The greatest king Israel ever had was David, the son of Jesse and an insignificant shepherd boy divinely chosen to replace wicked King Saul. He was both a warrior who defeated Israel’s greatest enemies and a worshipper who penned Israel’s greatest poetry.

Second Samuel 11–12 describes the beginning of the darkest era of David’s life. In the early years of his reign, David honored God; but in a moment of weakness, he took four fatal steps that began a gradual and devastating spiritual decline. Yet out of the ashes of David’s sin, an amazing demonstration of God’s grace arose.

Step 1: Complacency

“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem” (2 Sam. 11:1).

David was about 50 years old, well into his career as Israel’s king. For nearly 20 years he had ruled with integrity, and God had blessed his leadership over the chosen nation.

Now, with his army in supreme condition and the kingdom well established, David chose ease, staying in Jerusalem as his army and the kings went to battle. His first step into decline was relaxation from the spiritual intensity that had characterized his life for so many years.

Step 2: Indulgence

“It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful” (2 Sam. 11:2).

Why was David arising from his couch “late one afternoon”? It seems that this king had been sleeping all day!

Once an alert soldier dwelling in the rugged terrain of Judea, David now was soft, sleeping while others labored. With idleness in his heart, he strolled the rooftop, where he easily observed the city’s evening activity, saw a beautiful woman bathing ... and did not look away.

Step 3: Adultery

The pattern of lust had already begun; 2 Samuel 5:12-13 describes how David had increased his harem, disregarding the statutes of Deuteronomy 17. Chuck Swindoll notes,

As David’s harem grew, so did his lust. Brick by falling brick, the wall of his integrity was crumbled by the crashing waves of passion.... One look at this beautiful woman and David’s lust was enflamed.... As David gazed upon the woman, he forgot about his devotion to God. Instead of fleeing his lusts, he sought to fulfill them.[1]

Accustomed to fulfilling his every sexual desire, David now drew no limits—even with another man’s wife.

David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” (2 Sam. 11:3).

Adultery was simply the overt outworking of David’s lust. “She came to him, and he lay with her” (2 Sam. 11:4).

Step 4: Cover-up

“The woman conceived, and she sent and told David, ‘I am pregnant’” (2 Sam.11:5). The unexpected news of Bathsheba’s pregnancy should have moved David to immediate repentance; instead, he began to plot and plan to cover his sin.

Appearing to inquire about military matters, David sent for Uriah and then sent him home with food, hoping the soldier would seize the opportunity to enjoy his wife. Conscious of his obligations as a soldier, however, Uriah refused and slept at the door of the king’s house.

David next resorted to getting him drunk, but Uriah still wouldn’t go home.

Step 5: Murder

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die” (2 Sam. 11:14-15).

David now took the final, dreadful step of plotting Uriah’s murder. The once-righteous king sent his loyal soldier back to the battle with his own death warrant in hand. Joab carried out David’s orders, and Uriah was slain.

Bathsheba mourned, but soon after, she became David’s wife and bore a son. David thought his sin was hidden, but the last sentence of the chapter is telling: “But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” God knew!

Chapter 12 begins with Nathan’s parable. David, not catching the story’s meaning, self-righteously condemned the man in the story, only to hear Nathan’s verdict: “You are the man!” (2 Sam. 12:7).

God’s judgment was now pronounced on David, and the devastating, far-reaching consequences of his sin began to unfold.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die” (2 Sam. 12:11-14).

Finally, David brokenly confessed his sin against the Lord. Unlike his stubborn predecessor, King Saul, David didn’t defend himself, rationalize, or seek honor before the people.

In this moment of truth, David came to himself. His greatest grief was how he had wounded God’s honor. In spite of David’s great sin, God’s grace shone through in Nathan’s words: “The Lord also has put away your sin.”

From this tragic story emerge three lessons about sin and grace.

1.         Small compromises have severe consequences.

The whole scenario began with David letting down his moral guard—sleeping when he should have been working, gazing when he should have been averting his eyes. His small choices culminated in great sins with devastating results.

We should be wary of small compromises with sin. Unchecked lust could lead to years of bondage, a ruined marriage, a shamed family, a grieved church, and a blasphemed God. If you don’t blow out the matches of temptation, you will find yourself engulfed in a bonfire of depravity.

2.         God is more concerned with the heart of the sinner than the severity of the sin.

From our perspective King Saul’s sin of not fully obeying God seems less offensive than David’s sins of adultery and murder. Why was Saul stripped of his kingdom while David remained the recipient of God’s blessings and promises?

The difference was in the heart. While David responded in brokenness, humility, and repentance, Saul responded in self-justification, rationalization, and stubborn defiance of God’s instruction.

3.         God’s grace outshines the greatest sins.

Although David’s sin was great, isn’t it significant that it is never mentioned in the New Testament? He was still known as a man after God’s own heart (see 1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22).

God could have ended David’s life, totally rejecting his throne, family, and dynasty; but He didn’t. God’s grace outshines the greatest sins because David’s descendant—Jesus, the Son of David—died to rescue sinners from God’s just judgment against sin.

 

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