David’s Sin and Repentance
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lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a
traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and
of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto
him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was
come to him.”
The anger of the king was roused, and he exclaimed, “As the Lord
liveth, the man that hath done this thing is worthy to die. And he shall
restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he
had no pity.”
2 Samuel 12:5, 6
, margin.
Nathan fixed his eyes upon the king; then, lifting his right hand
to heaven, he solemnly declared, “Thou art the man.” “Wherefore,”
he continued, “hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to
do evil in His sight?” The guilty may attempt, as David had done, to
conceal their crime from men; they may seek to bury the evil deed
forever from human sight or knowledge; but “all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
Hebrews
4:13
. “There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid,
that shall not be known.”
Matthew 10:26
.
Nathan declared: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed
thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul....
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do
evil in His sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and
hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of
the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword shall never depart
from thine house.... Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of
thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give
them unto thy neighbor.... For thou didst it secretly; but I will do this
thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”
[722]
The prophet’s rebuke touched the heart of David; conscience was
aroused; his guilt appeared in all its enormity. His soul was bowed
in penitence before God. With trembling lips he said, “I have sinned
against the Lord.” All wrong done to others reaches back from the
injured one to God. David had committed a grievous sin, toward both
Uriah and Bathsheba, and he keenly felt this. But infinitely greater
was his sin against God.
Though there would be found none in Israel to execute the sentence
of death upon the anointed of the Lord, David trembled, lest, guilty
and unforgiven, he should be cut down by the swift judgment of God.