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T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
August 1924
David sowed the seed of sin by robbing a righteous man and loyal supporter of his life. His effort to conceal his crime was a testimony to the desperate condition of heart and mind into which his character had degenerated. (Job 31 :3 3 ). “11 I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom/’ David chose Joab as a fit accomplice in his crime (2 Sam. 3:29-31). The contrast in the conduct of Uriah is great. His loyalty to the king was greater than his love for wife and home. David had dishonored Uriah’s wife, and now degraded him by making him drunk. There was no more harmony for David in the strings of his harp, and he was in the gall of bitterness. (2) THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF URIAH’S DEATH, vs. 22-24. “ Thy servant, Uriah the Hittite, is dead also.’’ v. 24. We come to a crisis in the life of God’s chosen king— the man after His own heart. We are to get a vision of human nature. We are to see the other side of David’s character. We find in him human nature at its best and at its worst. We are not to make any apologies for David. He is not an extreme case, but only illustrates what is possible with any man,— conditions being favorable. The fact that a man endowed as was David, environed as was David, could be guilty, as was David, sets the seal to the statement in God’s Word, “ That which is born of the fleph is flesh (John 3 :6 ) ; “They that are in the flesh can not please God” (Rom. 8 :8 ) ; “The flesh is not subject to the law of God” (Rom. 8 :7 ). David was an adulterer, a murderer, a cold-blooded, designing, devising, deliberate sinner, who delighted in his sin. We must get the right angle concerning sin, if we are to understand human nature, and if we are to understand the heart of God, and the cross of Christ. The heart of man is desperately deceitful and damnably wicked. The first chapter of Romans gives us God’s sum ming up of man’s depraved nature. How can any one doubt or deny the total depravity of man who reads the story of Cain and the story of David’s apostasy? We pity David, but we cannot, must not, palliate his crime. He stands pilloried before the public gaze, through the centuries, as an object lesson of the depth to which a man can descend who lets loose the reins and gives himself up to unbridled passion. We can but pity, also, those maudlin sentimentalists who would lead us to think that David was an extreme example. He is an example and a proof of the fact that man by nature is corrupt, and that only by and through God’s grace can he have another nature, and only by that other nature can he conquer or control the tempest of pas sion that rages within. David’s sin began with a look (1 1 :2 ; Jas. 1:14, 15). He broke the commandment of the Lord (Ex. 20 :1 7 ). Did David not know that he could not hide his sin from God? (Psa. 4 4 :2 1 ), “Shall not God search this out: for he kjiiweth the secrets of the heart.” (Isa. 29:15) The messenger came from Joab and told David of Uriah’s death which David had planned. Note the order of his sin: First,— the lust of the eye. (2) The act of adultery. (3) The act of murder. The message pleased David (Rom. 8 :5 -8 ). How subtle is the old nature! (3) THE ANGER OF THE LORD, vs. 25-27. “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” v. 27.
David’s reply to Joab reveals the hardness of his heart, “The sword devoureth one as well as another.” Nothing could be more cold-blooded. Is this the tender-hearted David? No sense of justice,— but deceit, falsehood, treach She yielded to David and was a full partner in his crime; an adulteress, a party to the crime of murder. She sheds a few crocodile tears and takes up her abode with her husband’s murderer. Uriah was a better man than David. Read the story of his loyalty to the king (1 1 :1 1 ). What a wonderful book is the Bible! Here is a beloved king, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, with his life laid bare for pubic gaze. What better proof could be had of the inspiration of the Scripture? Had the story of David’s sins been omitted how could we ever have accounted for the sorrows which followed and the awful harvest he had to reap? He sinned against the Lord (Psa. 5 1 :4 ). The judgment which came upon him was the just judgment of God for his sins. God has not recorded our sins as He did David’s, but every sin is a seed and will bring its harvest. God hates sin, but He loves the sinner. He is no respecter of persons. (Rom. 2 :1 4 ). His wrath against sin is revealed (Rom. 1 :1 8 ). “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men« who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” No sin can be hid from God (Job. 22:13). (4) THE ALLEGORY OF NATHAN, 12:1-6. “There were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor,” v. 1. Nathan, the prophet, was sent of Qpd to the king. David’s sin could not be hid. His servants were aware of it (1 1 :4 ) as well as Joab. God knew it and sent Nathan to David (Prov. 2 7 :6 ). “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” It were well if every bearer of unwelcome news were one of God’s messengers in place of the busybodies. Nathan was the friend of the king. He had a message for him. He must reprove the king for his sin. Note how gra ciously he does it (Matt. 18 :15 ). David was in great danger. He had sinned woefully. He needed to face the fact. Wisely, he took great risks, for the king had power to slay him, but he was God’s mess enger and such an one should never hesitate. Nathan used a parable, perhaps the only one used in the Old Testament, but it corresponds to the parable of our Lord, “ The Unmerciful Servant.” “ The Rich Fool” and “ The Rich Man and Lazarus.” The picture is beautiful, so wonderfully portrayed that the wrath of David was kindled against the rich man. The covetousness of the rich man is clearly defined; discontent with his own possession; avarice,— as the traveler tarried, he must be provided for and the lamb of the poor must be sacrificed; no pity; no confession to the traveler that he fed his guest with a stolen lamb! What could be more heartless, more cruel, more tyran nical? David gives the sentence, “The rich men shall die and fourfold restoration be made,” (5) THE ACCUSATION OF NATHAN, 12:7, “Thou art the man!” The blow is struck and David stands unmasked. God’s methods are heroic, but helpful. He recites to David God’s mercies to him, and then pronounces God’s judgment. It is the business of the prophet and the preacher to bring ery! How are the mighty fallen! Bathsheba shows up no better.
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