David and Bathsheba, a very famous passage involving the sin of one of the Bible's most Godly men. When we step back from the impulse to simply judge David because he committed "such a great sin", we need to remember how powerful he was, how much temptation he would have been under constantly and we remind ourselves that we all have a weakness in one or more areas. Perhaps we are weak with money or the lust for power or attraction to women generally or specifically?
We do see in detail however the way that sin plays out in our lives. Right from the outset, the passage tells us that David should have been out at war but he stayed at home, "the devil finds work for idle hands"! Then, was the initial temptation when David sees Bathsheba. At this point, he could have averted his eyes and walked away but the temptation leads to curiosity and he asked his servants to find out who she was. When he found out she was married, he definitely should have backed off but he sleeps with her straight away and she becomes pregnant. He has now crossed a line and as is so common when we do wrong, we are slow to make ourselves right and spend more effort trying to cover it up. Despite his best efforts to try and get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba so everyone can think the baby was his, it doesn't work and again, rather than David coming clean, he decides to take the ultimate step in what he thinks will put paid to the sin - he arranges for Uriah to be killed which would release Bathsheba from her marriage and allow her to marry David. Of course, he thinks he has gotten away with it until the prophet Nathan comes and passes judgement on what David has done at which point the full effect of his sin is made known and the son born to Bathsheba dies. Interestingly, Bathsheba is also the mother of Solomon who we read later on has the opportunity to build the Temple and is very much a man after God's heart so we should still be gobsmacked at how God has not only forgiven David his massive sin, but also makes things alright again.
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