Friends, last week, we heard the final speech of the leader Joshua….he led the Jewish people into the Promised Land after their long sojourn in Egyptian slavery and then 40 years in the wilderness. At the end of Joshua’s life, he asked the Jewish people to choose – would they serve God, or would they adopt the religions and ways of their non-Jewish neighbors?
They chose to follow the Lord our God.
This morning, we are jumping forward in time. For many years, the Jewish people were led by judges – they settled disputes, conferred with God, led the people of Israel into military battles, and helped the tribes of Israel maintain peace among themselves.
But, the neighboring nations had kings. The people of Israel wanted a king of their own. God warned them that a king would consolidate power and use that power to enrich themselves….the people of Israel would start to have economic stratification – the haves and many have-nots. But, the people wanted a king.
So, God gave them a king. The first king was Saul – Saul’s reign was very unbalanced – he was ok at first, but his own mental health struggles torpedoed his leadership.
The next king was David. David is still considered the greatest king in the history of Israel. But, David was far from perfect.
This morning, we will focus on the story of David’s greatest failure.
Please turn with me to Second Samuel, chapter 11….
The Scripture 2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9; Psalm 51:1-9
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelites army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
…..
This is an ugly story in every way. Bathsheba was violated by King David. She became pregnant. When David learned of the pregnancy, he had Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband sent home from the battlefield. David wanted Uriah to sleep with his wife, and therefore assume her pregnancy was from their marital relations.
But, Uriah was so loyal to King David that he didn’t go home when he was in Jerusalem. He slept at the barracks outside of David’s palace. Uriah didn’t feel it was fair to visit his wife while his fellow soldiers were at war. Finally, in exasperation at Uriah’s loyalty, David sent him back to the front … .and he also sent word to the generals that Uriah should be placed at the very front lines of the battles so he would be killed. So, Uriah was killed by David to cover up David’s rape of Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
12 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
9 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. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
….
David had it all: power, riches, wives…and David still wanted more. Nathan came and told him a parable, a story, so that David would take responsibility for his terrible failure…his sin…. his sin after sin after sin.
In response, David wrote this Psalm, Psalm 51. Listen now to his words:
Psalm 51
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
….
Amen.
Let us pray….may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
The Message David and Bathsheba: Exposed by Grace, Restored by Truth
The lectionary we are using, the Narrative Lectionary, doesn’t shy away from tricky subjects. Today’s subject, the rape of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah, is a particularly tough one. The contrast between King David, the little boy shepherd who killed Giant Golliath with his slingshot and a stone, who sang songs and played the lyre for ailing King Saul, who became king after a long, complicated journey – the contrast between good king David and the crimes he committed is really hard to swallow.
We are used to thinking of David as the ideal king, a good guy….not a sinner….not a murderer….not an abuser of women.
He led a complicated life. He had his “faults” …and he had his ‘gifts.”
There was only one perfect person, and it definitely wasn’t king David.
Sometimes, you have to wonder why these stories are in the Bible. Why are the “Rated R” stories included…or maybe “Rated X” stories included? How does it help our faith to know how other people got things wrong?
I sometimes have the thought, when I am talking on the phone with my teenager, that I don’t want to know some of the things she is telling me.
And, I sometimes have the same kind of thought, or reaction, when I read the Bible – I don’t want to know some of the horrible things it is saying about our “heroes and heroines” of our faith.
But, just as I am probably a better mother when I know the real thoughts and dramas that surround my teenager’s life, I am probably a better Christian when I learn about how messed up, how full of mistakes and transgressions, were the lives of people of faith who came before us.
Because God did indeed call King David out….God sent the Prophet Nathan to confront David. God made sure David knew God knew what he had done. There was no secret God didn’t know. God saw it all.
But, God didn’t give up on David. God didn’t have Nathan say that now David you will die for your sins….now you will be punished forever.
Instead, God wanted David to accept that he was wrong. And, God wanted David to do better.
We all get things wrong. We all make mistakes. We all have done things that are horrible. We are all walking around with secrets, or things we regret, or things we don’t like about ourselves or our behaviors.
Like David, God wants us to accept that we are wrong….to accept that we have sinned. And, God wants us to do better.
Some of us like to watch movies about superheroes and villains….most of the time they are pretty cut and dry. We know who the good guys are. We know who the bad guys are. Sometimes, the bad guys even admit they are the bad guys….but the problem is that they keep dining the bad things…..they don’t seem to have remorse or regret enough to stop them from committing the bad actions in the future.
In our Biblical depictions of David, he continued to be a complicated guy. But, there was no more record of him setting up his own men to die to cover up David’s sins.
And, this was the ancient world, so things were different than they are in 2026, but he tried to make things right with Bathsheba – he married her – she was treated well by ancient standards – she ended up having additional children including the son who would become King Solomon. Yes, she didn’t consent or have autonomy or a choice about what happened to her, but she was protected from additional horrific things happening to her.
God forgave David. This is key. God forgives us when we get things wrong too.
In Psalm 51, David asks God to “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” And, that is what God does – God washes away our iniquity and cleanses us from our sins. The waters of baptism that washed over us worked whenever we were baptised and still work today – God washes away our sins. God forgives us even when we make terrible choices. God forgives us even when we can’t forgive ourselves.
And, this, my friends, is Good News. God loves us and forgives us no matter what.
But, key in that is the reality that if we know we have made a mistake, when we talk to God in prayer we should admit what we have done…and ask God to forgive us. And, if we have the option of apologizing to the person or people we have wronged, we should seek to do that as well.
Following Jesus is not always easy. But, we walk in the footsteps of a lot of Christians who have come before us….other imperfect people working on getting things right. Other imperfect people following a perfect savior.
Let us work to live out our faith and do better every day. Amen.