http://childrensbiblelessons.blogspot.com/2014/08/lesson-david-and-bathsheba.html
CHILDREN'S BIBLE STUDIES
OLD TESTAMENT
IF WE DON'T TEACH THEM,
WHO WILL?
Whether we are mothers, grandmothers, aunts, neighbors, or Bible teachers,
what a responsibility we have as Christian women to teach our children the Bible!
Some of us are natural-born
Bible teachers…
and, unfortunately, some of us
are not
What shall we teach?
How shall we teach?
More importantly,
if we don’t teach them,
who will?
(1 Timothy 1:5)
https://bankingblessing.org/2018/06/26/seduction-covetousness-displeases-god-david-bathsheba-interactions/
The few words on this page are intended to act as a help
and an encouragement to all
those who have influence over children
in the home
or in the Bible class
An accumulation of teaching methods, ideas, songs, and activities is
offered freely to you in hopes that
we may teach our children the Bible…and the Bible only.
Always striving to teach them God’s Word
in a simple and forthright manner,
may our children remember these lessons for a lifetime!
David and Bathsheba
This lesson shows the bad part of David:
he took a woman that was not his, David killed Uriah,
lied about what he had done, and David hid his sins.
This lesson shows us that everyone sins,
but we
cannot hide from the
LORD God.
Just like David repented
we must
Also repent of our sins
2 Samuel 11-12.
One evening King David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
She is the wife of one of his generals, Uriah, the Hittite,
who is away at war.
David sends for Bathsheba and spends the night with her.
When she becomes pregnant, David commands that Uriah
be placed on the front lines, where
he dies in battle.
When Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah
her husband was dead, she
mourned for her husband.
When the mourning period
was past
David was then free to marry Bathsheba.
Bathsheba delivered a son
But the thing that David had done
displeased the LORD
The LORD sent Nathan, the prophet, unto David.
Nathan said unto him,
“There were two men
in one city;
the one rich, and the other poor.
The Rich Man
had many flocks and herds:
But the
poor man had nothing,
except
one little ewe lamb,
which he had
bought and nourished up:
and it grew up
together with him, and with his children;
it did eat of his own meat,
and drank of his own cup,
this little lamb
was as a daughter to the poor man.
And there came a traveler unto the rich man,
and he spared to take
of his own flock and of his own herd,
to dress for the
wayfaring man that was come unto him;
but took
The poor man’s lamb,
and
dressed it for the man
that
was come to him.”
(2 Samuel 12:1-4).
David was angered against the rich man.
David said to Nathan,
the man that had done this thing shall surely die:
And he shall restore the lamb
fourfold,
because he did this thing, and
because he had no pity.
Nathan said to David,
You Are
the
Man
Nathan reminded David all that the LORD God had
done for him and the
LORD God was replayed
by
David killing an innocent man
with the sword of the
children
of Ammon. Because of this
the Ammonites
will always
war against King David
The LORD God
was
really mad at David
He also said he would raise up evil against David
out of his own house,
and take his wives before his eyes and give them
unto his neighbor.
David told Nathan he
had sinned
against the LORD God and repented
The LORD had taken away David’s sin
and
David did not die.
However,
because of the sin of David
the LORD did
take the life of the child
that was
born during that sin
David fasted while the child was alive and wept for the child.
Seven days later the child died of an illness.
Then David ate and comforted Bathsheba his wife.
Later Bathsheba had another son and his name was Solomon;
and the LORD loved him.
What Can This Story Teach Us?
David makes his worst mistake yet.
He takes his neighbor’s wife, and tries to cover it up.
He kills the woman’s husband when
he can’t conceal the error.
But God knows the Truth
David repented and was sorry for sinning before
the LORD.
David humbled himself before
the LORD.
The child had become deathly ill
just as Nathan, the prophet, had predicted.
David prayers and fasts, which means he goes without eating,
to show the LORD
he had repented for his sin and was sorry.
The child died after seven days.
We need to remember that
Sin is the disobedience
to the
LORD God
It is completely impossible for a person of
“this world”
to be
Free from Sin
A person is born a sinner,
and must die
because he is a sinner.
We have
Good News through Jesus Christ
It is because of
His sacrifice on the Cross
that our
sins are forgiven
It is because Jesus was crucified
and died for us
Jesus was innocent and did not sin
yet
He died for our sins
He paid the ultimate price
for us
It is very important that we understand that
when we sin
we must acknowledge that we did sin within ourselves
and then take it to Jesus in prayers.
Then we have to be sorry for the sin and
change our heart
so we do not commit that sin again.
We have to have faith that our
sins are forgiven
by the
blood of Jesus Christ and through His Grace
we are
washed clean of sins
by the
blood of Jesus Christ
MLA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne “David and Bathsheba:.” Becker Bible Studies Library Jan 2015.< https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1981,>.
APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, January) “David and Bathsheba:.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1981,.
Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “David and Bathsheba:.” Becker Bible Studies Library (January), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=1981, (accessed).
https://bankingblessing.org/2018/06/26/seduction-covetousness-displeases-god-david-bathsheba-interactions/
David’s Sin
David committed several sins in the premarital interactions with Bathsheba: seduction, adultery, murder, and covetousness. He lured Bathsheba into the affair using his advantages as king and maybe personal charm. He and Bathsheba committed adultery. Then David murdered Bathsheba’s husband Uriah “…with the sword of the Ammonites” [2 Samuel 12:9]. On the whole, he was covetous in taking Uriah’s wife because he could and so-desired. We focus on seduction and covetousness to understand their broad implications.
Seduction
Seduction implies causing someone to sin. A person can seduce another because of having a leadership role, authority, or other advantage; or just being able to charm or convince. The David-Bathsheba example relates to a specific kind of seduction, that is luring a person to share an illicit sexual act. Christ admonished against seduction [Matthew 18:6–7]: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!” David committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba, but in addition, used his authority and advantage to lure her into the adultery. He seduced Bathsheba.
Several generations later, Christ admonished us against seduction. He explained the consequences for seduction are so severe that a person would be better of dying than staying alive to cause conditions that induce others to sin. He described the target of seduction as “one of these little ones—those who believe in me.” He had introduced a child to his disciples as a personification of humility and declared that “whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” [Matthew 18:4].
As we discuss in a previous bible study under
Value of Humility
humility conveys Godliness,
a person predisposed
to appreciate others and appreciate
and
seek God in everything
A person predisposed to stay away from sin.
Causing such a person to sin requires taking action to influence.
That is seduction.
God promises severe consequences for the seducer.
Covetousness
Prophet Nathan defined covetousness in his interaction with David as the taking of another person’s possession because you can and so-desire. That is, usurping ownership of another person’s possession.
He told David a story about a rich man and poor man in a certain town. The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle but took and slaughtered the poor man’s single ewe lamb for a meal: because he desired and could take the poor man’s lamb. The phrase “could take” means the rich man had the means to impose his will on the poor man. King David was dismayed and declared with his own mouth: “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die” [2 Samuel 12:5]. Then Nathan said to David [2 Samuel 12:7]: “You are the man!”
David had his own wives and could marry almost anyone he wanted. When he found himself attracted to the wife of one of his fighting men, he should have stopped and sought another way to assuage his desire. He had sent an attendant to find out who the woman was that he saw from his palace lookout. The attendant told him that “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite” [2 Samuel 11:3]. David knew Uriah was one of his servants, a fighting man in active battle at the time under David’s commander Joab against the Ammonites. David lured the woman into adultery. The resulting pregnancy triggered a sequence of events that culminated in the death of Uriah and marriage of David and Bathsheba. He desired Bathsheba and used his kingly power to impose his will.
Covetousness is imposing your will to usurp ownership of another person’s possession that you desire: taking something that doesn’t belong to you just because you can and so-desire. Covetousness potentially applies to a broad range of human interactions. A few examples: If you impose your will to take property that doesn’t belong to you, then “you are the man (or woman)” as Prophet Nathan would say. If you use your authority to make laws that further enrich the rich and impoverish the poor to gain political or economic advantage for yourself, then “you are the man (or woman).” If you use your authority to deny basic rights to people in order to gain political advantage for yourself, then “you are the man (or woman).” The intention here is not to compile an exhaustive list but to provide a few examples that may help identify the flavor to enhance understanding. Covetousness in whatever shape or form displeases God.
Repentance, Forgiveness, and Punishment
Davids experience regarding David-Bathsheba-Uriah interactions appear to suggest that forgiveness from sin does not always mean being fully absolved from the human consequences. Prophet Nathan pronounced three promises of punishment on David: the child of the illicit affair with Bathsheba will die, a person close to him will sleep with his wives in broad daylight, and calamity will befall him from his household. David repented and asked for forgiveness ([Psalm 51] and [2 Samuel 12:13]). After David’s expression of repentance, Prophet Nathan said [2 Samuel 12:13–14]: “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
David’s PunishmentThis means that David’s punishment would have included his death but he was absolved of that specific consequence because he repented. But the other promises of punishment will be fulfilled. And they were.
First, the child of the affair died: “After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill” [2 Samuel 12:15]. David prayed and fasted but the child died on the seventh day.
David departs Jerusalem
Second, David’s third son Absalom led a rebellion against his father as king and drove him out of Jerusalem. On arriving in Jerusalem to assume the throne vacated by his father, Absalom accepted counsel to “Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace,” so that “all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute” [2 Samuel 16:21]. So he slept with his father’s concubines in broad daylight before all Israel.
Third, Absalom led Israel in a battle against David. The Israeli side lost the battle and sustained heavy casualty [2 Samuel 18:6–8]: “David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men.” Also, David’s son Absalom was killed: “And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him” [2 Samuel 18:15]. Absalom’s death was very painful to David as he showed through weeping and mourning [2 Samuel 18:33]: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”
Meaning of Forgiveness
The promises of human punishment that Prophet Nathan pronounced on David were fulfilled despite David being forgiven of his sins. This experience appears to suggest a difference between the human consequence and eternal punishment for sin. God may forgive the eternal punishment but still allow some or all of the human consequence, maybe to enhance our understanding of how our sins may impact other human beings.
Suffering through the human consequences of his sin likely helped David to better understand the bitterness that his actions brought to others. More important, we are able to understand that sin has consequences even if we are forgiven. If you usurp ownership of another’s possession, eternal forgiveness of your sin may not absolve you from the earthly consequences. Also, if you seduce another into committing sin (such as adultery), eternal forgiveness of your sin may not absolve you from the earthly consequences.
David learned the hard way but we now have opportunities to benefit from his experience: focus on positive human interactions and stay away from sin.
Summary of What We LearnedThe human consequence of sin differs from the eternal punishment. God may forgive the eternal punishment but still allow some or all of the human consequence.
King David had an illicit interaction with Bathsheba, wife of a soldier under his authority. He tried unsuccessfully to conceal the affair through her husband, ordered him killed in desperation, and re-married his wife thereafter. Prophet Nathan confronted David about the affair, pronounced his punishment, but also announced he had been forgiven because he repented. However, the promise of punishment appeared fulfilled despite forgiveness.