samuel 11-12 tells us another side of David—sin and deception

II. David stood guilty before God on many counts—he committed unconscionable adultery with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:2-5a)

1. About Bathsheba

a. 2 Sam 23:34 Bathsheba was the daughter of Samuel’s best fighter
b. 2 Sam 16:23 Bathsheba was the wife of one of the most trusted inner circle
c. 2 Sam 11:2c Now this woman was very attractive

2. David got Bathsheba to his house/palace and had sex with her despite knowing the prohibition of the law, the intensity of violation, and consequent divine punishment

a. Exod 20:14 You shall not commit adultery (cf. Deut 5:18)
b. Lev 18:20 You must not have sex with your fellow citizen’s wife, becoming unclean with her
c. Lev 20:10 If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death
d. Deut 22:22  If a man is found lying with a married woman, then they shall both die; both of them, the man who lay with the woman and the woman also, so you shall purge the evil from Israel

3. David did not have control over his lust

a. David had sexual relationship with another man’s wife
b. And he got her husband killed deceptively, thereby, David is the murderer (verses 11:6-24)
c. Uriah the Hittite was the epitome of loyalty to his king and the Ultimate King, God
d. After Uriah’s death, by marrying Bathsheba, to the eyes of the world, David pretended to help Bathsheba and her deceased husband (verse 27)
e. But David, Bathsheba, and God knew that David and Bathsheba were covering up their sin

4. Both David and Bathsheba deserved capital punishment according to the law

III. David’s sin

1. Deliberate sin

a. David committed the sin despite fully knowing that it displeased God
b. David felt entitled that he could do anything as a king
c. David uses his position to take advantage of another person (a “me too” moment)
d. David showed his sin of deception in killing Uriah

2. David violated God’s holiness (it’s a matter of sanctification)—

a. David showed contempt (בזה) towards God and His Word “Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight?” (2 Sam 12:9)
b. David despised (בזה) God “you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!”
c. David’s conscience was blinded: she is married; her husband is his faithful soldier fighting for him in the battlefield; he needs to be a leader; he is a worshipper of God

3. David caused blemish to his relationship with God through his deliberate sin which he explains in Psalm 51

IV. Just as David, Bathsheba appears to be culpable of being a complicit coconspirator of the sin

1. A beautiful woman bathing on her roof clearly visible from David’s roof (she could have avoided being a stumbling block to David)
2. She came to David’s palace without a protest—both before and after! (verse 4)
3. She did not behave like a victim but readily became David’s wife (verse 27)
4. In light of 1 Kings 1-2, she appears to be a woman capable of using her beauty and position to push her envelop

V. David covered up this sin and pretended as if everything was alright. But the thing which David had done was evil in the eyes of Yahweh (verse 27)

1. 2 Sam 12:7 Nathan said to him, “You are the man! Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: ‘I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul
2. 2 Sam 12:8 I gave you the household of your master and the women of your master into your lap. I also gave you the house of Israel and Judah; if that had been too little, I would have added to you much more
3. 2 Sam 12:9 Why have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing evil in his eyes?

VI. Uriah the Hittite you have struck down with the sword, and his wife you have taken to yourself as wife! You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites

1. David stood condemned before God and our conscience
2. In the same way, Bathsheba covertly gets negative public opinion
3. Can they find favor again with God?
4. Is everything done for David and Bathsheba as far as their relationship with was concerned?
5. Humanly speaking we pass judgment and punishment that deserves their sin
6. Of course, for us: God does not use these wretched sinners and will sever His relationship with Him!

VII. Matthew 1:6 David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah the Hittite)

1. Jesus born in the family tree of David and Bathsheba
2. Jesus is called “the Son of David” who will sit on the seat of David
3. Jesus called a righteous branch, a descendant of David (cf. Jer 23:5)
How could this happen?
4. God confronted David through Nathan the prophet (2 Sam 12:1-12)
5. At God’s Word, David repented (2 Sam 12:13a)
6. In Psalm 51, David confesses that he sinned against God—Against you—you above all—

VIII. I have sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. So you are just when you confront me; you are right when you condemn me (Psalm 51:4)

1. 2 Sam 12:13b “the Lord has forgiven your sin”

IX. Christmas message for you and I—the Davids and Bathshebas

1. Matt 1:21  She will give birth to a Son, and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”
2. The good news (the Gospel) is that you and I need not quit or stay away from your relationship with God
3. Just as God forgave David and Bathsheba, He is willing to forgive you and I that we can start a fresh beginning
4. Let this Christmas be the end of your isolation and guilt from God, but receive God’s forgiveness and restart your life for God

Takeaway:

1. Let God confront you of your sin and respond to His Word with appropriate repentance
2. Preach God’s Word fearlessly how much ever difficult and dangerous the environment may be!