Sinfulness Of Great Biblical Characters, Reasoned
Posted: Friday, September 23, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Several things need to be considered when studying the sins which were committed by men who were normally righteous in the sight of God. One is that it is to be expected of everyone. This is brought to the forefront by Romans 3:23 which says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (NKJV)
Our prime example in this article has to do with David, the son of Jesse and the second king of the Israelite nation. As one will remember that David was a shepherd lad who watched after his fathers sheep and he is also most famous for his slaying of the Philistine giant, Goliath, This shows clearly that he had total faith in God, since the entire army of brave Israeli men were frightened and would not agree to fight the giant. Yet David believed with all his heart that God would give him the victory over Goliath and indeed, He did.
Additionally, most of the Psalms are written by David, and contain the most beautiful words of praise to God that can be imagined. He showed time after time, his desire to live righteously before God and we read this quotation written by Luke of words God spoke concerning David:
And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. (Acts 13:22 KJV)
But we have an account of David, who normally led his army into battle and scored many victories over the enemies of Israel. In the 11th chapter of 2 Samuel, we find where David and his men had overrun the Syrian army who then fled.
Then, David sent Joab with his army out to fight the Ammonites, but David stayed in Jerusalem. And one evening as he strolled on top of his house, we find these verses:
And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. (2 Samuel 11:2-4 KJV)
This was the beginning of a story which brought shame and rebuke upon David and well it should have. It develops that Uriah the Hittite was one of David’s 37 Men of Valor, a man of high integrity, morals and honor.
David learned later that she was pregnant from their illicit affair. David sent word to Joab to send him Uriah the Hittite. When he came David asked him some questions concerning how the battle was going and the welfare of the troops, etc. He then told him to go home and spend the night with his wife before going back to the fighting line. But Uriah would not, saying that it was not right for him to enjoy such while his men were away fighting and he slept on the street.
When David learned of this, he called for Uriah to come by before he went to the battle. He gave him a note to give Joab. The note ordered Joab to send Uriah and his men into the most intense battle they had and then withdraw from him. Which he did and Uriah was slain.
It is difficult to imagine a more grievous sin, than to take a man’s wife and when efforts to cover the results failed, to have him killed.
Later, when God sent Nathan the prophet to David and he chastened him for his sin, David repented and admitted that he had sinned against the Lord. The Lord “put away” David’s hideous sin, but nevertheless he punished him for it. He told him the child born of his sin would die, and it did. God also promised him through Nathan, that because of this sin, the sword would never depart from his house, and that his wives would be taken by others in plain view of the people.
It was a truth, David and his armies remained in wars for his lifetime and one son, Amnon, raped his own half-sister, Tamar. Then Absalom, the full brother of Tamar, slew Amnon. Still later his son, Absalom rebelled and with many followers took over the kingdom for a time and David and his followers had to flee the city. While this situation held, Absalom had a tent placed on the top of the king’s house where he went in unto his father David’s concubines, “in view of all Israel”. (2 Samuel 16)
Such a horrible life for such an illustrious king, which was brought on because of his sins. In 2 Samuel 12:13, Nathan told David that the Lord had “put away” his sin and that he would not die. Most translations have those words, although the New American Standard version says “has taken away your sin”. The Young’s Literal Translation says: “…Also -- Jehovah hath caused thy sin to pass away; thou dost not die;”
It is this writers opinion that the above means that David’s sins were forgiven even though he must suffer the things he did in this life. “Be sure, Your sins will find you out”.
One lesson here is that we must pay for our sins, one way or another, but we have the comfort of knowing that God sees within the depths of our hearts and knows when we are sincerely striving to do what is right. And, he is not mocked. You will never pull the wool over his eyes.
This Article has been viewed 134 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Very well written and full of all the smaller details that the nonschooled in the Bible forget. The whole story is quite tragic, very tragic.
Solomon is born of David and Bathsheba. Nathan (Hebrew: ???, Modern Natan Tiberian Na?an) was the third of four sons born to King David and Bathsheba in Jerusalem.[1] He was an older brother of Solomon.
In the New Testament, the genealogy of Jesus according to the Gospel of Luke traces Jesus' lineage back to King David through the line of Nathan,[2] although the Gospel of Matthew traces it through Solomon.[3] One conventional explanation, from as early as John of Damascus, is that Nathan is the ancestor of Mary (mother of Jesus) (though the Gospel explicitly says that he is the ancestor of Joseph), Solomon the ancestor of Mary's husband Joseph. Another explanation is that Joseph was himself adopted, and one of the genealogies is his biological genealogy, where the other is his adoptive genealogy, since several ancient texts identify Mary's father as Joachim.
Nathan is also mentioned to be the son of David in 2 Samuel 5:14, & 1 Chronicles 3:5 & 14:4.
What is your take? Is Mary through Nathan? Is Joseph through Nathan?You have almost gotten too deep for me Christopher, however, I'll try and explain what I believe to correct. The majority of scholars, which I have read from, credit the geneaology writtten by Matthew as that of Joseph. Which is not the genealogy of Jesus seeing as Joseph had nothing to do with Jesus birth. And, that Luke's (since he was a Greek) was the genuine genealogy of Jesus, through Mary, which would put him a descedent of Nathan. Joseph, I believe was through Solomon.
It was the Jewish tradition to totally ignore the woman involved in genealogy and Matthew, a Jew, apparently did that. Some of these genealogies are difficult to fathom.
It appears that David and Bathsheba had five offspring, the first died and the other four are listed as you have the scriptures above. We know that David had other children but the number and names are not certain.One thing Christopher, eventhough Solomon is listed fourth in naming these four sons, I believe he was the first after the baby died, at least it should be if he was to become King. The firstborn has always supposed to have been the one who got the most gravy. But, it did not hold true in some of God's own selections, so, who knows?Sorry sir. To burden you with these questions, but I have always thought that Jesus "blood" was through Nathan. It is my personal opinion that David named that son after Nathaniel the Prophet because he had such a powerful role in his life.
And the fact that Solomon was excluded from the blood line would make more righteous "sense", in that Solomon's conduct was so questionable. Thanks very much. Didn't want to take your afternoon, but you are my best source.Hey, no problem. I am happy to give out what little I know. Thanks for your comments.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.