2 Samuel 12:1-31 and Psalm 51:1-19 Bible Study Notes

Bible Study Notes - 2 Samuel 12:1-31 &

Psalm 51:1-19

What do you do when you stand to lose everything that you have spent a quarter of a century amassing?  How do respond to severe allegations that declare you fundamentally lack integrity?  Recently, a rather prominent African American pastor was charged in a civil complaint for abusing his position as a mentor and spiritual leader, engaging in questionable sexual acts, committing infidelity, and using church resources, financial and otherwise, to perpetrate this thorough and longstanding immoral behavior.  Should he be found guilty of these charges, he stands to lose the pastorate of a church that claims 25,000 members, forty ministries and an abundance of financial, real estate and geographical assets.  The question remains as to what would be a proper response to these accusations?  The courts of American civil and criminal justice and public opinion offer competing strategies for fighting such powerful allegations and triumphing over them.  However, as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we ask “What is a biblically defined and derived response that honors and glorifies the Lord?”

The experience of King David and God’s merciful and gracious responses to David’s personal and moral failures in the two previous biblical passages offer the reassurance that Almighty God can redeem any situation.  Simply stated, David’s actions in 2 Samuel 11 are quite despicable; they rightly deserve and receive divine judgment.  In the following chapter, Nathan, the prophet, confronts David about his web of deception that results in the murder of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba.  Startlingly, David acknowledges that he sinned against the Lord.  He then seeks God’s mercy and grace.  What does David’s example teach us?  Can we find wisdom for responding to the aftermath when we fail life’s most difficult tests of character, principles and integrity?  Consider the following ideas and questions as you study the passage.

• In the first verse, note that the Lord send Nathan to David.  Hebrews 4:13 says that nothing in creation is hidden from the Lord.  In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus says that anything that is done in the dark will be exposed in the light.  Also, the twelfth chapter of Hebrews insists that God disciplines those persons whom He loves.  What is the object of discipline?
• Let’s analyze Nathan’s use of a story, actually a parable, to relay the moral lesson and rebuke to David in verses two through four.
• In the fifth and sixth verses, David displays incredible righteous indignation about the unfavorable, merciless man in the story that Nathan tells.  What prevents David from realizing that Nathan is speaking about David?  What enables David to feel morally superior to the man in the story?
• I n verses seven to ten, Nathan recounts in detail the Lord’s bountiful blessings and steadfast faithfulness to David and he details the scandal that David perpetrates as if no one knows. 
• In verses eleven and twelve, Nathan pronounces the Lord’s judgment upon David and his household.  Is it too harsh?  What about the undeserving people who will be harmed as a result of David’s action?  The fifteenth through the nineteenth chapters of Second Samuel dramatically portray the judgment of Almighty God upon the household of David as Absalom challenges his father for the throne of Israel.
• In verse thirteen, David simply and perhaps humbly replies to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”  Imagine this conversation.  What prevented David from offering the prophet a reward in exchange for endorsing and extending the cover-up?  What leads David to confess straightforwardly without seeking to protect what he stood to lose?
• In the second part of verse thirteen, Nathan assures David, “The Lord has taken away your sin.  You are not going to die.”  Let’s discuss the instantaneous nature of God’s forgiveness.  How could the Lord immediately forgive David of reprehensible deeds?  When does God forgive us of our sins?  See 1 John 1:9.
• Verse fourteen reveals that David’s severe punishment of the death of the first son born to him and Bathsheba arises from the utter contempt that the enemies of the Lord and Israel will demonstrate once they learn of the conspiracy.  What can we glean from this verse as it relates to how Christians can bring reproach upon the Lord through our repeated moral and personal failures?
• Verses fifteen to twenty-three record the story of David’s personal pleadings with God for mercy toward his baby.  Is it fair that the baby should die?  Consider the affect upon Bathsheba of the loss of this child?   Like David’s servants, I find it puzzling that he would arise, bath and eat after the death of the baby.  How do you explain David’s strange actions?  What is the meaning of David’s words in verse twenty-three, “Can I bring him back again?  I will go to him, but he will not return to me?”
• The twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth verses reflect the grace and redemption of Almighty God in that Solomon is born to David and Bathsheba.  Let’s discuss the redemptive nature of God in the midst of personal crises.

Biblical scholarship holds that David writes Psalm 51 in response to the adulterous incident with Bathsheba and God’s overwhelming forgiveness and indescribable grace.  Consider the following thoughts as you study the psalm.

• David appeals for divine mercy in accordance with God’s “unfailing love.”  The Hebrew word, hesed, means an unconditionally loyal love which withstands any situation particularly the dastardly deeds of David’s adultery with Bathsheba and murderous plot of her husband, Uriah.
• He further requests spiritual cleansing similar to baptism in that he wants God to wash all of his sins away.
• In the third verse, David respectfully accepts responsibility for his actions.
• In the fourth verse, David states boldly, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.”  Should David consider that he sinned against others?  What about Uriah?  What about the infant son who dies after the Lord strikes him?
• The revelation of David’s sin justifies the laws and teachings of God.
• The sixth verse alludes to the necessity of honesty and integrity within one’s character as it relates to genuine spirituality.
• Verses seven through nine contain very poetic images of cleansing after repentance.  Let’s consider these rich metaphors.
• Verses ten through twelve are the heart and soul of David’s appeal to the Lord.  David desires a new heart and a steadfast spirit to enable him to persevere in faithful adherence to the laws of God.  He begs for reassurance that God will not abolish David from God’s presence or remove the Holy Spirit from David.  Were that to occur, David would assuredly have no chance of living in holiness.  Then, there are the immortal words of the twelfth verse.  Let’s recite them as we dissect them.