This document provides commentary on key passages from 2 Samuel 11, which describes King David's adulterous affair with Bathsheba and his subsequent attempts to cover it up. The commentary cites multiple authors and their analyses of David's sins and the events. It describes how David stayed in Jerusalem instead of going to war, saw Bathsheba bathing from the roof of his palace, and committed adultery with her, which marked a turning point in his formerly righteous life. The commentary explores the moral lessons from David's fall from grace.

1. II SAMUEL 11 COMME

2. TARY
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
I quote many authors in this commentary because I feel they have stated the true
understanding of the text in ways that make their comments valuable for grasping
what God is saying to us in this chapter. If any of these authors does not wish his
wisdom to be shared in this way, I will remove it at their request. If I do not give
credit to an author who is recognized, I will do so if it is pointed out to me. My e-mail
is gdpease1@gmail.com
I

3. TRODUCTIO

4. This has become one of the best known chapters in the Bible, and movies, books
and plays have been made to portray it for public entertainment. It is a chapter of
lust, murder and coverup to match any soap opera. "In the whole of the Old
Testament literature there is no chapter more tragic or full of solemn and searching
warning than this." (G. Campbell Morgan) This is the chapter where the best of the
godly men becomes the worst sinner, for David in this chapter commits adultery,
deceives a friend, murders that friend, and lies to himself, God and the world by
trying to cover up his dastardly deeds.
Constable wrote, “This is perhaps the second most notorious sin in the Bible, after
the Fall. It has probably received the most attention from unbelievers in movies and
other forms of entertainment. Unbelievers love to gloat over the sins of godly
people.”
David and Bathsheba
1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to
war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and
the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the
Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David

5. remained in Jerusalem.
1. It is hard for us to grasp the life of warfare in the ancient world. Life was a
constant battle with enemies for Israel. They were always surrounded by enemies,
and so every Spring when it was possible to get about in the hills and valleys, and
the weather was more pleasant for warfare, they would round up the fighting men
and go out to defend their land and people from enemy forces coming to take it, and
to enrich their own bank accounts by taking booty from the army of the enemy. It
was equivalent to what sports events are in our day. It was competition to see who
could defeat the other army and take away the prize. This was practically a
tradition throughout the history of David as king, and only ceased for a time when
Solomon became the king and ruled in peace. David was a man of war his whole life.
2. We are about to witness the second most infamous and notorious sin in all the
Bible, for this sin of David has received the attention of Bible scholars, preachers,
authors, movie makers and artists of all kinds of media more than any other sin
other than that of Adam and Eve in their disobedience to God that led to the fall of
man. This chapter is is one of the most read and studied chapters in the Bible, for
even godless people love to read of the fall of godly men. David made the common
mistake of life in thinking that he did not need to keep his guard up because he was
not in the midst of warfare. We are never off the battle field, for we have an enemy
that is always seeking to lure us into disobedience to God just as he did in the
Garden of Eden, and has been doing ever since. It is easy to come to the conclusion
that when we are successful enough to have others fight our battles leaving us free to
enjoy our leisure, that we do not need to live with a spirit of alertness and
skepticism. We think that all is going so well that we are free from attack. we are on
top of the world and have it made. This is when we have our guard down, for we let
pride lead us to think we are superior to any force that would rob us of our present
glory.” author unknown
3. He is getting up in age at this point, and so he decides to sit this one out and let his
men do the fighting. He did not realize it, but he was going to have the biggest battle
of his life by staying home and not going to war. David faced a bigger enemy of his
life at home that he ever did on the battlefield. He was facing the giant that makes
Goliath look like a pygmy in comparison, for he was brought face to face with
sexual lust. This giant has brought down to defeat more kings, heroes and men of all
types than any other weapon you can imagine. His army went out to great victory
over the Ammonites, but he stayed home and went down in defeat.
4. This was a turning point in the life of David, for up until this time his life has been
glorious as the king of God’s people. He was the ultimate in success, and he never
lost a battle. He was rich and happy, and lived in a marvelous mansion with a
harem of beautiful wives and loving children.

6. o man could ask for more. But now
we come to this turning point where his life starts to unravel and become more of a
nightmare than a dream come true, and the cause of it all is an uncontrolled sex

7. drive.
5. Arthur Pink, one of the greatest writers on the life of David, and one who wrote
two large volumes on his life, approaches this passage with these words, "A difficult
and most unwelcome task now confronts us: to contemplate and comment upon the
darkest blot of all in the fair character of David. But who are we, so full of sin in
ourselves, unworthy to unloose his shoes, to take it upon us to sit in judgment upon
the sweet Psalmist of Israel. Certainly we would not select this subject from personal
choice, for it affords us no pleasure to gaze upon an eminent saint of God befouling
himself in the mire of evil. O that we may be enabled to approach it with true
humility, in tear and trembling..." "This inspired record is to be regarded as a
divine beacon, warning us of the rocks upon which David’s life was wrecked; as a
danger signal, bidding us be on our guard, lest we, through un-watchfulness,
experience a similar calamity." "here we behold the lusts of the flesh allowed full
sway not by a man of the world, but by a member of the household of faith; here we
behold a saint, eminent in holiness, in a unguarded moment, surprised, seduced and
led captive by the devil. The "flesh" in the believer is no different and no better
than the flesh in an unbeliever!"
6. Pink goes on, "Yes, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, who had enjoyed such long and
close communion with God, still had the "flesh" within him, and because he failed
to mortify its lusts, he now flung away the joys of divine fellowship, defiled his
conscience, ruined his soul’s prosperity, brought down upon himself (for all his
remaining years) a storm of calamities, and made his name and religion a target for
the arrows of sarcasm and blasphemy of each succeeding generation. Every claim
that God had upon him, every obligation of his high office, all the fences which
divine mercy had provided, were ruthlessly trampled under foot by the fiery lust
now burning in him. He who in the day of his distress cried, "My soul thirsteth for
God, for the living God" (Ps. 42:2) now lusted after a forbidden object. Alas, what is
man? Truly "man at his best estate is altogether vanity" (Ps. 39:5).
7. It is almost universally accepted that the most dangerous time in life is when you
have achieved your dreams and goals. This is when you are most vulnerable to acts
of folly. Your success in achieving your goals makes you proud and this kind of
pride gives you a sense of security that nothing can stop you or hinder you from
having anything that you want. David is on top of the world, living in the highest
building where he can look out over all the city. They are secure because he and his
forces have secured their borders by defeating all their enemies. His soldiers are just
involved in a mop-up operation against the Ammonites where he is not even needed
because the victory is a sure thing. He lives in great honor and luxury, and can nap
in the afternoon because he is so secure. It is in this state that he makes the biggest
mistake of his life and blots forever a near spotless record.
8. HE

8. RY, "Here is, I. David's glory, in pursuing the war against the Ammonites,
2Sa_11:1. We cannot take that pleasure in viewing this great action which hitherto
we have taken in observing David's achievements, because the beauty of it was
stained and sullied by sin; otherwise we might take notice of David's wisdom and

9. bravery in following his blow. Having routed the army of the Ammonites in the
field, as soon as ever the season of the year permitted he sent more forces to waste
the country and further to avenge the quarrel of his ambassadors. Rabbah, their
metropolis, made a stand, and held out a great while. To this city Joab laid close
siege, and it was at the time of this siege that David fell into this sin.
II. David's shame, in being himself conquered, and led captive by his own lust.
The sin he was guilty of was adultery, against the letter of the seventh
commandment, and (in the judgment of the patriarchal age) a heinous crime, and an
iniquity to be punished by the judges (Job_31:11), a sin which takes away the heart,
and gets a man a wound and dishonour, more than any other, and the reproach of
which is not wiped away.
1. Observe the occasions which led to this sin. (1.)

10. eglect of his business. When
he should have been abroad with his army in the field, fighting the battles of the
Lord, he devolved the care upon others, and he himself tarried still at Jerusalem,
2Sa_11:1. To the war with the Syrians David went in person, 2Sa_10:17. Had he
been now at his post at the head of his forces, he would have been out of the way of
this temptation. When we are out of the way of our duty we are in the way of
temptation. (2.) Love of ease, and the indulgence of a slothful temper: He came off
his bed at evening-tide, 2Sa_11:2. There he had dozed away the afternoon in idleness,
which he should have spent in some exercise for his own improvement or the good of
others. He used to pray, not only morning and evening, but at noon, in the day of his
trouble: it is to be feared he had, this noon, omitted to do so. Idleness gives great
advantage to the tempter. Standing waters gather filth. The bed of sloth often
proves the bed of lust. (3.) A wandering eye: He saw a woman washing herself,
probably from some ceremonial pollution, according to the law. The sin came in at
the eye, as Eve's did. Perhaps he sought to see her, at least he did not practise
according to his own prayer, Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity, and his son's
caution in a like case, Look not thou on the wine it is red. Either he had not, like Job,
made a covenant with his eyes, or, at this time, he had forgotten it."
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,
1. Every normal man alive can identify with David at this point, for the sight of a
beautiful naked women is quite likely the most exciting and entrancing beauty that a

11. man can see. It is not wrong to find such a sight to be beautiful and attractive, for
that is why God made the female so appealing to the eyes of the male. David could
have uttered a prayer of thanks for the gift of such beauty, and then called for one
of his many wives to join him in bed to satisfy the sexual arousal in his loins. This is
the way a man is to deal with the lust that may be aroused by the beauty of other
women. It is God’s will and plan for a man to have a resource to satisfy the lust that
can be stimulated by the culture, or by unusual situations like David is experiencing
here, and that resource is a wife. Paul wrote and said every man should have his
own wife to meet his sexual needs so that he can maintain self-control. David had at
least 7 wives at this point, and they were all available to meet his sexual need, but he
chose to satisfy himself with the wife of another man. It was this fatal and foolish
choice that changed the entire history of a man who could have had a near perfect
record as a godly man. Admiring beauty is valid, but coveting the beauty that
belongs to another is crossing the line.

12. obody can have everything without sinning
to get it, for the world is filled with beautiful people and beautiful things that belong
to others. We need to accept that reality and be grateful for the beauty that we do
possess. David had plenty of beauty in terms of his wives, and beautiful material
things in his palace.
2. It is unbelievable, but true, that one sexual arousal not wisely controlled can lead
to consequences that stain a life forever, and there is no greater example of this than
the life of David, and how he handles this moment of erotic vision. This bathing
beauty was not just a nice looking female. She was a stunning and gorgeous work of
art that captivated the mind of David. He could not stop watching her, and the
image of her was burned into his mind so that he could not erase her image when
she was through bathing. Richard Strauss wrote, "If he had used his head, he would
have gotten off of that rooftop patio pronto. But he lingered, and let his eyes feast on
every inch of Bathsheba’s fleshly charms, until he could think of nothing but having
her for himself." Strauss is also convinced that Bathsheba was a willing partner in
this scandalous affair. He wrote, “David found out who the beautiful bather was,
sent for her, and the thought became the deed. There is no evidence that this was a
forcible rape. Bathsheba seems to have been a willing partner. Her husband was off
to war and she was lonely. The glamour of being desired by the attractive king
meant more to her than her commitment to her husband and her dedication to God.
They probably cherished those moments together; maybe they even assured
themselves that it was a tender and beautiful experience.” Of course, this is only his
speculation, and, of course, it is one that God does not confirm by his judgment.
3. Satan had just the foothold he needed to get into David’s heart and cause him to
forget the law and will of God. He was overwhelmed with the desire to possess this
beauty, and immediately made plans to act on his lust for her. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
said these words, "When lust takes control, at that moment God loses all reality.
Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God."
4. F. B. MEYER, "This was not an isolated sin. For some time, backsliding had been

13. eating out David’s heart. The cankerworm takes its toll before the noble tree crashes
to the ground. See Psa_51:8. Joab and his brave soldiers were in the thick of a great
conflict. Rabbah was being besieged and had not fallen. It was a time when kings
went out to battle, but David tarried at home. It was a fatal lethargy. If the king had
been in his place, this sin would never have besmirched his character.
A look, as in Eve’s case, opened the door to the devil. “Turn away mine eyes from
beholding vanity.” However great our attainments and however high our standing,
we are all liable to attack and failure; but when we abide in Christ, no weapon that
hell can forge can hurt us. When we have sinned, our only safety is in instant
confession. This David delayed for a year and till forced to it. He was more eager to
evade the consequences than to deal with his transgression. Sober David was far
worse, here, than drunken Uriah. The singular self-restraint of the soldier threw the
sin of the king into terrible and disgraceful prominence."
5. Every man in David's position would be tempted to take advantage of the
situation, but many would control their lust, and not cast caution to the wind and
defy the law of God for the sake of a thrill that he could just as easily experience by
the legitimate sleeping with one of his many wives. Joseph did not even have a wife
to flee to, but he fled anyway, when he was confronted by an aggressive woman
offering her body for his sexual satisfaction. Men are not compelled to give in to
every sexual urge that life brings to them, and David had no excuse to even consider
adultery, when he had a harem nearby. It was one of those senseless sins that are
hard to understand, for they are so unnecessary. It is not stealing because your
children need food, or lying because the truth could hurt someone terribly for no
good reason, which we could understand, but it is deliberately taking another man's
wife to bed when your palace is filled with beautiful women ready to meet your
every need. It is a matter of the mind being cut loose to drift away from the ship,
and letting the passion of lust take over the controls. When this is allowed to happen
there is almost always a shipwreck in the near future.
6. There is much effort to figure out why David would fall like this, and one of the
most common reasons given is that he fell because he neglected his duty to be off
with his men in the battle. It is implied that he never would have fallen into sin had
he been where he should have been. It is true that he may not have fallen at this
time, for he may then have never seen Bathsheba taking her bath, but at some point
he would have to leave off leading his troops, and for all we know it was time for
him to give this duty to others. He may have been doing his duty by choosing a good
commander to take his place. There is no need to come up with a preceding sin to
account for this sin by saying that his failure of doing his duty was the cause of this
fall. The fact is, he sinned for the simple reason he was tempted and yielded to it. He
let a moment of lust overwhelm him and lead him to actions that dishonored God,
his kingship, his nation, his family, and the family he abused. You need look no
further than pure lust to explain why David fell into the sin of adultery. Many godly
men have done the same thing, and they were not neglecting their duties, for some
were actively engaged in large ministries that kept them busy. Busy men, lazy men,

14. bored men, happy men, men of every description commit adultery for the simple
reason they are not prepared to deal with this giant temptation when it strikes. It is
coming to all men at some point, and the only way to deal with it is to have
awareness of this foreknowledge, and be committed to a prearranged plan for
dealing with it.
7. I cannot follow Pink in his idea that David was out of God's will by not following
his duty to lead his troops into battle. Meyer, another great author on David has the
same idea and wrote, "In this fatal lethargy he betrays the deterioration of his
soul.....Beware of hours of ease! Rest is necessary; times of recruiting and renewal
must come to us all; nature positively demands re-creation; but there must be no
neglect of known duty, no handing over to others of what we might and could do
ourselves, no tarrying behind the march of the troops when we should go forth with
them to the battle." Pink and Meyer are sure that David is sinning by not being with
his soldiers, and many others agree with them and make a major issue of it as a
leading cause of his fall. I think this is reading into the text a speculation that is
unnecessary. The soldiers did just fine under his appointed General Joab, and they
gained the victory. David had every right to stay home for a change and get some
R&R. Some judge him as being lazy and guilty of neglect of duty, but the fact is, we
have no idea of what duties he had as the king at home. We do not know his motive
for staying home, and, therefore, have no basis for the common slander on him. He
is guilty enough for his vile sins without trying to add to the list any others we can
conceive of that are not bothering God, for His Word does not mention them. God
does not anywhere scold him for not being in battle. Almost everyone else does, but
that is the kind of judging that Jesus forbids us to do, for it is based on human
feelings and not the Word of God.
8. Pink does have a valid idea, however, for all of us to give heed to when he writes
about spiritual warfare in contrast to physical warfare. He wrote, "The important
principle here for the Christian to lay to heart is, David had taken off his armor,
and therefore he was without protection when the enemy assailed him. Ah, my
reader, this world is no place to rest in; rather is it the arena where faith has to
wage its fight, and that fight is certain to be a losing one if we disregard that
exhortation "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil" (Eph. 6:11). My comment is-It was no problem that David
was not out fighting with his sword, but it was a problem that he was not ready to
protect himself from spiritual warfare that overwhelmed him.
9. I remember Dr. Lundquist the President of Bethel College and Seminary telling of
how pastor's and evangelists on the road are often tempted by prostitutes and
foolish women, and sometimes they would get into their motel room and be laying
there naked when they came back from a night of preaching the Gospel. It
happened to him, and he was able to escape the temptation because he had already
thought about how he would handle such a temptation. He was making it clear that
every Christian man must have a plan of escape before such a thing ever happens,
for if one is not prepared the lust can hit so fast and hard that it takes over control
before the person can think through the implications of his actions. Assume that lust

15. will at some point attack you in force, and know beforehand just how you are going
to react. This kind of forethought is the key to outwitting the cleverness of the
Tempter. This is a test that every man will face at some point in life, and it is folly to
neglect the duty of preparing for it. David was not neglecting his duty by being at
leisure, but by not being prepared to deal with lust in a valid and righteous way,
when a forbidden way was thrust upon him. Many a godly man has fallen like
David because they have not established in their minds how they will respond to
sudden sexual arousal. They just let nature take its course as David did, and, like
him, they also pay the price.
10. Bob Deffinbaugh points out that the good times can be more dangerous than the
bad times. He wrote, “...prosperity is as dangerous -- and sometimes more
dangerous -- than poverty and adversity. We all get weary of the adversities of life.
We all yearn for the time when we can kick back and put up our feet and relax a bit.
We all tire of agonizing over the bills and not having quite enough money to go
around. David certainly looked forward to the time when he could stop fleeing from
Saul and begin to reign as king. But let me point out that from a spiritual point of
view, David never did better than he did in adversity and weakness. Conversely, David
never did worse than he did in prosperity and power. How many psalms do you think
David wrote from his palatial bed and from his penthouse? How much meditation
on the law took place while David was in Jerusalem, rather than on the battlefield?
We are not to be masochists, wanting more and more suffering, but on the other
hand we should recognize that success is often a greater test than adversity. Often
when it appears “everything's goin' my way” we are in the greatest danger.”
11. I see her everywhere
Tempting with her sideways glances.
Her heart is another’s
Who is somewhere faraway.
A battle is being fought
Against good and evil;
Between man’s thoughts and what is decent.
But she must know
That she lives under the King’s glance
So she bathes singing her siren’s song.
I try to look away
Think of what is pure
But I can’t escape her beauty.
When she calls with the internet and emails.
And walks with those jeans.
God grant me a moment’s peace!
Then I turn on the TV and there she is before me.
Her seductive song I hear on the radio.
She was freed in the 60’s
Where love’s perverted cousin covered him with a condom.

16. Innocence defiled, I can taste the bile
In God’s stomach as He thinks upon us the lukewarm.
Sex is not GOD!
God is love!
Bathsheba please cover up your beauty.
William R. King
12. Bob Roe describes the battle of the male: “David is a male. God made him with
certain drives, certain hormones, and they are God given. He is walking around on
the roof of his palace, which is the highest point in the city, and he is looking down
and sees Bathsheba taking a bath. She is pretty enough with clothes on; without
them she is devastating.

17. ow, nothing is wrong yet. As a male he is made sensuous
by God. What he does with the sensuality is what counts. You men, I am a male.
What do you do when you see a pretty woman? You can either glorify God or you
can gratify the lust of the flesh, and just like that [a snap of the fingers]! I
discovered a very interesting principle in my life. I see a beautiful woman, and I
automatically look if she is pretty. There is nothing wrong with that. But what do I
do when I look? Do I thank God for beautiful women and turn my eyes away, or do
I take an inventory? One is God's created order and the other is the fallenness and
flawedness of God's order. Each of us has to make that decision [especially if you
work where I used to work] a dozen times a day. Each Tuesday, in order to eat with
some "unbelieving" friends, I had to go into a part of town that was given over to
license and vice. I discovered I had to walk up those streets looking up at the sky,
down at the ground or at the Mercedes Benzs going by. I couldn't look at the
billboards which were life-sized and nude or the women who were life-sized and
nude or even at the hawkers on the street who were life-sized and not quite nude. It
had to be eyes front, eyes up or eyes down. It is a wonder I didn't get killed crossing
the street. I discovered I could get through there if I just kept looking up or down or
at the cars and thanking the Lord for beautiful women, and thanking the Lord for
beautiful women, and thanking the Lord for beautiful women and not doing what I
wanted to do which was look. I was making choices not to violate God's created
order. I couldn't stop the hormones. They were there. He put them there, but I could
stop what I did with them.”
13. HE

18. RY, "The steps of the sin. When he saw her, lust immediately conceived,
and, (1.) He enquired who she was (2Sa_11:3), perhaps intending only, if she were
unmarried, to take her to wife, as he had taken several; but, if she were a wife,
having no design upon her. (2.) The corrupt desire growing more violent, though he
was told she was a wife, and whose wife she was, yet he sent messengers for her, and
then, it may be, intended only to please himself with her company and conversation.
But, (3.) When she came he lay with her, she too easily consenting, because he was a
great man, and famed for his goodness too. Surely (thinks she) that can be no sin
which such a man as David is the mover of. See how the way of sin is down-hill;
when men begin to do evil they cannot soon stop themselves. The beginning of lust,

19. as of strife, is like the letting forth of water; it is therefore wisdom to leave it off
before it be meddled with. The foolish fly fires her wings, and fools away her life at
last, by playing about the candle.
3. The aggravations of the sin. (1.) He was now in years, fifty at least, some think
more, when those lusts which are more properly youthful, one would think, should
not have been violent in him, (2.) He had many wives and concubines of his own;
this is insisted on, 2Sa_12:8. (3.) Uriah, whom he wronged, was one of his own
worthies, a person of honour and virtue, one that was now abroad in his service,
hazarding his life in the high places of the field for the honour and safety of him and
his kingdom, where he himself should have been. (4.) Bath-sheba, whom he
debauched, was a lady of good reputation, and, till she was drawn by him and his
influence into this wickedness, had no doubt preserved her purity. Little did she
think that ever she could have done so bad a thing as to forsake the guide of her
youth, and forget the covenant of her God; nor perhaps could any one in the world
but David have prevailed against her. The adulterer not only wrongs and ruins his
own soul, but, as much as he can, another's soul too. (5.) David was a king, whom
God had entrusted with the sword of justice and the execution of the law upon other
criminals, particularly upon adulterers, who were, by the law, to be put to death;
for him therefore to be guilty of those crimes himself was to make himself a pattern,
when he should have been a terror, to evil doers. With what face could he rebuke or
punish that in others which he was conscious to himself of being guilty of? See
Rom_2:22. Much more might be said to aggravate the sin; and I can think but of
one excuse for it, which is that it was done but once; it was far from being his
practice; it was by the surprise of a temptation that he was drawn into it. He was
not one of those of whom the prophet complains that they were as fed horses,
neighing every one after his neighbour's wife (Jer_5:8); but this once God left him to
himself, as he did Hezekiah, that he might know what was in his heart, 2Ch_32:31.
Had he been told of it before, he would have said, as Hazael, What! is thy servant a
dog? But by this instance we are taught what need we have to pray every day,
Father, in heaven, lead us not into temptation, and to watch, that we enter not into it.
14. QUOTES ABOUT LUST FROM MA

20. Y SOURCES
Lusts occur in our mind and are not physical actions per se although they may (and
frequently do) lead to physical actions. Thus James warns us of the evil character of
"lusts" writing that
each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when
lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth
death. (Js 1:14-15)
Lusts denote the varied cravings of fallen human nature pursued in the interest of
self in self-sufficient independence of God. Oswald Chambers wrote that "Love can

21. wait and worship endlessly; lust says, "I must have it at once.""
In his sermon entitled Battling the Unbelief of Lust John Piper defines lust as
a sexual desire that dishonors its object and disregards God. It's the corruption of a
good thing by the absence of honorable commitment and by the absence of a
supreme regard for God. If your sexual desire is not guided by respect for the honor
of others and regard for the holiness of God, it is lust." (As an aside if you are in the
grips of "lusts", click here to read John Piper's sobering words on a subject that is
too easily avoided from the pulpit lest the "comfortable be afflicted"!)
Lust is like rot in the bones. - Jewish proverb
A little will satisfy nature; less will satisfy grace; nothing will satisfy men's lusts. -
Thomas Brooks
Our eyes, when gazing on sinful objects, are out of their calling and God's keeping. -
Thomas Fuller
A man may be said to be given to covetousness when he takes more pains for getting
earth than for getting heaven. - Thomas Watson
Covetous men, though they have enough to sink them yet have they never enough to
satisfy them. - John Trapp
What lust is so sweet or profitable that is worth burning in hell for? - William
Gurnall
Love can wait and worship endlessly; lust says, “I must have it at once.” - Oswald

22. Chambers
Beware... of the beginnings of covetousness, for you know not where it will end. -
Thomas Manton
Lust is appetite run wild. - F. B. Meyer
Covetousness is not only in getting riches unjustly, but in loving them inordinately,
which is a key that opens the door to all sin. - Thomas Watson

23. atural desires are at rest when that which is desired is obtained, but corrupt
desires are insatiable.

24. ature is content with little, grace with less, but lust with
nothing. - Matthew Henry
Covetousness is commonly a master-sin and has the command of other lusts. -
Matthew Henry
There is no better antidote against coveting that which is another's than being
content with that which is our own. - Thomas Watson
One can be covetous when he has little, much, or anything between, for covetousness
comes from the heart, not from the circumstances of life. - C H Ryrie
Covetousness is spiritual idolatry; it is the giving of that love and regard to worldly
wealth which are due to God only. - Matthew Henry (see note Colossians 3:5)
Vine adds that lust

25. describes the inner motions of the soul, the natural tendency of men in their fallen
estate toward things evil and toward things forbidden." Vine adds that the phrase
"The lust of the flesh” stands, therefore, for the temptation which proceeds from
our corrupt nature, a nature which, owing to sin, stands opposed to the will and
commandments of God. (Vine, W. Collected writings of W. E. Vine.

26. ashville:
Thomas

27. elson )
Warren Wiersbe writes that
these fundamental desires of life are the steam in the boiler that makes the
machinery go. Turn off the steam and you have no power. Let the steam go its own
way and you have destruction. The secret is in constant control. These desires must
be our servants and not our masters; and this we can do through Jesus Christ.
(Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor)
Paul instructs the Ephesians that
in reference to (their) former manner of life (as unbelievers), (they were to) lay aside
the old self, which (was) being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. (see
note Ephesians 4:22)
In other words, lusts deceive us and lead us astray, promising more than they
deliver and producing (spiritual, soul) rottenness when "conceived".
Peter reiterates the detrimental effect of lust, writing about
"the corruption (moral decay - corruption is much deeper than defilement on the
outside - it is decay on the inside) that is in the world by lust." (see note 2 Peter 1:4)
John adds that

28. "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh (temptations originating from our
corrupt SI

29. nature which is opposed to the Will and Word of God) and the lust of
the eyes (lusts that arise from what we see in the world system ruled by Satan) and
the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world (defined as
society apart from God!). And the world is passing away, and also its lusts..." (1Jn
2:16-17)
John says lusts are temporary, in a continual process of disintegration and
ultimately headed for destruction.
Matthew Henry remarks that
Carnal people think they enjoy their pleasures; the Word (of God) calls it servitude
and vassalage: they are very drudges (those who labor hard in servile employment)
and bond slaves under them; so far are they from freedom and felicity (happiness,
blissfulness, blessedness) in them that they are captivated by them, and serve them
as taskmasters and tyrants. Observe further, It is the misery of the servants of sin
that they have many masters, one lust hurrying them one way, and another; pride
commands one thing, covetousness another, and often a contrary. What vile slaves
are sinners, while they conceit themselves free! the lusts that tempt them promise
them liberty, but in yielding they become the servants of corruption; for of whom a
man is overcome of the same is he brought into bondage.
Believers unfortunately are still continually assailed by lusts.
Paul exhorts believers not to
let Sin (continually) reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts (see
note Romans 6:12)
He is implying that SI

30. will try to take over the "throne" of our body by lobbing
fiery missiles of lustful thoughts (which are not restricted to sexual lusts -- they are
variegated or multi-colored!)
In a similar warning, Peter urges us
as aliens and strangers to abstain from (continually hold yourself away from) fleshly
lusts, which (continually) wage war (describing not just a battle but a veritable
military campaign) against the soul. (see note 1 Peter 2:11)
Believers are called to
flee from youthful lusts (a warning against contamination from one’s own evil

31. propensities -- It is not sufficient to guard against evil in others, we must be
watchful against evil within) and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with
those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (see note 2 Timothy 2:22)
In this letter Paul writes the wonderful truth that the
grace of God has appeared (one important effect of this grace is that believers need
not try to "fight" lusts in their own strength but in dependence of God's grace or
enabling power)" and is continually "instructing us to deny (once and for all refuse
to follow or agree with evil strong desires coming from the evil world system ruled
by Satan and opposed to God) ungodliness and worldly desires (lusts) and to live
sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. (see note Titus 2:12)
In Romans Paul commands believers to
Put on (urgent command to do this now and first) the Lord Jesus Christ and make
no provision (act of making prior preparation) for the flesh (here it means the seat
of SI

32. in man) in regard to its lusts. (see note Romans 13:14)
The Jewish historian Josephus, speaking of Cleopatra, says
She was an expensive woman, enslaved to lusts.
Lusts acted upon are indeed costly!
Barclay has an illustrative note on epithumia as it related to the downfall of one of
the great minds of the nineteenth century writing that
The word for desire is epithumia which characteristically means desire for the
wrong and the forbidden thing. To succumb to that is inevitably to come to disaster.
One of the tragedies of the nineteenth century was the career of Oscar Wilde. He
had a brilliant mind, and won the highest academic honours; he was a scintillating
writer, and won the highest rewards in literature; he had all the charm in the world
and was a man whose instinct it was to be kind; yet he fell to temptation and came to
prison and disgrace. When he was suffering for his fall, he wrote his book De
Profundis and in it he said: “ The gods had given me almost everything. But I let
myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease. … Tired of being on
the heights I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the
paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere
of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me,
and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes
character, and that therefore what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some
day to cry aloud from the house-top. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer
the captain of my soul, and did not know it (Ed note: he was deceived for the only
man who is truly captain of his soul is the man who has surrendered his will to
Christ). I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace. ” (Barclay
concludes that ) Desire is a bad master, and to be at the mercy of desire is to be a

33. slave. And desire is not simply a fleshly thing; it is the craving for any forbidden
thing. (Bolding added) (Barclay, W: The Daily Study Bible Series. The Westminster
Press or Logos)
Illustration - here is no slave like the man free to do as he pleases because what he
pleases is self-destructive. A California psychiatrist recently complained that four
out of every ten teenagers and young adults who visited his medical center have a
psychological sickness he can do nothing about. According to the Los Angeles Times
it is simply this
Each of them demands that his world conform to his uncontrolled desires. Society
has provided him with so many escape routes that he never has to stand his ground
against disappointment, postponement of pleasure and the weight of
responsibility—all forces which shape character. If the personality disorder persists
far into adulthood there will be a society of pleasure-driven people hopelessly
insecure and dependent
Pleasures (2237) (hedone from hedos = delight, enjoyment > hedomai = have sensual
pleasure) describes the state or condition of experiencing pleasure for any reason
and thus speaks of gratification and enjoyment. Hedone is the root of our English
hedonism, which is the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good
in life, and is manifest as an insatiable pursuit of self-satisfaction that so
characterizes our modern society.
Hedone is used 5 times in the

34. T - Lk. 8:14; Titus 3:3; James. 4:1, 3; 2Pet 2:13).
There are two uses in the Septuagint -

35. um. 11:8; Prov. 17:1
Ancient hedonism expressed itself in two ways: the cruder form was that proposed
by Aristippus and the early Cyrenaics, who believed that pleasure was achieved by
the complete gratification of all one’s sensual desires. In contrast, Epicurus' school,
though accepting the primacy of pleasure, tended to equate it with the absence of
pain and taught that it could best be attained through the rational control of one’s
desires. In either case it was focused on self.
In the

36. T hedone is used only in a bad sense, referring to indulgence and lack of
control of natural appetites (sensual) pleasure. James asks
"What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your
pleasures that wage war in your members?" (Js 4:1)
He goes on to explain
"You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may
spend it on your pleasures." (Js 4:3)
Jesus describing nominal, non-saving belief teaches that hedone can contribute to a
fruitless life --

37. "the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as
they go on their way they are choked (throttled so as to suffocate) with worries and
riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity." (Lk 8:14)
Peter uses hedone to describe false teachers as those who
"count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling
in their deceptions.... (see note 2 Peter 2:13)
Mark it well that if we give ourselves up to the endeavor to satisfy ourselves merely
by natural gratification, we are sure to meet with disappointment and disaster. And
this applies to all men, sinners and saints.
Regarding pleasures Hiebert quotes Brown who writes
With a sort of grim humor St Paul here flashes a sudden light on what is called a
'life of pleasure,' and shows what a slavery it really is.
Clarke remarks that in regard to sensual pleasures the unsaved persons are
intent only on the gratification of sense, living like the brutes, having no rational or
spiritual object worthy the pursuit of an immortal being.
Whether the particular lusts and pleasures involve misuse of good things that the
Lord provides or are intrinsically evil, the natural man desires and enjoys them for
purely selfish and sinful reasons.
Spurgeon writes that...
We were also the bond slaves of pleasure. Alas! alas! that we were so far infatuated
as to call it pleasure! Looking back at our former lives, we may well be amazed that
we could once take pleasure in things whereof we are now ashamed. The Lord has
taken the very name of our former idols out of our mouths. A holy man was wont to
carry with him a book which had three leaves in it, but never a word. The first leaf
was black, and this showed his sin; the second was red, and this reminded him of the
way of cleansing by blood; while the third was white, to show how clean the Lord
can make us. I beg you just now to study that first black page. It is all black; and as
you look at it it shows blacker and blacker. What seemed at one time to be a little
white darkens down as it is gazed upon, till it wears the deepest shade of all. Ye
were sometimes erring in your minds and in your pursuits. Is not this enough to
bring the water into your eyes, O ye that now follow the Lamb whithersoever He
goeth?

38. 3 and David sent someone to find out about her.
The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter
of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
1. David as the king had government servants who could get him information about
this gorgeous girl, and he authorized them to find out all they could about her. The
man in charge of this task reported back to David that this bathing beauty was
named Bathsheba, and that she was the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the
Hittite. This information should have caused David to flee to the bed of one of his
wives, for only a fool would proceed to get entangled sexually with a woman with
these relationships. That should be the first part of any man's plan to deal with lust,
that when he learns a woman is married he is committed to have no more intimate
relationship with her. Christian men get too close and involved with wives of other
men, and this is equivalent to smoking while filling your gas tank. You are asking
for trouble. Men do it all the time anyway and toy with lust as if it were a harmless
kitten, and they end up facing the wrath of a lion when they go too far. David should
have stopped his intention of knowing this woman as soon as he knew she was
married, and that she was related to important people in his life. Lust makes even
wise men turn stupid because their brain is no longer running the show. James 1:14-
15says, " ...Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own
lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is
accomplished, it brings forth death." This is the very path that David is following.
2. Eliam was one of the 37 great warriors in Israel, and he was the father of this
woman he found so enticing. He learned also that she was a married woman, and
that alone should have made him turn away from any consideration of contacting
her, for Uriah, her husband, was also one of his great warriors. These men were out
on the battlefield risking their lives in fighting for his country. How could he even
imagine taking the daughter and wife of these two men who were his friends and
comrades in battle? It was insane that he would pursue his course after learning her
identity. Had she been single he had the right to take her into his harem, but she was
married, and even pagan kings forsook their course when they discovered that
Sarah was a married woman. They took her into their harem thinking she was
single, but they then learned she was married. They had the good sense to avoid
adultery when it was such an unnecessary sin, for they had many wives. David was
in that same situation, but he plowed ahead with his plan of getting her into his bed.
Bathsheba’s beauty blinded him to all that was good. He cared not for the will of
God, or for the happiness of his wives, or for the good of his nation. All that
mattered was that he could have this beautiful body to ravish. Everything and
everyone else could go to kingdom come as far as he was concerned, for this was his
heaven, and it was worth any price.

39. 3. Here we have a case of demon possession, for David had to be possessed by the
demon of lust to count all else in life as of no value in order to have this woman in
his bed. He was about to reject the law of God and cast off loyalty to his friends and
comrades. Bathsheba’s grandfather was also David’s counselor. Ahithophel was
considered one of the wisest men in Israel, and was also a good friend of David. Yet
David was ready to betray one and all for the sake of sex with this captivating
beauty. That is what we mean by the demon of lust. It is to have such a strong and
excessive desire to possess something or someone that nothing else matters. Such a
strong desire become an idol at that point, for it takes God off the throne, and it
becomes the highest value in your life. You will obey this desire rather than any
other in your value system. It is so dangerous just because it overrides all other
values and loyalties, and it becomes your god. It may be only for a short time, but at
that moment when it reigns in your life as lord it can cause you to betray every other
loyalty in your value system. Lust, therefore, is your most dangerous enemy, just as
it is here in the life of David. Such a force is demonic or satanic because it overrides
your loyalty to God.
4. The demon of lust is almost always associated with sexual lust, but it can also be a
force that makes us fixate on food to the point of driving us to gluttony, or on greed
so that we cannot stop driving ourselves to make more money to the detriment of
those we love. Any desire that is so strong that it dominates out lives and drives us
by hook or by crook to possess it is a demon of lust, and it makes us guilty of
idolatry. It seems like only a myth to sell your soul to the devil, but to be enslaved by
the demon of lust in any form is a kind of selling your soul to the devil, for you allow
that lust to dominate your life, and make it superior to all other influences,
including that of God. Idolatry was the curse of Israel, and it led to so much
judgment time and time again, and now David is being led astray by the same
demon, for almost all of the idolatry of the Old Testament was based on sexual
indulgence with temple prostitutes.
5. All too often we think that demon possession is something that cannot happen to a
believer, but Scripture and history will not support this optimism about being free
from demonic forces. Saul was possessed by the demon of jealousy and his whole life
revolved around his efforts to kill David. That was his primary goal in his latter
years, and it made him one of the biggest fools in the Bible, for he was driven to do
what was out of God’s will. He repented over and over, but he went right back to his
obsession to kill this man God had chosen. When God’s will means nothing, and
disobeying it means everything, you are demon possessed. This does not mean there
is some living spiritual creature inside you manipulating you like a puppet. It just
means that you have allowed a lust, an emotion, or an idea contrary to the will of
God to obsess you to the point that it is all that matters.
6. A high percentage of Christian men are obsesses with pornography, and it
dominates their lives as they continually seek it on the internet and in magazines.

40. obody needs this much sexual stimulation, but they crave it like a drug. Any
addiction like this can be called demonic in the sense that it is not from God and his
Holy Spirit. It’s source is from the kingdom of evil. It may just be from fallen

41. human nature or from the influence of evil forces outside of human nature, but it is
not of God, and that is what I mean by demonic. God never tempts us to evil or to
folly, and so all such temptations come from the realm of the demonic, and this
means all of us are influenced on a regular basis by the demonic. It is a part of life,
just like our fight with bacteria and viruses. When we let these things into our body
we get sick, and when we let negative ideas captivate our minds we are spiritually
sick, and we do not function as healthy believers. We are prone then to folly and sin
just as David is here in this context.
7.When we feel a cold coming on we try to overcome it and avoid it, and this is the
same strategy that is needed when we feel a lust coming on that will take us out of
God’s will. As soon as we feel any such lust we need to flee to the Pharmacy of God’s
Word. Psalm 119:11 says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin
against you.” The quickest way to get rid of a demon is by going to the Word of
God. A focus on God and his Word will quench the power of lust. David knew this,
but we do not always practice what we know, and the result is the best of believers
can and do fall into sinful behavior. If you don’t use the medicine, you can’t expect a
cure.
Jude 24 says, "To him who is able to keep us from stumbling." God is able to
prevent what happened to David, but he did not call upon God to deliver him. When
you leave God out and face the giant of lust on your own, prepare for defeat. Every
Christian faces the challenge to stay pure in a sex saturated society where we are
bombarded with erotic images daily. You have the choice to face it with your flesh
and fail, or face it with the Word of God by which the Holy Spirit will give you the
strength and wisdom to avoid failure. You decide your sexual destiny by the weapon
you choose.
8. David Legge has an interesting way of illustrating the importance of taking the
Word of God into our lives to avoid the dangers of lust. He writes, "We need to read
the word of God, we need to heed the word of God, and we need to hide the word of
God..........How do you get oxygen out of a bottle? You can get a hoover if you want
and you can try and suck it out. You can try and suck it out with your mouth if you
want, but the best way to get oxygen out of a bottle is to pour water into it. And the
way we cleanse our minds, this morning, the way we get the filth of this world out of
our heads, is when we pour in the word of God and then all the dross will come
out." Legge goes on to quote some shocking statistics about how unsuccessful
Christians are in pouring the water of God's word into their lives. "Leadership
Magazine, which is a pastoral magazine for ministers, commissioned a poll of 1000
Pastors. It indicated that 12% had committed adultery while in the ministry - that's
one out of eight of those thousand! It indicated that 23% did something that they
considered inappropriate whilst in the ministry. Christianity Today, which is a more
broad magazine that is read by Christians of every sort, they surveyed Christians
who weren't Pastors and the figures - those figures - doubled! 23% admitted that
they had committed adultery. 45% said that they had committed something that
they felt was inappropriate for a child of God. These statistics are shocking, aren't
they? They're almost unbelievable - and when we think that most of the people that

42. read this literature, they are people who have been well-educated, college educated,
church leaders, elders, deacons, Sunday School superintendents and teachers - and
it's left up to our minds this morning to think what the ordinary church member
could get up to."
7. These statistics could lead us to believe that we need to return to a puritanical
fear and rejection of all that is erotic, but this extreme is no better than the extreme
we have gone to in making the erotic the goal of life. Lust in itself is not demonic or
wrong. It is a God given blessing to have a strong desire to possess the body of one
we love and have committed ourselves to as our mate. It is lust and sexual energy
that motivates us to look for a mate, and then enjoy loving that mate, and it is a part
of God’s plan. It is a wonderful motivation to express love in a physical and
pleasurable way. Passion is a precious ingredient in any marriage, and so the
problem is not with lust itself, but with the excessive desire that cares not for the will
of God, but is willing to run over his commandment against adultery as if it is a
meaningless document with no authority in our lives. This is the state of mind that
David is in at this point, and it is far more dangerous for his future than being out
with his men in the battlefield. We need a balanced view where sex is good and
worthy to be promoted as a valuable asset to be enjoyed within the marriage bond.
Yet view sex as a dangerous force that can take us astray from the revealed will of
God, and, therefore, to be always kept under control so that it is never allowed to
take us where God forbids us to go. This balance means we can be fully alive
sexually and enjoy it to the fullest, and yet always deny ourselves forbidden
pleasure. This means we are all under the same blessings and constraints that God
put Adam and Eve under. We can enjoy 90 percent of all he has given us in sex, but
we are denied 10 percent that is forbidden. If we cannot be thankful for this
generous arrangement, we are rebels against the plan of God.
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She
came to him, and he slept with her. (She had
purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then [a]
she went back home.
1. This is the final step in his walk of folly. He could have backed off and pursued
one of his wives, but he went forward with his plan to have this forbidden fruit. He
is now in the same position of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were
forbidden to eat of the fruit of one tree, just as all believers are forbidden to taste of

43. the sexual fruit of other married people. They did not heed God in the Garden, for
they saw with the lust of their eyes that it was good, and the lust of their flesh
desired to eat of it, and the pride of life said it is their right to possess what they
want and desire greatly even if God forbids it. That was the very spirit, or demon,
than now possesses David, and come hell or high water he is not going to turn back
until forbidden fruit is tasted to the full.
2. Rich Cathers, “Under the Mosaic Law, a man was not supposed to be intimate
with a woman during her period. It was considered “unclean” (Lev. 15:19; 18:19).If
I’m not mistaken, I think things went like this –
David: Are you at that time of month?
Bathsheba:

44. ope.
David: Great, let’s go to bed.”
3. Eugene H. Merrill implies that Bathsheba was a slut out to seduce David like a
common prostitute. He wrote, "The bathing itself may have been for the purpose of
ritual purification and would therefore not only advertise Bathsheba's charms but
would serve as a notice to the king that she was available to him." Others also see
Bathsheba as the guilty one who caused the whole tragic downfall of David, but the
Scripture will not support such a false judgment. All condemnation falls on David,
and none on her. Men tend to throw guilt on the female for alluring them to sin, but
this escape will not work in David's affair.
4. Gill, “for she was purified from her uncleanness;
this clause is added in a parenthesis, partly to show the reason of her washing
herself, which was not for health and pleasure, and to cool herself in a hot day, but
to purify herself from her menstruous pollution, according to the law in (Leviticus
15:19 ) ; the term of her separation being expired; and partly to give a reason why
she the more easily consented, and he was the more eager to enjoy her; and in this
he sinned, not that he did not lie with an unclean person; but, then, as some observe,
he did that which was much worse, he committed adultery; also this may be added
to observe, that she was the more apt for conception, as Ben Gersom notes, and to
account for the quickness of it, with which the philosopher agrees:
5. An unknown author gives us this information: “Three well-known biblical
women bear mentioning on the subject of menstruation. Bathsheba is either
irresistible or else doesn't let on to King David, who makes love to her before she's
through purifying (2 Sam. 11:4). In the apocryphal Additions to Esther, Queen
Esther abhors her crown "like a menstrual rag" (14:16). And when Rachel in
Genesis (31:19-35) steals her father Laban's household gods (teraphim), she comes
up with a sure way of not getting caught: in her tent she hides the gods under a
camel saddle and sits on it. When Laban comes hunting for the figurines, Rachel
apologizes for not getting up, saying, "The custom of women is upon me." Laban
doesn't dare touch either her or the saddle, and thus doesn't find his gods.”

45. 6. Pink, “

46. or is it easy to say how low a real child of God may fall, nor how deeply
he may sink into the mire, once he allows the lusts of the flesh their free play. Sin is
insatiable: it is never satisfied. Its nature is to drag us lower and lower, getting more
and more daring in its opposition to God: and but for His recovering grace it would
carry us down to hell itself. Took at Israel: unbelieving at the Red Sea, murmuring
in the wilderness, setting up the idolatrous calf at Sinai. Look at the course of
Christendom as outlined in Revelation 2 and 3: beginning by leaving her first love,
ending by becoming so mixed up with the world that Christ threatened to spew her
out of His mouth. Thus it was with David: from laying on his bed to allowing his
eves to wander, from gazing on Bathsheba to committing adultery with her, from
adultery to murder, and then sinking into such spiritual deadness that for a whole
year he remained impenitent, till an express messenger from God was needed to
arouse him from his torpor.”
7. There are no juicy details given of his folly. She is brought to his castle and he
slept with her, and then she went back home. Hardly enough detail for a romantic
novel or a movie, but there have been plenty of both, for this was a momentous
event in the history of Israel. For all we know this whole affair might have lasted
only a couple of minutes as David exploded his sexual energy and was released from
his bondage to the demon of lust. However long it lasted, it was nothing compared to
how long the consequences lasted, for both of these two people. It led to Bathsheba
becoming a very famous person in the history of God’s people, and it led to David,
who was already a very famous person in that history, to become a man of sorrow
and acquainted with grief.
8. Alan Carr has a message he titled The Giant That Slew David. In in he says, “Up
until this moment, David had never lost a battle. Every time he stepped onto a field
of combat, David won the battle and walked off the field a victor. However, when
David entered the arena of combat within his own heart, he was soundly defeated by
a giant far more powerful than Goliath could have ever hoped to have been.....You
see, it isn’t the giant of sickness, suffering, sorrow, poverty, pain or any other
external giant that you might can name, that is going to give you the greatest trouble
in your life. The giant who is going to cause you the most trouble dwells within your
own heart right now. Many people fear the giants of life. Things like health
problems, death, financial crisis, etc. seem to leave us quaking in fear. Yet, we
never stop to think that it is the giants that we carry around with us day by day that
we need to fear the most.” “All David can think about is Bathsheba. He wants to
know who she is and everything about her.

47. o doubt his mind is filled with
fantasies of what it would be like to be with her physically. The giant has ensnared
his mind and he has forgotten who he is, who he serves and how he is supposed to be
living. The giant has taken control of David’s mind!”
9. Jessica Feinstein wrote, “David, the first king of a united Israel, conqueror of an
empire running from the edge of Egypt to the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq,
is one of the Bible's greatest heroes. His life and his character are documented in the

48. Old Testament's books of Samuel and the first of the books of Chronicles. In many
ways, David is the Old Testament's golden child: a charismatic shepherd boy who
manages to slay Goliath with a slingshot, a successful warrior, and later a pious
ruler. As author Jonathan Kirsch wrote in his biography of David, David is "the
original alpha male," the "first superstar." But every hero must have a fatal flaw,
and David's unchecked lust for Bathsheba becomes his.
In contrast to David, Bathsheba's thoughts and her character are in most
circumstances mute, well cloaked in the sparse lines of the Hebrew text. Some
biblical scholars describe Bathsheba as articulate and willful, while others say those
accounts consist of unsubstantiated speculation. But one thing about Bathsheba is
clear: It is she alone who sparks a sudden transition in David's life. The implications
of their affair will dominate his remaining years. Through the life of David and into
the life of her son King Solomon, Bathsheba plays many roles: object of lust, wife,
mother, and influential queen.”
10. In the light of those comments one might say that Bathsheba slept her way to the
top, and this has been the conclusion that many read into this account. They suggest
that Bathsheba knew that David was not out in battle but was in his castle, and that
she arranged to be taking her bath just to entice him when he came onto his roof.
She knew he had an eye for beautiful women, and that was the card she was going to
play in the game of life. She exposed herself purposely to arouse him. She was not
happy with her husband Uriah, and had a hunger for a richer life, and so she came
up with this plot to move on up to the life of royalty. Many Christian commentators
imply that she was a conniving slut using her sexuality to seduce David for her
personal gain and advancement. They base their judgment on the fact that there is
no word indicating her refusal or resistance to David.
11. This is a matter of much speculation and Jessica Feinstein wrote this of it,
“Debate over Bathsheba's character begins the moment she first appears on the
roof. Was she simply an innocent bather, unaware of the stir she caused at the
palace? Or was she something else entirely—a coy exhibitionist with a desire for a
more powerful husband? Scholars also disagree over the nature of her bath. Danna

49. olan Fewell, professor of Hebrew Bible at Drew University in

50. ew Jersey, says
some scholars claim that modern notions of bathing—total nudity in a tub of
water—do not translate to the historical reign of David. Others say that, because the
Bible indicates that Bathsheba was cleansing herself after her menstruation, her
bath was of a rather explicit nature. "When you look at the history of art, it's
interesting to see that you have both the completely nude Bathsheba composed for
the male gaze, and others show her just washing her feet," Fewell says. "You can't
nail down whether Bathsheba was a victim or whether she was an agent."
12. “Ryrie: Oriental homes had an enclosed courtyard that was considered part of
the house. Bathsheba, bathing herself by lamplight, was not immodest for she was in
her house. However, the interior of the courtyard could be seen from the roof of
David’s house, situated as it was on the higher elevation of Mt. Zion.”

51. 13. Because the Bible does not give us enough detail, my own judgment is that
Bathsheba was not a temptress looking for a way out of an unhappy marriage by
using sex to entice David to take her to his bed. The judgment of God is laid on
David and not Bathsheba. She is never asked, nor is she expected, to confess her sin
to God. She is treated as the victim of David’s lust as an innocent person who had no
choice but to obey the orders of the king. She is not labeled as an adulteress, and
God never asks her to repent of the sin she was forced to engage in by David. There
is no blot on her name in all the Bible. Preachers and commentators add that blot by
their baseless speculation. To speculate about her sinfulness in this whole affair is
reading in what cannot be substantiated by the text. It is pretty much a male
attempt to justify David’s lust by the male psychology that says it is not my fault for
she enticed and seduced me so I could not help myself. It is a common argument in
rape cases where the rapist’s defense is that it was the woman’s fault, and she was
asking for it, and deserved what she got. I choose to go by the advice of my Lord
and judge not lest I also be judged. If God does not judge Bathsheba to be guilty but
uses her to be the mother of the wisest king of Israel, and makes her a part of the
blood line to the Messiah, who am I to cast stones at her? Bathsheba is best honored
by the 31st Proverb, which some traditions hold that she recited to Solomon on the
day of his marriage: "Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that
feareth the Lord, she shall be praised."
14. I agree with the defense of Bob Deffinbaugh, “The inference is often drawn that
Bathsheba should not have been exposing herself as she did, and that it was her
indiscretion which started this whole sequence of events. Some think her actions
may have been deliberate (She knew David was there and could see. . . .), while
others would be more gracious and assume it was simply poor judgment. Let me
point out several things from the text. First and foremost, when

52. athan pronounces
divine judgment upon David for his sin, Bathsheba and Uriah are depicted as the
victims, not the villains. When Adam and Eve sinned, God specifically indicted
Adam, Eve, and the serpent, and each received their just curse. This is simply not
the case with Bathsheba.

53. owhere in the Bible is she indicted for this sin. It may be
that the author did not choose to focus upon Bathsheba, but even in this case, the
Law would clearly require us to consider her innocent until proven guilty.”
15. It is not as if Bathsheba is acting in an unbecoming manner, knowing that men
are around. She has every right to assume they are not. David is around, but he
should not be. On top of this, she is not bathing herself at high noon; she is bathing
in the evening. This is when the law prescribed (for ceremonial cleansing), and it is
when the sun is setting. In other words, it is nearly dark when Bathsheba sets out to
wash herself. David has to work to see what he does. I believe Bathsheba makes
every effort to assure her modesty, but the king's vantage point is too high, and he is
looking with too much zeal. I am suggesting that David is much more of a peeping
Tom than Bathsheba is an exhibitionist. I believe the text bears me out on this.”
16. One of the common arguments to explain why David did this terrible thing that
caused so much suffering for himself and many others is that David defied the will

54. of God in taking so many wives. In other words, it is because he was a polygamist
with many wives that he chose to sleep with the wife of a man, who had only one
wife. It is because he had the opportunity for sex every night of the week that he had
to satisfy his lust with someone who was not one of his bed partners. I fail to see the
logic of this, but many preachers expound this theory even though the Scripture
gives no hint that there is any connection between his polygamy and his adultery.
Here is how one preacher expounds this theory: "The roots for David’s falling into
the sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba really go back 20 years at this point.
We have already seen how 20 years earlier that David had begun to multiply wives
to himself as he was brought into power. With each new conquest or position of
power and influence David added more wives to himself. We have mentioned many
times that he did this in knowing disobedience to Deut. 17:17 which forbid kings
from multiplying wives to themselves." Many hold to this view and make such a big
issue of it that I felt compelled to challenge it as baseless because it will not stand the
test.
17. My own theory is that this argument is irrelevant to this account of David's
adultery because the polygamy of David was acceptable to God at that time in
history, and David was never condemned for it, and, in fact, he was supported by
God in the matter, for God actually enlarged his harem. I will share with you what I
have learned about polygamy, and especially David's multiple wives. God used
polygamy to produce 4 of the 12 tribes of Israel who became his chosen people. It is
sheer folly to say God did not approve of polygamy in the Old Testament, for it was
a major part of his plan to have twelve tribes, and he achieved this goal by means of
polygamy. So all of the arguments that say David was out of God’s will because of
his many wives and that was what led him to commit adultery is pure nonsense. It is
a theory that is full of holes and will sink like the Titanic when submerged into the
ocean of God’s Word. I am a Baptist and not a Mormon, and I have no reason
whatever to promote polygamy, for I have been very happy to have had just one
wife for 52 years, but I believe the highest authority on any subject that it deals with
is the Word of God, and it makes clear that polygamy was a part of God’s plan in
the Old Testament. Hopefully it will be an educational journey for you to see what
the Bible actually reveals about polygamy. It is a fairly long study, and so if you
have no interest just skip to the next verse.
18. Probably the majority of those who deal with the issue of polygamy would say
amen to the word of the great preacher Spurgeon when he said, "Polygamy, though
tolerated under the Old Testament, was never approved; it was only endured
because of the hardness of men's hearts. It is evil, only evil, and that continually. In
the family relationship there can be opened no more abundant and fruitful source of
misery to the sons of men than want of chastity to the marriage-bond made with one
wife."
The most typical remark of preachers is this one: "God never condoned polygamy
but like divorce he allowed it to occur. In other words he did not bring an
immediate punishment for this disobedience." This is saying it was a sin worthy of

55. punishment, but God in mercy delayed it.
Because polygamy is so contrary to

56. ew Testament teaching Christians tend to be
dishonest about its reality in the Old Testament, and they say things like,
"Yes, but God never condoned polygamy."
"Yes, God allowed it, but He was against polygamy."
"Polygamy was only man's idea, not God's".
"Yes, but God never approved of polygamy."
My problem with this popular view is, if God considered it a sin to have more than
one wife why did he not do what he did with all other sins and say thou shalt not. He
states clearly that all of the things that were sins in the Old Testament that they
were not to be done, and if they were there was judgment to pay. But he let all of the
great men of the Old Testament take multiple wives and never said they were bad
men for doing so.
Why are Christian authors so determined to say that God never approved of
polygamy but just tolerated it? It is because of the early Mormon teaching and
practice that promoted polygamy. This need to prove them wrong made them ignore
the reality that it was approved by God in the Old Testament. Fear that this would
justify the Mormon practice led to ignoring Scripture and just condemning the
Mormon practice as unfounded. All of this is unnecessary when we recognize that
just because something is okay in the Old Testament does not make it okay for all
time. The

57. ew Testament changes many things.
There is no question that polygamy was forbidden in the

58. ew Testament and it is
clearly labeled a sin, but this is not the case in the Old Testament where it was just a
part of the way of life even for God's chosen people. The fact that it is so in this part
of God's revelation is no basis for it being accepted by anyone as God's will in

59. ew
Testament times. It was just valid then and it is not now. When I say it was valid I
mean that God clearly accepted it as a way of life for people in that age. The laws he
gave to regulate the lives of his people included laws dealing with men who take
more than one wife. One of the common problems of more than one wife is that one
would be loved more than the other, and this would lead to the man treating the one
less loved unfairly. In order to protect the unloved wives, God gave specific laws.
When we see the cumulative impact of the following verses in God's Word we will
have to acknowledge that polygamy was not just permitted by God but approved,
and this in spite of the many problems that it created, and they were many, but that
is true also of monogamy.
Ex. 21:10-11says this to the man who takes a second wife, "If he marries another
woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11
If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any
payment of money." In other words, if a man does not treat his first wife right
because he now has more affection for his new wife, she is free to leave him and not

60. have to pay a cent to do so. He loses a slave, for now he has no wife to do all the
chores, which is what she would be doing since he has taken a new wife.
Deuteronomy 21:15-17 "If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other,
and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16
when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to
the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife
he does not love. 17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the
firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his
father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him." In other words you
cannot play favorites with your wives on this issue. If you have fallen out of love
with the wife who gave you your first son, that does not change your obligation to
her and her son.
How can you have laws about polygamy if polygamy is itself unlawful. Why not say,
"If a man has two wives he is a rebel and is to be cast out of the tribe." That is not
said because it was an acceptable way of life, and not forbidden. You do not have
laws to regulate what is unlawful, you only have penalties. Imagine laws like the
above dealing with stealing. If a man steals let it be kept under a thousand dollars at
the most. If a man commits adultery make sure that it is with someone from a
different state. You can see that is insane, for to make laws regulating something
means that that something is valid and legitimate.
Deuteronomy 17:16-17 says of the king, "The king, moreover, must not acquire
great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more
of them, for the LORD has told you, "You are not to go back that way again." 17 He
must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate
large amounts of silver and gold."

61. ot many wives it says, but it does not say he is to
have only one. Several were acceptable to God, but not the great harem of Solomon
and others who had up in the teens and more. Gideon had 70 sons and so we know
he had a harem of considerable size.
In Ezek. 23 God even portrays himself as married to two women. It is an xxx rated
chapter to be read only in private, and it deals with his two wives becoming
prostitutes. They are really two groups of people from Samaria and Jerusalem. In
other words Jews who go after other gods like prostitutes go after men. It is a
violently sexual chapter that illustrates that God is not embarrassed to portray
himself as the husband of two whoring wives.
In Jeremiah 3 God has two wives and they are Israel and Judah, and they are
unfaithful to him. It is less violent in its sexual images, but still not fit for mixed
audiences. God even gets a divorce from Israel in this chapter. You will never hear
sermons from these two chapters, for no pastor would want to read them in church.

62. Deut. 25:5-10 In this unusual case polygamy is not just approved but demanded. It
was a disgrace not to take an extra wife. It was against the law of God not to be a
polygamist in this case. "If brothers are living together and one of them dies without
a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband's brother shall
take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 6 The first
son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not
be blotted out from Israel. 7 However, if a man does not want to marry his
brother's wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, "My husband's
brother refuses to carry on his brother's name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty
of a brother-in-law to me." 8 Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk
to him. If he persists in saying, "I do not want to marry her," 9 his brother's widow
shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his
face and say, "This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother's
family line." 10 That man's line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the
Unsandaled." This man is labeled as a disgraceful brother who will not be a
polygamist for the sake of his brother that his name might live.
In Judaism, levirate marriage, known as yibbum, is a marital union mandated by
the Torah in Deuteronomy 25:5-10, obliging a brother to marry the widow of his
childless deceased brother. There is a provision known as chalitza by which one or
both of the parties may choose to become free of this duty. According to some
variants of modern Jewish law, yibbum is strongly discouraged, and chalitza is
preferred.
2 Samuel 5:11-16,

63. ow Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with
cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. 12
And David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had
exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13 After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and
more sons and daughters were born to him. 14 These are the names of the children
born to him there: Shammua, Shobab,

64. athan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua,

65. epheg,
Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet."
God was blessing David as the king, and he felt free to take a number of wives and
concubines. He became one with all of these women and bore sons through them.
David is never condemned for his many wives and concubines. His only
condemnation for any female relationship is his adultery with Bathsheba.
In I Kings 11:1-6 we read of how Solomon failed greatly because of his many wives,
and it is shown to be in contrast with David who also had many wives and
concubines, though not as many, but who was able to still remain faithful to God
and not be led astray by them. "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign
women besides Pharaoh's daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians
and Hittites. 2 They were from nations about which the LORD had told the
Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your
hearts after their gods."

66. evertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. 3 He had

67. seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led
him astray. 4 As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and
his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his
father had been. 5 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech
[a] the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the
LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done."
David was able to handle polygamy fine and not let it damage his spiritual life.

68. ever is his taking multiple wives called a sin or anything that displeased the Lord.
This man after God's own heart had at least 18 wives, 8 of whom are named -
Michal, Abigail, Ahinoam of Jezreel, Eglah, Maacah, Abital, Haggith, and
Bathsheba, and "10 women/concubines"

69. ot only did God not condemn David for his many wives, he actually gave him a
number of them himself. In II Sam. 12:7- we read, "Then

70. athan 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 the house of 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. 10

71. ow, therefore, the sword will never
depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the
Hittite to be your own." God was so angry at David for his taking the wife of Uriah,
but not a word about all his other wives, for they were given to him by God and
were legitimate wives. God is saying clearly, polygamy is fine, but adultery is wicked
and will be severely punished. If polygamy was wrong, he should have been
punished even if he had not committed adultery, but it was not wrong in the eyes of
God. He would not have given David the wives of Saul had he not approved of
polygamy.
"Because 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. " 1 Kings 15:5.
Even the evil kings who led the people astray and who suffered judgment were not
condemned for their taking many wives.
Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines (2Chro. 11:21). This line in
Judah may have been the origin of the Talmudic limitation of the eighteen wives to
the king.
If polygamy is approved by God in the Old Testament, but not in the

72. ew, the
question is why? Here are some of the answers.
Many say it was a necessary evil due to the fact that survival demanded many
children, and one wife could not provide that many children to a tribe that had to go
to war often and lose sons to the enemy. To use the classic example, lying is wrong
unless you have Jews in your cellar. Then lying becomes a moral imperative.

73. Elmer Towns wrote, “Why did God allow polygamy in the Old Testament? The
Bible does not specifically say why God allowed polygamy. The best anyone can do
is “informed” speculation. There are a few key items to consider. First, there has
always been more women in the world than men. Current statistics show that
approximately 50.5% of the world population are women, with men being 49.5%.
Assuming the same percentages in ancient times, and multiplied by millions of
people, there would be tens of thousands more women than men. Second, warfare in
ancient times was especially brutal, with an incredibly high rate of fatality. This
would have resulted in an even greater percentage of women to men. Third, due to
the patriarchal societies, it was nearly impossible for a woman to provide for
herself. Women were often uneducated and untrained. Women relied on their
fathers, brothers, and husbands for provision and protection. Unmarried women
were often subjected to prostitution and slavery. Fourth, the significant difference
between the number of women and men would have left many, many women in an
undesirable situation (to say the least).
So, it seems that God allowed polygamy to protect and provide for the women who
could not find a husband otherwise. A man would take multiple wives, and serve as
the provider and protector of all of them. While definitely not ideal, living in a
polygamist household was far better than the alternatives: prostitution, slavery,
starvation, etc. In addition to the protection / provision factor, polygamy enabled a
much faster expansion of humanity, fulfilling God’s command to “be fruitful and
multiply, fill the earth” (Genesis 9:7). Men are capable of impregnating multiple
women in the same time period…causing humanity to grow much faster than if each
man was only able to produce one child each year. Again, these are only “informed”
speculations.”
19. The above study should make it clear that David was not out of God's will by
having multiple wives, for God blest him by giving him even more than what he took
by his own choice. God's judgment on David was based only on his lust that
compelled him to defile the wife of another man. David could have sex after every
meal three times a day and that was not an issue with God, but one time in life with
another man's wife was a major issue with God. There is no need for theories as to
why David did what he did. He got horny and filled with lust and chose not to
control it, but let it control him. He fell because he chose selfwill over God's will.
There is no complexity here, for he had a choice on how to deal with his lust, and he
made the wrong choice. Why did he fall? Because he had free will, and he made that
his god rather than the God of the Bible. That choice will burn you every time.
Galatians 6:7-8 says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps
what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will
reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap
eternal life." What could be more simple to understand? David chose to please his
sinful nature rather than to please God. Why did he do it? Because he could, and all
of us can, and we reap as we sow just as David did.
20. K&D, "David's Adultery. - David's deep fall forms a turning-point not only in

74. the inner life of the great king, but also in the history of his reign. Hitherto David
had kept free from the grosser sins, and had only exhibited such infirmities and
failings as simulation, prevarication, etc., which clung to all the saints of the Old
Covenant, and were hardly regarded as sins in the existing stage of religious culture
at that time, although God never left them unpunished, but invariably visited them
upon His servants with humiliations and chastisements of various kinds. Among the
unacknowledged sins which God tolerated because of the hardness of Israel's heart
was polygamy, which encouraged licentiousness and the tendency to sensual
excesses, and to which but a weak barrier had been presented by the warning that
had been given for the Israelitish kings against taking many wives (Deu_17:17),
opposed as such a warning was to the notion so prevalent in the East both in ancient
and modern times, that a well-filled harem is essential to the splendour of a princely
court. The custom to which this notion gave rise opened a dangerous precipice in
David's way, and led to a most grievous fall, that can only be explained, as O. v.
Gerlach has said, from the intoxication consequent upon undisturbed prosperity
and power, which grew with every year of his reign, and occasioned a long series of
most severe humiliations and divine chastisements that marred the splendour of his
reign, notwithstanding the fact that the great sin was followed by deep and sincere
repentance.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David,
saying, "I am pregnant."
1. Don't let anyone tell you that one time cannot make a woman pregnant.
Sometimes you hear of girls who believe this myth circulated by guys, and they
think there is no risk in a one time affair. Bathsheba learned quickly that once is
enough, and she was frightened, for the law said she was to be stoned to death. She
was innocent, but what was she to do, for as soon as people saw her pregnant, and
her husband was away to war, she would be stoned as an adulteress. She could not
go running back to the castle, for that would look conspicuous, and so she sent a
messenger to tell David that she was pregnant. Without his help in this matter she
was sunk. David got her into this mess, and it was up to him to get her out. It had to
be a couple of months after their one night stand before she knew she was pregnant.
David obviously had no contact and was through with the affair. It was forgotten
and he had no intention of pursuing her. But now he has no choice but to be
involved with her again.
2. Gill, “this message she sent to David, that he might think of some ways and means
to prevent the scandal that would fall both upon him and her, and the danger she
was exposed unto; fearing the outcries of the people against her, in acting so
unfaithful a part to her husband, so brave a man, who was now fighting for his king

75. and country; and the rage and jealousy of her husband when he should come to the
knowledge of it, and the death which by the law she was guilty of, even to be stoned
with stones, see (John 8:5 ).
3.

76. ow David is forced into a coverup mode. He has made a major mistake and has
to figure out how to keep this blunder from becoming public knowledge. He is a
great hero of his people, and he is greatly loved and respected. It will not look good
on his record to have gotten a married woman pregnant. He is in a panic to get this
mess cleaned up. All had been peace and tranquility for him, but now all is anxiety
and worry, for he has to prevent this news from getting out. It would make
headlines in a modern paper, but it would also stir up the entire nation of Israel if it
got out in that day. David is saying to himself, "Please Bathsheba, don't speak to
any reporters." He is determined that this whole scandelous situation can be
resolved without anybody being the wiser. Such is the foolish thinking of the guilty,
but it cannot be swept under the rug, for God is not blind to things swept anywhere,
and David will have to pay for his sin. I felt compelled to express his folly in poetry
to make clear that one mistake can change your life for the rest of your life even if
God is gracious enough to forgive you.
4. MY POEM
He sowed his wild seed in sexual greed
And gave no thought God's law to heed.
God and his nation in this man had great trust
But he let them all down to serve his lust.
To be stimulated by a naked body was not wrong,
But his gaze continued as a stare too long.
Who would ever dream that this lustful look,
Would stain for ever his history in God's book
This whole scandal could have been stalled
Had one of his wives to his bed been called.
That's why God ordained that we have a mate
When someone our sex drive does stimulate.
It is wonderful to have feelings erotic,
But what David did was almost psychotic.
He chose to abuse this God given treasure,
For a one night stand of forbidden pleasure.
He could never have imagined the ultimate cost,

77. or begin to conceive of what he had lost.
He lost the favor of God and friend,
And would go on losing to the very end.
David would be fully forgiven,
And we will see this man in heaven,
But his life on earth was never the same,
Because of this one night of shame.
5. It is truly the best news that God is able to forgive and restore us to fellowship

78. when we fall into the worst of sins. There is hope for every sinner to be restored, and
nobody need despair. Listen to the Prophet Isaiah: “Seek the Lord while He may be
found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have
compassion on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (). Listen to
the Apostle John: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (). It matters not how grievous
your sin may have been. God stands ready to blot it out. Acknowledge it to him,
then accept his gracious forgiveness. This good news, however, needs to be
accompanied by the reminder that forgiveness does not eliminate negative
consequences. David still had to pay a heavy price for his lustful act.
6. The consequences for David's sin lasted the rest of his life, and brought him a
great deal of misery. The first judgment of God on him was that the child he
fathered by his adultery died in spite of his urgent prayer on its behalf. Then came
years of negative things in his life that he never experienced before. Woodrow Kroll
sums up these negatives like this: "The first half of David's life was a life of great
victory. The second half of his life was a life of great defeat. The dividing point is his
lust and his sin with Bathsheba. Subsequent to David's sin, David's house is the
scene of horrible crimes and feuds and scandals, every kind of disgrace imaginable.
In chapter 13, his daughter Tamar is raped by his son Amnon. In chapter 15, his son
Absalom incites a rebellion, which drove David out of Jerusalem and away from his
throne. In chapter 16, David is cursed by Shimei, a nobody. Although David was
returned to the throne, in chapter 20 another nobody, Sheba, incites another
rebellion against David. In chapter 21 there is a threeyear famine striking the land.
In chapter 24 David brings a plague upon his own people because of his pride. You
see, you can easily divide success and failure in David's life by his lust and his sin
with Bathsheba."
7. EBC, "HOW ardently would most, if not all readers, of the life of David have
wished that it had ended before this chapter! Its golden era has passed away, and
what remains is little else than a chequered tale of crime and punishment. On
former occasions, under the influence of strong and long-continued temptations, we
have seen his faith give way and a spirit of dissimulation appear; but these were like
spots on the sun, not greatly obscuring his general radiance. What we now
encounter is not like a spot, but a horrid eclipse; it is not like a mere swelling of the
face, but a bloated tumour that distorts the countenance and drains the body of its
life-blood. To human wisdom it would have seemed far better had David’s life ended
now, so that no cause might have been given for the everlasting current of jeer and
joke with which his fall has supplied the infidel. Often, when a great and good man
is cut off in the midst of his days and of his usefulness, we are disposed to question
the wisdom of the dispensation; but when we find ourselves disposed to wonder
whether this might not have been better in the case of David, we may surely
acquiesce in the ways of God.
If the composition of the Bible had been in human hands it would never have
contained such a chapter as this. There is something quite remarkable in the fearless

79. way in which it unveils the guilt of David; it is set forth in its nakedness, without the
slightest attempt either to palliate or to excuse it; and the only statement in the
whole record designed to characterize it is the quiet but terrible words with which
the chapter ends - "But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord." In the
fearless march of providence we see many a proof of the courage of God. It is God
alone that could have the fortitude to place in the Holy Book this foul story of sin
and shame. He only could deliberately encounter the scorn which it has drawn down
from every generation of ungodly men, the only wise God, who sees the end from the
beginning, who can rise high above all the fears and objections of short-sighted men,
and who can quiet every feeling of uneasiness on the part of His children with the
sublime words, "Be still, and know that I am God."
The truth is, that though David’s reputation would have been brighter had he died
at this point of his career, the moral of his life, so to speak, would have been less
complete. There was evidently a sensual element in his nature, as there is in so many
men of warm, emotional temperament; and he does not appear to have been alive to
the danger involved in it. It led him the more readily to avail himself of the
toleration of polygamy, and to increase from time to time the number of his wives.
Thus provision was made for the gratification of a disorderly lust, which, if he had
lived like Abraham or Isaac, would have been kept back from all lawless excesses.
And when evil desire has large scope for its exercise, instead of being satisfied it
becomes more greedy and more lawless.

80. ow, this painful chapter of David’s history
is designed to show us what the final effect of this was in his case - what came
ultimately of this habit of pampering the lust of the flesh. And verily, if any have
ever been inclined to envy David’s liberty, and think it hard that such a law of
restraint binds them while he was permitted to do as he pleased, let them study in
the latter part of his history the effects of this unhallowed indulgence; let them see
his home robbed of its peace and joy, his heart lacerated by the misconduct of his
children, his throne seized by his son, while he has to fly from his own Jerusalem; let
them see him obliged to take the field against Absalom, and hear the air rent by his
cries of anguish when Absalom is slain; let them think how even his deathbed was
disturbed by the noise of revolt, and how legacies of blood had to be bequeathed to
his successor almost with his dying breath, - and surely it will be seen that the
license which bore such wretched fruits is not to be envied, and that, after all, the
way even of royal transgressors is hard.
But a fall so violent as that of David does not occur all at once. It is generally
preceded by a period of spiritual declension, and in all likelihood there was such an
experience on his part.

81. or is it very difficult to find the cause. For many years back
David had enjoyed a most remarkable run of prosperity. His army had been
victorious in every encounter; his power was recognized by many neighbouring
states; immense riches flowed from every quarter to his capital; it seemed as if
nothing could go wrong with him. When everything prospers to a man’s hand, it is a
short step to the conclusion that he can do nothing wrong. How many great men in
the world have been spoiled by success, and by unlimited, or even very great power!
In how many hearts has the fallacy obtained a footing, that ordinary laws were not
made for them, and that they did not need to regard them I David was no exception;
he came to think of his will as the great directing force within his kingdom, the

82. earthly consideration that should regulate all.
Then there was the absence of that very powerful stimulus, the pressure of distress
around him, which had driven him formerly so close to God. His enemies had been
defeated in every quarter, with the single exception of the Ammonites, a foe that
could give him no anxiety; and he ceased to have a vivid sense of his reliance on God
as his Shield. The pressure of trouble and anxiety that had made his prayers so
earnest was now removed, and probably he had become somewhat remiss and
formal in prayer. We little know how much influence our surroundings have on our
spiritual life till some great change takes place in them; and then, perhaps, we come
to see that the atmosphere of trial and difficulty which oppressed us so greatly was
really the occasion to us of our highest strength and our greatest blessings.
And further, there was the fact that David was idle, at least without active
occupation. Though it was the time for kings to go forth to battle, and though his
presence with his army at Rabbah would have been a great help and encouragement
to his soldiers, he was not there. He seems to have thought it not worth his while.

83. ow that the Syrians had been defeated, there could be no difficulty with the
Ammonites. At evening- tide he arose from off his bed and walked on the roof of his
house. He was in that idle, listless mood in which one is most readily attracted by
temptation, and in which the lust of the flesh has its greatest power. And, as it has
been remarked, "oft the sight of means to do ill makes ill deeds done." If any
scruples arose in his conscience they were not regarded. To brush aside objections to
anything on which he had set his heart was a process to which, in his great
undertakings, he had been well accustomed; unhappily, he applies this rule when it
is not applicable, and with the whole force of his nature rushes into temptation.

84. ever was there a case which showed more emphatically the dreadful chain of guilt
to which a first act, apparently insignificant, may give rise. His first sin was allowing
himself to be arrested to sinful intents by the beauty of Bathsheba. Had he, like Job,
made a covenant with his eyes; had he resolved that when the idea of sin sought
entrance into the imagination it should be sternly refused admission; had he, in a
word, nipped the temptation in the bud, he would have been saved a world of agony
and sin. But instead of repelling the idea he cherishes it. He makes inquiry
concerning the woman. He brings her to his house. He uses his royal position and
influence to break down the objections which she would have raised. He forgets
what is due to the faithful soldier, who, employed in his service, is unable to guard
the purity of his home. He forgets the solemn testimony of the law, which denounces
death to both parties as the penalty of the sin. This is the first act of the tragedy.
Then follow his vain endeavours to conceal his crime, frustrated by the high self-control
of Uriah. Yes, though David gets him intoxicated he cannot make a tool of
him. Strange that this Hittite, this member of one of the seven nations of Canaan,
whose inheritance was not a blessing but a curse, shows himself a paragon in that
self-command, the utter absence of which, in the favoured king of Israel, has
plunged him so deeply in the mire. Thus ends the second act of the tragedy.
But the next is far the most awful. Uriah must be got rid of, not, however, openly,
but by a cunning stratagem that shall make it seem as if his death were the result of
the ordinary fortune of war. And to compass this David must take Joab into his