The Sin of David and Bathsheba

There is much focus on David's sin because he was the king. However, let's look at the sin and examine everything around it. While we think on David and Bathsheba, keep in mind that this is Adam and Eve all over again! "There is nothing new under the sun!" according to Solomon and he ought to know: this is the story of his parents and it's a lesson they should have learned from Adam and Eve!

2 Samuel 11:21c"But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 2 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. 3 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? 4 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."

Sequence of events:

1. David would normally be in battle, but he stayed behind.
2. In the evening after going to bed David got up.
3. David walked upon the roof of the palace.
4. Bathsheba was bathing naked someplace in view. (She was beautiful).
5. David sent for those who served to find out more about Bathsheba.
6. David asked about Bathsheba. He learned that who she was and that she was married to one of his ally's soldiers.
7. David sent messengers to who took her.
8. Bathsheba came to David.
9. They had sexual intercourse.
10. She was purified (bathed).
11. She went back home.

There was much more that happened thereafter, but let's focus on the first sin: adultery,

First off, it's obvious that David sinned! There should be no disagreement there. David even indicted himself later with Nathan. His repentance is Psalm 51. (That will be covered in a later commentary in a few days). 

David's sin was adultery because he and Bathsheba were married. "Adultery" is extramarital sex. David did that, but Bathsheba participated. Because he was king David had authority over Bathsheba because she was a Jewess. . In modern times this would be construed as rape even though Bathsheba complied peacefully.  David was quite aware of her lineage because her family was part of his "Thirty" and she was the granddaughter of one of his chief advisers.  

David could have had an inkling who Bathsheba was and wanted it validated, or he could have been merely attracted to her beauty. It's obvious that he would know on whose residence he gazed for David was a knowledgeable man. He learned that the beautiful woman was the granddaughter of his friend and was married to one of his soldiers because the Hittites were allies of David's kingdom.

We know his sin! It was NOT when they had sexual relations! Why?

Matthew 5:28 "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

In effect David sinned before he DID the sin. When he looked at her and let his eyes bring pleasure to his mind, David committed adultery right then and there. He had not yet eaten the fruit, but he wanted the fruit! It's the desire that is the sin. The act is the consummation of what's already been done in the heart!

There are some questions of which we don't know the answer?

• Did David plan this by staying behind when he should have been gone?
• Did David have sexual frustration when he arose from his bed?
• Was he seeking forbidden fruit? (He already had wives and concubines).
• Why did he wait until bedtime (dark) to take a stroll?
• Why was it on the roof?

What is done in darkness God sees! "Darkness" is always symbolic of sin:

1 John 1:6 "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:"

On first appearance because David looked at her in darkness, implies that he sneaked to view her. However, we don't know that! It's mere presumption.

The circumstantial evidence makes it appear that David planned the viewing! We don't know that though. It's unfair to David to read more into the story than what is there. None of these questions are evidence and must be disregarded! We must accept, to be fair, that David was merely taking a walk on the roof in the cool of the evening as God himself does! That's fair to David.

My own mantra is "Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see!" because sometimes our own eyes can deceive us. As mere humans we can't enter the vision field of David to know what he was looking at nor can we read his mind to know his intent! We can't judge David's motives based on "our own lying eyes" (Attributed to Groucho Marx). Yes, our eyes do lie to us! It's a visual scatoma. We miss things because we're not able to focus on everything at once. People are inefficient machines and as such, people make mistakes in what they see! (Just think of all the suspects who have been misidentified in criminal cases!).

Therefore, it's fair judgment to judge others as you would want them to judge you. We're not to condemn others by judging falsely (Luke 6:37).

As Joe Friday would say "Just the facts ma'am... just the facts!". Facts are all that is allowable to judge fairly!

David was guilty of adultery and it was sin when he first lingered on her naked body. It was NOT when he saw her because he couldn't help what his eyes saw! Who do you suppose set this up? After all, David was a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22b).

David's intent was to do the will of God because he was after God's love! Why, then, did he fail? 

Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

When David looked at Bathsheba he merely saw her. When did he enter into temptation? When he gazed on and lusted at what he was seeing.

The answer to the question "Who set this up?" is the devil.

John 8:44a "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do."

This says in effect "Sinners are tempted by the devil, and if you sin it's his will that you do!"

David sinned because although he was tempted, he did not have to lust after Bathsheba and certainly didn't have to arrange sex!

Who was the instrument of temptation? Bathsheba! Satan used her to get David to sin because he knows our flesh is weak! We know from the time that Adam and Eve covered their privates with leaves that sex was a problem for mankind. Satan saw God cover their shame with the skins of animals (a blood sacrifice) and Satan learned all of our weaknesses. Men and women alike are prone to sexual sin. We have different M.O.'s, but the intent is the same! It's to receive pleasure.

I had a young girl tell me one time years ago "I will dress anyway I want. If the man looks, it's his fault!" That flies in the face of scripture:

1 Timothy 2:9 "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;" 

Proverbs 11:22 "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion."

You see modesty requires that the flesh be covered! Not only that, but that the body is not to be over decorated so as to entice. As such, let me ask a question: "Did Bathsheba sin?"

If she had been bathing in privacy, Bathsheba would be exercising modestly and discretion. However, she was bathing out-of-doors where even the casual observer could see her.

We don't know Bathsheba's motives, but we can ask some questions:

• Was Bathsheba exposing herself, even sub-consciously?
• Was she getting some type of satisfaction in being exposed?
• Did she know that men could see here from other vantage points?
• Did she even know David's habits and set him up?

In fairness to Bathsheba, we can't assume that she was doing any of these things, We must be as fair to her as we are to David. However, being a Jewess, she was to practice modesty and be beyond reproach. Bathsheba sinned by immodesty. She could have and should have bathed in privacy, but she did so in public. As David wasn't stupid, neither is Bathsheba! Being a married woman she knew the power of visual stimulation and would know that men are tempted by the visual! After all, in the Garden, the tree tempted because of the fruits beauty! Bathsheba was the fruit which tempted, but she could have been modest and if she had been, the devil could not have used her to entice!

Did Bathsheba sin? She certainly did! Scripture tells us that those women who dress (or not dress) to appeal are sinful. To the extreme scripture calls them Jezebels. Bathsheba was not a Jezebel. She was a believer! We know that because she became ceremonially clean after being defiled! She was a godly woman who Satan tempted to do wrong so that "a man after God's own heart" would fail God!

Bathsheba served the same purpose as did Eve in tempting men to fail God. Eve sinned before Adam, but Adam sinned too! Bathsheba sinned before David, but David sinned too! 

Strangely coincidental was that Adam and Eve committed adultery as did David and Bathsheba.  Whereas, David and Bathsheba did it with each other, Adam and Eve committed adultery with "other gods". We find out immediately that their "other gods" were each of them. In effect that's David's and Bathsheba's sin: they wanted to please themselves!

It takes two to tango (or tangle) now and it did then too! Essentially sexual sins do not exist in isolation. There is a cause and effect relationship. Just as men must avoid the temptation to lust, women must not provide the scenery to create lust!

It's imperative that we dress appropriately to dissuade temptation. That applies to all Christians, male and female, but especially to women because psychologists say the obvious: "Men are more visual than women." With that said, because of careless women who are immodest, people see as much boob in church than even at beaches. Many Christian women fail to cover themselves when bending over, and on top of that, many wear low cut dresses.

Of course men don't have to look, but they can't help seeing. Men may not want to sin, but need help in not being tempted. It goes back to "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak!" Satan knew David's weakness and used it to take him out of communion with God. Satan knew that Bathsheba would be careless and he used her to destroy David! God bailed them out again after they failed him, but the losses were many!

I contend that Satan set this all up! He put Bathsheba in the right place where he needed her to tempt David. I contend that David was somewhere other than where he usually would be so that he would be in the right place to be tempted. Satan has to use a strong bait to entrap David. He knew that David's flesh was weak! He used good bait. He knew that Bathsheba was not a modest woman. He set this all up so the "man after God's own heart" would fail God!

Notice that Satan didn't use some pagan king to do his dirty work. He used a righteous king! Satan's sole reason for all this tempting stuff was to demean God. His satisfaction is fulfilled when God's will is usurped!

Think on these things!

James 4:7 "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."