ONE BIG MISTAKE
ONE BIG MISTAKE
A Study in Psalm 51
Part One
There are many amazing verses in the Bible. But one that kind of catches us off guard is I Kings 15:5 where we are told that David … did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. Can anyone reading this article evaluate your life work for the Lord and boast that you did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all the time and did not turn aside from anything He commanded except for one incident?
Well, that is the testimony of David, King of Israel, and a man after God's own heart. We are informed in Acts 13:22 that … when he had removed him, (Saul, the first king of Israel) he raised up unto them (i.e. Israel) 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.
Psalm 51 has always been accepted as the cry of David's heart to God in response to his conviction and contrition resulting from that one great act of sin. David not only committed adultery with Bathsheba, but also deliberately and with knowledge aforethought, sent her husband, Uriah to certain death in battle to avoid facing the fact that Bathsheba was pregnant with the king's child. The greatness in the Psalm is not alone in the humbling of the man and the magnifying of God, but in the depth of feeling that inhabits the words that are recorded so that you and I may be encouraged to realize our need to seek after God's own heart and at the same time to honestly face our sin before we meet our Lord in eternal judgment.
In order to grasp the feeling of David in Psalm 51, we need to look at II Samuel 11 and 12 for background information. There we are given all the facts relevant to the case without any attempt to protect this historical figure from the disgrace that he faced because of his lack of discernment and failure to control his royal passions.
We have all heard sermons recounting the fact that in II Samuel 11:1 we are told that it was the time when kings went out to battle, but that David is immediately recorded as sending his military while he stayed at home in Jerusalem. Perhaps if he went to fight he would have been spared this temptation that placed the only stain upon his relationship with the God that he longed to please. At any rate, he did stay home, and one evening while he was walking on his roof, a common practice since the roof of buildings were flat, usually with rails around the edges, and utilized for just this purpose, he saw a young lady who is described as "Very beautiful". But that is not all … she was also taking a bath!
David was a king. Kings in the middle east and in the orient, just like kings in Europe and every other place that has autocratic or despotic rulers, do pretty much what they desire, usually not overly concerned about the law of the land being applied to them. In fact we must realize that most likely any king contemporary with David would not have had any second thoughts about the action he took, either with a woman like Bathsheba or even with the dastardly deed he did with Uriah.
David called Uriah from the war front so that he could enjoy time with his wife and then be thought responsible for the pregnancy. When two attempts to sent him home failed because this soldier was more honorable than David in this matter, refusing the pleasure of his wife while his men and leaders were in harms way, David had him sent to the front lines of the current battle that was raging between Israel and the people of Ammon at the city of Rabbah, so that he was shot with an arrow and killed after being place in foolishly close proximity to the enemy defensive wall.
As if that were not enough, generalissimo Joab used a shameful method of communication to inform the king that his sinful secret was accomplished. Normally the king would have been very angry with a General who put his men in such a dangerous and foolish position. But when it was revealed that this foolishness resulted in the death of Uriah, David feigned understanding and encouraged Joab on to victory.
The final sentence in II Samuel 11 and the first sentence of chapter 12 is what separate David from all those other kings I spoke about. David was a child of the living God! David had a conscience that was subject to influence by the Holy Spirit! David was a man after God's own heart! And so the Bible says;
"But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD [Jehovah}.
And the LORD sent Nathan unto David."
Nathan was to confront him in the form of a famous parable wherein David would actually judge himself in righteousness thinking he was judging someone else. When David judged as guilty the man who would take the one lamb from his poor neighbor when that man was very rich and had large flocks, he declared that the man must die. Nathan responded with the equally famous words "Thou Art That Man" followed by the judgment that God was going to inflict upon David because he had done this foul deed. God begins by recounting all the undeserved blessings heaped upon this son of Jesse, this shepherd boy from out of nowhere's-ville. "I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul, I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more!"
Then God declares that there would be trouble heaped upon trouble in the house of David because of this sin. The remaining history of David confirms that declaration. However, it is more grace that is recorded in 12:13, "The Lord also has put away your sin: you shall not die"
That brings us back to Psalm 51 and the heartbreaking expression of David as he pours out the affect this one mistake had upon him. But I want to hold off on examination of the full text of the psalm and zero in on one verse. We saw the past where the offence occurred and now we shoot ahead to the future where the Apostle Paul would teach us what David hinted at in Psalm 51:4. David says: Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
In Romans 3:23-26 after proving that we are all sinner, Paul tells us that God set forth Jesus "to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God" And goes on "To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus"
These verses are very significant if you would understand the basis for God to forgive not only your sins, but also the sins of all those Old Testament saints who put their trust in Jehovah as their Savior.
(It is beyond the scope of this article, but you should go through Isaiah chapters 42-48 looking for proof that Jehovah is the only God and Saviour, and therefore that Jesus is clearly declared to be Jehovah in the flesh.)
Romans tells us that on the basis of the propitiatory death of Christ, God's righteousness in forgiving sins under the Old Testament has been justified. The fact that God did not immediately judge their sins at a time when according to Hebrew 10:4 the blood of bulls and goats was not able to permanently remove sin was justified since He had always intended that the reality of forgiveness was waiting for the Son of God to be revealed in the fullness of time. Galatians 4:4
Another way of explaining Paul's teaching with an illustration we can all relate to is to remember that sins prior to the Cross of Jesus were paid for with a "Divine Credit Card", payable when our Lord died on Calvary, and that the sins ever since have been "Paid in Advance" by that very Blood.
But that is not all Paul wants us to see in Romans 3. He also realizes that when gross sinners such as David, You and I, and all the rest of the World stand before God in the Judgment, He will have some who are judged and condemned asking about His justice by allowing some to be admitted into heaven who have lived worse than others that He is casting into outer darkness (Matthew 7:22,23). But God will be proven just and the justifier in complete righteousness because no one will get a free pass until all sins are paid for in full, and only those covered under the covenant of the Blood of Jesus have anything with which to pay. That is the teaching of Romans, and we must give all the glory to God for His unspeakable mercy and grace, not to mention the unfathomable wisdom of the Plan of the Ages as they are revealed in Christ!
So far we have examined the sin that caused David so much trouble in life and in the history of his natural progeny and the ultimate justification for God's forgiveness of both the Old and New Testament believers. Next issue we will attempt to tackle Psalm 51, a daunting task for even the best exegetes, let alone for this simple Pastor. But I will give it a go with the November/December issue of the Trumpeter, God willing.
Until then, remember that God is Just and the Justifier
Romans 3:26