Chapter 71—David’s Sin of Adultery and His
Repentance
This chapter is based on
2 Samuel 11
;
12
.
The Bible has little to say in praise of men. All the good qualities
men possess are the gift of God; their good deeds are performed by the
grace of God through Christ. They are but instruments in His hands.
All the lessons of Bible history teach that it is a perilous thing to praise
men, for if one comes to lose sight of his entire dependence on God,
he is sure to fall. The Bible inculcates distrust of human power and
encourages trust in divine power.
The spirit of self-exaltation prepared the way for David’s fall. Flat-
tery, power, and luxury were not without effect upon him. According
to the customs prevailing among Eastern rulers, crimes not to be tol-
erated in subjects were uncondemned in the king. All this tended to
lessen David’s sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. He began to
trust to his own wisdom and might.
As soon as Satan can separate the soul from God, he will arouse
the unholy desires of man’s carnal nature. The work of the enemy is
not, at the outset, sudden and startling. It begins in apparently small
things—neglect to rely upon God wholly, the disposition to follow the
practices of the world.
David returned to Jerusalem. The Syrians had already submitted,
and the complete overthrow of the Ammonites appeared certain. David
was surrounded by the fruits of victory and the honors of his able rule.
Now the tempter seized the opportunity to occupy his mind. In ease
and self-security, David yielded to Satan and brought upon his soul the
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stain of guilt. He, the Heaven-appointed leader of the nation, chosen
by God to execute His law, himself trampled upon its precepts. He
who should have been a terror to evildoers, by his own act strengthened
their hands.
Guilty and unrepentant, David did not ask guidance from Heaven,
but sought to extricate himself from the dangers in which sin had
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