2 Samuel 11:1

THE BAD DAYS OF DAVID'S REIGN

(2 Samuel 11-20)

These chapters relate David's sins and God's punishment of them. Willis classified the events of these chapters as follows:

(1)"David's adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah followed by God's judgment against David (2 Samuel 11-12);

(2) the rape of Tamar by Amnon and his murder by Absalom (2 Samuel 13);

(3) the rebellion of Absalom (2 Samuel 14-19); and

(4) the rebellion of Sheba."[1]

THE FALL OF THE MAN AFTER GOD'S OWN HEART

Up until this chapter, the sacred narrative has been one unbroken account of the successes and honors of David the king of Israel, but beginning with the episode related in this chapter, there follows a long and tragic record of the lustful sin that displeased the Lord and resulted in a series of the most grievous divine punishments as a consequence.

It is true, of course, that David was called a "man after God's own heart," but there is no mention of that, as far as we are able to determine, after the shameful events of this chapter. There was never a sinless person on this earth, save only the Lord Jesus Christ; and the signal honors bestowed upon David by God Himself were never intended as any kind of suggestion that David's life would not be blemished by sins, as in the case of all the other sinful mortals who ever lived.

In the days of his youthful innocence, David was no doubt entitled to the praise which is heaped upon his name in the Word of God; and, in addition to that, David never failed to repent of his sins when they were exposed, always asking and receiving the forgiveness of God. Furthermore, he never, for a moment, failed to acknowledge the One True God of Israel.

In God's eternal plan of redemption for Adam's sinful race, David occupied a key position as God's chosen founder of that dynasty which, in the fullness of time, would legally convey the title, "King of Israel" to Him alone, who, of all who ever lived, was justly so named. The conveyance of that title came through the descendants of Bathsheba and her son Solomon; significantly, that title of Jesus Christ was inscribed by Pilate upon the Cross itself! but there was something else.

David was also the literal and fleshly ancestor of the blessed Messiah through his son Nathan who stands in the ancestry of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Thus, in a double sense, the Messiah was truly the "son of David" (Matthew 1:1), his legal son through Joseph from whom he inherited the kingship, and his actual son through "Nathan the son of David the son of Jesse" (Luke 3:31).

Great indeed as were the honors and privileges heaped upon David by God Himself, the Lord did not, in any sense, diminish or temper the punishments poured out upon David as a consequence of his sins. David was the man after God's own heart in that God foreknew his unwavering faith in the One True God and that there was also in him the ability to found the Kingdom of Israel that stands in the Scriptures as a forerunner and type of the Kingdom of God, which is the True Israel.

DAVID REMAINS AT HOME IN JERUSALEM

"In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem."

"Israel's great victory at Medeba took place in the autumn; but with winter coming on, Joab returned to Jerusalem,"[2] no doubt intending to renew the siege of Rabbah in the spring. However, circumstances delayed that enterprise for a full year, during which Hadadezer and all of his allies were defeated and subjected to David; thus it was the following spring that found Joab renewing his siege against Rabbah; but this time David remained in Jerusalem, confident that Joab alone would be able to handle the subjugation of Rabbah. This verse is included here to set the stage for the tragedy that followed. Instead of being with his soldiers in the field of battle, David remained at ease in his capital.

"In the spring ... when kings go forth to battle" (2 Samuel 11:1). It would have been well for David if indeed he had gone forth to battle as kings were supposed to do; but as Payne put it, "There is dramatic irony in this verse, because this is precisely what David did not do."[3] He remained at ease in Zion where temptations overwhelmed him.