The Consequences of David's Sin

I mentioned in an earlier post that I am working my way through reading the Bible. This isn't a time of study for me, but a time to read and absorb. However, I thought it might be interesting (for me, maybe not for you) to post my thoughts about whatever particular scripture during the week grabs me -- makes me think -- won't leave my mind. Now I realize that I could do some research on whatever scripture that I pick -- study it -- get some answers to my questions, but that isn't the purpose of this particular exercise. I'm a Sunday school teacher (it took me a few years to be able to say that out loud, just like that), and one of the greatest joys in teaching Sunday school is what I learn when I do it -- the study and the work that goes into it. But that's not the purpose of these posts. This is to ask questions -- not to search in resources for answers. So bear with me.

I'm currently working my way through 2 Samuel. The scripture that keeps running around in my head this week is from 2 Samuel 11-12. This is the story of David and Bathsheba. David is already king. His "general" is off fighting a battle, but David is at home. He see Bathsheba, a woman who is married to Uriah, a man in David's army. David wants her; he takes her -- without regard to Uriah at all. She gets pregnant. David tries to send Uriah home to sleep with his wife (I assume so that he will think the child is his own). When that fails, David, for all intents and purposes, has Uriah killed in battle. He then marries Bathsheba, who has their child. God is very displeased with David's actions, and sends Nathan to tell him. You've probably heard the story. Here is the scripture that has stayed with me this week:

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die." After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. (2 Samuel 12:13-17a: NIV)

One footnote: 2 Samuel 12:14 Masoretic Text; an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition this you have shown utter contempt for the LORD

Apparently, God removed David's sin, but because either the utter contempt that David showed for God or because David's actions have made the enemies of the Lord show contempt (depending of the text), God struck down the new baby and killed David and Bathsheba's first son.

I think that there is danger in examining a piece of scripture by itself, without allowing it to be part of a whole -- part of the entire biblical text. When I look at this particular scripture in the light of the whole picture of God, I am perplexed. How can a God who values even the lilies in the field, who loved even me enough to send his son to die for my sins, "strike the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and make it sick" enough to die. How can I reconcile these two images?

Is it that David was so important in God's plan for the world, and He knew that this was the only way to "make his point" that the value of the life of the child became less important? That doesn't seem right to me.

Maybe the writer of the text got it wrong. Maybe the people of the time believed the result of David's sin was God taking away his child, and it was written that way, without being correct. This seems to ring truest to me, but kind of flies in the face of "inspired scripture with no mistakes." Do I believe that the Bible is writing inspired by God? Yes, I do. Do I believe that every word is correct? I don't think that I do.

God is bigger than mere words. God can't be "captured" by humans completely and without mistake in a book. Yes, I think God reveals himself to us in the Bible, and each Sunday when the minister says, "This is the Word of God," and we respond, "Thanks be to God," I really mean it. We are human, and I don't think anything in which we are involved can be perfect, even if it is inspired by God.

We are much more likely to visit the sins of the father on the child than God is. Perhaps in our sin (in the author of 2 Samuel's sin) we believe that God killed David and Bathsheba's son as punishment for David's actions. That's the way we think, but I don't think it is the way God thinks.

Where does that leave this scripture? What can I learn from it?

• David's (and Bathsheba's) actions were sinful. Sometimes the consequences of sin are unforeseen and unpredictable.
• After the child dies, David, who had been fasting and praying for his recovery, gets up, cleans himself off, and goes to worship God. God will be there for us even when horrible things happen.
• Horrible things happen for no reason. Not everything can be explained, even though we are more comfortable with explanations.
• God is there for David after the death of his son, and David shows love to Bathsheba, even after their child dies. Love doesn't fail.

These, as the title of the blog states, are my thoughts. To quote Robin Lee Hatcher, "We see through a glass darkly. God doesn't. " Amen.