2 Samuel 9: David’s kindness to Mephibosheth. David’s good heart is seen as he wants to show “God’s kindness” to anyone still alive from the house of Saul. That is really being kind considering Saul spent 10 years trying to kill David. Jonathon’s lame son Mephibosheth was found, which I’m sure pleased David b/c of his close friendship with David. Mephibosheth spent the rest of his life eating at David’s table like one of David’s sons.

2 Samuel 10: David defeats the Ammonites and Arameans. The Ammonites humiliated David’s messengers that were sent to them by David to express sympathy for the death of their king. David then defeated the 33,000 men of the Ammonnites and hired mercenaries of the Arameans. David killed 40,000 of them.

2 Samuel 11: David and Bathsheeba. Most of us know the story of David’s sin with Bathsheeba, so no need to retell the whole story. A few observations: David broke at least 4 of the 10 commandments, two of were punishable by stoning. The 6th (not murder: David had Uriah killed on the battlefield but also several others were killed along with Uriah making David a mass murderer). The 7th (not commit adultery). The 9th (not bear false witness). He lied, deceived, and covered up his sin for a while year before Nathan came to him and condemned him. The 10th (not covet your neighbor’s wife). He deserved 4 counts of the death penalty!

2 Samuel 12: Nathan rebukes David. David already had 7 wives but he took Uriah’s only wife (aka the parable Nathan used). When Nathan confronted him with his sins, David sincerely repented and God spared him the death penalty. God forgave his sins. Stop right now and read Psalm 32 where David talked about the tole his sin had on him during the year that he hid the sin but then how God forgave him. Then read Psalm 51 where he begs for God to forgive him, to create in him a clean heart, and to restore the joy of salvation. The heading on Psalm 51 says the psalm was written after the sin with Bathsheeba. But the punishment for his sin was terrible.1) The death of his child that Bathsheeba was carrying. 2) The sword in his house: Violence and bloodshed would never depart from David’s own household (such as when Absalom killed Amnon for raping his sister). 3) Trouble and rebellion would rise against him from within his own family (such as the revolt led by his son Absalom and then his son Adonijah trying to steal the throne from Solomon when David was on his death bed). 4) His own wives would be taken and laid with in public view as a direct response to his hidden sin (In 2 Samuel 16:21–22, Absalom sleeps with ten of King David’s concubines (often referred to in related passages as his wives or women) in public on the roof of the royal palace. I must add this. I am shocked that God allowed David to keep Bathsheeba as his wife after the whole incident. He would never have been allowed to have Bathsheeba as a wife as long as Uriah lived, but after he killed Uriah, even though he was forgiven, he gets to take her as a wife. The grace of God is obvious when people repent. I have seen many marital situations where people who have divorced just have to trust in the grace of God and move on. You can’t unscramble scrambled eggs! Repent with a pure heart and sincere motive, make the best decision that you can, trust God and pray that He will accept your decision. Meanwhile, Joab and David are still fighting those Ammonites! David defeats and plunders them, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking.

Life Lesson: Even when God forgives our sins, there may be serious consequences of our sins. Bathsheeba might have been beautiful and that night of sex with her might have been scintillating, but was it worth it???? David probably asked himself that question many, many times in the years after his sin. When you face a big temptation, ask yourself, “What might be the consequences if I yield to this temptation and sin?” How is this going to affect my wife and family if I have that affair? How might one night of drugs change my whole life? What will giving in to my boyfriend’s push for sex mean for my emotional stability in the future, especially if I don’t marry him? What might happen if I lie on my resume? How might one drunk driving incident affect my life and/or the lives of others? What will losing my temper cause (my friend did 25 years in prison b/c he lost his temper and killed a man). What might cheating in college cost me if I get caught? What impact would a hasty abortion on my life? Maybe you have already committed a serious sin and have faced or are facing the consequences right now. BTW you need to counsel your friends on this life lesson. When you see a friend being tempted to drink at a party, have sex, do drugs, commit a crime, then discuss what the consequences might be. It’s bad enough that we sin against God, but thinking about consequences of sin might deter us from sinning.

Life Lesson: Another lesson might be how David responded to the death of Bathsheeba’s child. It appears that he spent 7 nights (maybe 7 nights and days) fasting, weeping, and lying in sackcloth praying that God would spare the child. When the child died, his attendants were afraid to even tell him for fear that he would do something “desperate” (like commit suicide). 12:²⁰ Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate. ²² He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ ²³ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” I’m sure David felt the guilt of his sin every night for the rest of his life, but at least he moved on from his sin. Some people find it hard to move on after some horrible experience or sin. Paul said in Philippians 3: But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Paul had imprisoned, tortured, and murdered Christians before he converted to Jesus. No doubt he lived with guilt for the rest of his life after his conversion, but he moved on and used the rest of his time on earth to serve God. This next slide is great!

2 Samuel 13: Amnon rapes Tamar. This next slide shows David’s family. Tamar was Amnon’s half-sister. Absalom and Tamar were full blooded brother and sister. That explains the hatred Absalom had for Amnon when he heard about the rape. He never said anything to Amnon, but was plotting to kill him and did kill him 2 years later. It says that David was furious when he found out about the rape of Tamar, but he did nothing. Why not? Did he feel that he was unable to discipline his sons b/c of what he had done with Bathsheeba? It is interesting that David mourned many days for the death of Amnon. Absalom fled for 3 years to Geshur so that is an indication that David was angry with Absalom for killing Amnno. But at the same time, longed to go to Absalom, for he was consoled concerning Amnon’s death. Maybe that was near the end of Absalom 3 years of exile. David is having nothing but trouble in his household just as Nathan predicted.

Life Lesson: It says, 13:¹⁵ Then Amnon hated her with intense hatred. In fact, he hated her more than he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and get out!” The truth is that he never truly loved her to begin with. It was pure lust, not love. It is hard to tell the difference between lust and love when you are single and dating. Perhaps you will have that lustful desire for someone that you are physcially attracted to. That is to be expected. But make sure that you really love them and that your potential mate really loves you. How can you determine that? You can’t be sure, but one indication is that your boyfriend never pushes you to have sex before marriage. The girl can really help by saying a firm “no”. If he can’t handle that “no”, then you don’t want to marry him anyway. This is all a much bigger life lesson for boys than girls. You don’t usually run into the situation where the girl wants to have sex and the boy doesn’t (such as with Joseph and Poliphar’s wife!) Lust wants what satisfies a boy’s lustful sexual desires, what makes him happy. Love wants what is best for your girlfriend in the long run. I read a book where the author studied hundreds of cases where the girlfriend reluctantly gave in to have sex with her boyfriend after he pushed her to have sex. Almost always, the boy dumped the girl after the sex (ever how long the sexual episodes lasted). The girls is stuck with an emotions issue that will stay with her as she loses her virginity and faces difficult memories when she eventually marries someone. He probably goes away without much guilt or bad memories. It’s a “double standard” on these issues at time, isn’t it? Advice: Avoid all situations where lust could arise to the point of sinning. Do friend dating with couples instead of solos. Guys, make yourself leave when you feel that lustful temptation coming on. Free advice and counseling!