5 th August: 11 th Sunday after Pentecost: 2 Samuel 11.26–12.13a;Psalm 51.1–12

“You are the man!”

David, whose very name means ‘beloved’ in Hebrew, is perhaps one of the most well-known and beloved biblical figures. David was the King of Israel in the 10^th century bc, yet even after Israel was divided, the southern kingdom, Judah, continued to be referred to as the house of David centuries after David’s rule. ¹ David remains a prominent figure even in modern times: in the West, David was the most popular boy’s name during the 1950s and 1960s and remains popular even today.

Through the prophet Nathan, God announced an unconditional covenant with David: ‘your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever’ (2 Sam 7:16). This accounts for much of David’s prominence in Hebrew scriptures and modern times. However, despite his ongoing legacy, David was not faultless in his actions before God. One of his greatest wrongs was committing adultery with the wife of Uriah the Hittite and plotting Uriah’s death in battle.

David’s transgressions, including his adultery with Bathsheba and subsequent murder of Uriah, seem to show an entirely different person from the great king beloved by God and His people. Unable to control his lust, David had relations with Bathsheba. When she became pregnant, he sought to hide his sin by summoning her husband Uriah, a member of the army, to sleep with her. When his efforts failed, he sent Uriah into battle as the vanguard, known to be the most dangerous position. Sure enough, Uriah fell in battle, leaving David free to marry Bathsheba.

One of our readings from the Bible today (2 Samuel 11:26–12:13a) recounts God’s judgment of David after this incident. Ironically, it is the prophet Nathan, the same prophet who announced God’s everlasting covenant with David, who returned to pronounce God’s judgment on David. It is worth comparing his two messages: the one we hear in today’s reading and the one of covenant passed on in 2 Samuel 7. Both include reminders to David that God elevated him, from a lowly shepherd to the king of Israel (cf. 7:8b–9, 12:7b–8). However, in Nathan’s first message God declares that the house of David ‘shall be made sure forever’ (7:16a). This time God asserts that David’s house will be filled with trouble and the sword (12:10-11) due to David’s sin.

God does not disavow his covenant with David in this later pronouncement. Like a father who punishes his disobedient son, God’s discipline does not sever the relationship. God, who takes David as His son (7:14), forgives David and spares his life after David admits that ‘I have sinned against the Lord’ (12:13). However, God’s forgiveness does not mean there is no judgment of David. God’s justice means that a king who ‘despised the word of the Lord’ (12:9) must be punished, even if that said king is the great David. Therefore, David is disciplined ‘with a rod such as mortals use, with blows inflicted by human beings’ (7:14). When Bathsheba, Uriah’s former wife, bears David’s child, God takes the child’s life. David survives, ensuring the house of David lives on, but the life of the child, the result of David’s adultery, is forfeit for his sins.

It may be hard to reconcile this sinful man with the paragon of faith we often assume David to be. If David’s actions were so evil, what then can Christians take from him today about living a faithful life? For one, despite David’s evil actions, he knew how to genuinely repent.

Psalm 51 may offer us insight into David’s true repentance. The poet’s confession is very similar to Nathan’s indictment of David when he asks, ‘Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in His sight?’ (12:9) and to David’s confession that ‘I have sinned against the Lord’ (12:13). Therefore, it is no surprise that Psalm 51 is titled, ‘A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.’ The audiences of this poem could recall David’s long-bygone sins while confessing their own before God, as David did.

The petitioner in Psalm 51 is all too aware of his own sin. ‘For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me’, (Ps 51:3) he writes. This is the beginning of repentance: acknowledging sin. The author of the poem then confesses, ‘Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight’ (Ps 51:4). Here, the phrase ‘you alone’ does not imply he did not sin against other people. Rather, it reflects the notion that his evil deeds against other people are also transgressions against God. ²

One of the key words in this poem is bārā’, a Hebrew word meaning ‘create’. This word refers to God’s act of creation and is a verb for which only God can be the subject. The poet prays, ‘Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me’ (Ps 51:10). We cannot become free from sin through human efforts alone; only God can create a clean heart. According the psalm, this also creates a new and right spirit that sets us free from the yoke of sin, that we may relish the joy of salvation granted by God (Ps 51:12).

Let us now return to Nathan’s message to David. While listening to the tale of a rich man and a poor man, David gradually becomes sympathetic toward the poor man, who was robbed of his cherished ewe. He rages against the rich man, who took the ewe, and declares, ‘As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die’ (12:5). David pretends to be a virtuous man who brings justice on the side of the weak. Nathan shatters this illusion, however, by declaring, ‘You are the man!’ Indeed! The sin of oppressing the weak had been committed by none other than David himself.

We often castigate the evil deeds of others, exclaiming that they should be punished according to God’s justice. We seek to distinguish ourselves from such evil people while amassing our own virtue, much like the Pharisee who prayed, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector’ (Luke 18:11). We perhaps listen to the tale of David’s evil deeds and comfort ourselves: ‘I haven’t done anything as evil as that.’ However, true faith and repentance begin by realizing that we, not others, are the sinners. Realizing this is the starting point for Christian faith, which kindles the experience of God’s blessings in his forgiveness of our sins and the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.