Thursday, February 15, 2007

God's judgment for David's sin

2 Samuel 12:7-15, 18a Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'

"This is what the LORD says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.' "

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.

On the seventh day the child died.


PERSONAL COMMENTARY

How did God judge David for his sin?

1) He will take David's wives and give them to a close friend who will then have sex with them in broad daylight where David could see.
2) He struck David's baby with a sickness, killing the baby.

Why are the wives and the baby sharing in the penalty here?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Because that was God's punishment...?

Anonymous said...

Isn't God a just God? Why would he punish David's wife and baby for his sins? Either God is unjust or the author of this book didn't get it right.

Anonymous said...

God's justice was to punish David by taking away his wives and his firstborn. It is what it is. We don't have the whys, and why should we need them?

"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us" (Dt.29:29). The Gospel is called "that which may be known of God" (Rom.1:19), implying there is much else that cannot yet be known. There are certain true principles which we can clearly see in God's word; and there are many other facets of God's character which these lead on to. But there are countless other "secret things" about God's ways, to which we have no access in this life.

This whole "How could a loving God do a thing like THAT??" is such a weird argument. It's as if people think God owes His creation something, like an explanation. :)

Anonymous said...

Tiny Tim,

Your view that God is God and he can do as he wishes is valid. However, as I pointed out above it has to do with justice.

In my opinion, if Christians said that God does what he wishes (murders and condones genocide, allows rapes, kills babies, etc.) however that's irrelevant because he is God and can do what he wishes, that would be perfectly fine.

However, to sell him as a compassionate, loving, Father in heaven who is watching over us and also say that he did all these things that this blog seems to be highlighting, is a bit deceptive.

-l

Roopster said...

Lenny,

That's exactly the topic of discussion that I hope this blog will facilitate.

Paul

Jason said...

Lenny,

If God can do as he wishes, then how can we question His sense of "justice"? Isn't that a contradiction?

From what I've read so far, no one's said God is nothing but love and compassion. Scripture clearly tells us that God is loving but also that He can be provoked to wrath and anger.

So no one's arguing the fact that God killed people in the OT. However, what seems to be going on here though is an attempt to sell God as an eternally angry deity who gets kicks out of killing babies and virgins. I would consider this to be a bit deceptive.

Roopster said...

Jason,

Let's not forget Ananias and his wife Sapphira who were killed under the new covenant.

BTW, I do not believe God is an "eternally angry deity who gets kicks out of killing babies and virgins." That's the point of this blog. I believe that the Bible, at times, falsely represents God's character.

However, I don't claim to be right... hence these discussions.

Jason said...

It's never been said that people stopped being killed with the introduction of the new covenant. Lying and blaspheming the Holy Spirit are gross sins, this has never changed.

Anonymous said...

Hi

From what I can see of THIS particular discussion... the bottom line is this:

Tiny Tim says God is just and He punished David.

Lenny doesn't like it.

Jason doesn't like it either, but wants to be proven wrong.

There's nothing to prove wrong. God punished David. David spent years and years in the cave seeking intimacy with God and wanting to be the apple of God's eye... and then David makes a big mistake and brings shame onto God (I imagine) and God punishes David.

No one likes to be punished. I don't. You don't. David didn't.

The problem with THIS post and discussion is that no one is counter-balancing the argument with the opposite. No one is complaining that God blessed David or God helped David.

It's just plucking one "justice" scripture and ignoring many other "grace and loving" scriptures.

Sure there are 200 justice scriptures and if you only read those, you'll get a sad/bad view of God.

But what if you spent some time reading the love scriptures and the grace ones and beauty ones - and so on. What would you impression be then?

What if you read BOTH... my guess is you'd come to a balanced view of God. He is Someone to be *both*... feared (for what He can do) and loved (because He spends MOST of His time loving us!).

If this blog had more posts that focus on the WHOLE bible picture, I think it would help way more people.

God bless,
Mark.