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David’s Sin of Adultery and His Repentance
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who had come to him; but took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it
for the man who had come to him.”
The king became angry. “As the Lord lives, the man who has
done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb,
because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”
Nathan fixed his eyes on the king, then solemnly declared, “You
are the man! ... Why have you despised the commandment of the
Lord, to do evil in His sight?” The guilty may try, as David had, to
hide their crime from others, to bury the evil act forever from human
sight, but “all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom
we must give account.” (
Hebrews 4:13
).
Nathan declared: “You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the
sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed
him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the
sword shall never depart from your house. ... Behold, I will raise
up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your
wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. ... For you
did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the
sun.”
The prophet’s rebuke touched David’s heart; conscience was
awakened, and he saw how great his guilt was. With trembling lips
he said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” David had committed a
terrible sin against both Uriah and Bathsheba, but infinitely greater
was his sin against God.
David Punished for His Sin
David trembled, because he was afraid that he would be cut
down, guilty and unforgiven, by the swift judgment of God. But
the message was sent to him by the prophet, “The Lord also has put
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away your sin; you shall not die.” Yet justice must be maintained.
The sentence of death was transferred from David to the child of
his sin. Thus the king was given opportunity to repent, while the
suffering and death of the child, as a part of his punishment, was far
more bitter to him than his own death could have been.
When his child was stricken, David pleaded for its life with
fasting and deep humiliation. Night after night he lay in heartbroken
grief interceding for the innocent one suffering for his guilt. When