David's Darkest Hour (2)
Notes
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I. Indirect vs. Direct confrontation
I. Indirect vs. Direct confrontation
Notice the courage it must have took for Nathan to obey God.
Nathan takes the indirect approach. His parable isn’t intended to make a logical point, but to tug on the heartstrings. It is meant to stir sympathy, sympathy that David ought to have had but cared more about his own image than the life of a man he was responsible to protect. The story is also meant to be different enough from the situation that David wouldn’t identify himself in the story until later, but similar enough that David will get the point when the trap is sprung.
Compare with Daniel’s appeal to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4:19-27
Jesus also takes the indirect approach Luke 7:36-50
the direct approach isn’t wrong - God takes it with Cain Gen 4:6; Samuel takes it with Saul 1 Samuel 15; Paul takes the direct approach with the church at Corinth and the Galatian churches. Which is appropriate depends on the situation, so it therefore requires wisdom (but see Genesis 3:9). Notice that all the examples above are from an established authority, whereas Nathan and Daniel are both under the authority they criticize, and Jesus is a guest in the house of the man he gives that mild rebuke.
Galatians 6:1; Matt 18:15
II. Justice vs. Emotional Damages
II. Justice vs. Emotional Damages
David’s response is emotional - death is not an appropriate punishment for killing a lamb, because the law isn’t about just emotionally reacting, it must be about impartial justice. David’s first response, in effect, is to inflict enormous emotional damages on the rich man.
David’s second response is obviously a second thought. It is very difficult to restore a lamb when you’re dead. David’s second thought is accurate, a fair and impartial judgment of the case he believes he is deciding. Exodus 22:1. Exodus 22 has multiple penalties for different degrees of theft. An ox = 5x; If the sheep/ox is still alive, then double; if any other item, double. If the item is accidentally broken, then there is no restitution.
“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
In other words, animals are not as valuable as people, so a human life cannot be traded for an animal’s life, even if that animal is a favored pet. But God does believe in private property, and demands that people’s property be protected. Larger thefts have bigger penalties, and more egregious thefts have bigger penalties. Accidental loss, even if it is as big as a deliberate one, is not wrong and doesn’t carry penalty. That means it’s primarily about the intent, and less about the actual loss. Killing a stolen sheep is a really careless disregard for someone’s property, for there’s now no possibility for the owner to recover the loss. that’s why it carries almost the highest penalty for theft under the law.
Thus, the law of God knows nothing about “emotional damages” that our law sometimes permits. Restitution of lost items isn’t about making the owner happy again; it’s about punishing the thief and making him restore in accordance with objectively measurable standards of the degree of evil to his actions. According to www.torhoerman.com, the website of a law firm, emotional damages for injuries usually amount to 2-5x the total cost of medical bills and lost wages.
III. Chastening vs. Punishment
III. Chastening vs. Punishment
The consequences for David’s actions
The Sword will never depart from your home (during your lifetime), because you killed Uriah with the sword of the Ammonites. Probably had not a little to do with the reality that his children lost all respect for him after this, except for those who hadn’t been born yet.
Ammon raped Tamar 2 Sam 13:1-22
Absalom murdered Ammon 2 Sam 13:23-33
Absalom started a revolt that nearly killed David 2 Sam 15-18
Adonijah also started a revolt, when David was too old to fight back.1 Kings 1
Someone from your own house will lie with (some) of your wives publically, because you lay with Uriah’s wife privately. Fits with the Biblical idea that justice mean suffering more pain than you inflicted. Fulfilled 2 Samuel 16:20-23.
Bathsheba’s first child will die. (More on that later).
Nathan specifically states that David’s sin is removed, after having laid down very painful consequences.
Forgiveness means that the sin is gone, there is no condemnation Rom 8:1; Ps 103:12; Isa 1:18
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
It is often described that God forgives but doesn’t remove the consequences. This is true, but doesn’t go far enough. God built these consequences into the universe. They aren’t just floating out there independent of God’s will.
God has two roles - Judge and Father
As judge God can and does postpone full punishment, but he does not and cannot fail to recompense the full measure of your guilt.
David’s sin has only one stated punishment in the law - death
For adultery Lev 20:10
‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
For murder Gen 9:6
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
All sin is mortal, for all sin is an offense against a holy God.
The punishment must either fully be paid or fully absolved.
As father, God can and does require consequences for his children’s misbehavior. Those consequences can be quite severe, however, they are for a very different purpose than God’s punishment as judge.
God promised to do this in the Davidic covenant 2 Samuel 7:14-15
I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
God promised to do this for Israel Jer 31:35-37; Deut 30:1-4
Thus says the Lord, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lord of hosts is His name):
“If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.”
Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.
“Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you,
and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,
that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you.
If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.
God promises to do this for us. Heb 12:5-11
And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.”
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?
For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
IV. Repentance vs. Remorse
IV. Repentance vs. Remorse
Comparison between different people who were confronted by God
Cain Gen 4:9-13
Saul 1 Sam 15:24-25
David Ps 51
No mention again of lessening the consequences
Does ask for restoration of full fellowship
Asks for forgiveness
Asks for sanctification
Acknowledges that we sin because we are sinners
Defining repentance