Why Have You Despised The Commandment Of The Lord, To Do Evil In His Sight?

Why Have You Despised the Commandment of the Lord, to Do Evil in His Sight?

—2 Samuel 12:9

Moral earthquakes, like real ones, often occur when we least expect them. Both are preceded by ruptured fault lines, located below the surface, where pressure builds up, tectonic plates shift, and mass destruction results. Certainly, this was true in the infamous moral earthquake of David and Bathsheba.

It all transpired so quickly. One evening, “in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle” (2 Samuel 11:1), the idle and irresponsible king got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From there he spied a woman bathing below. This woman was very beautiful, and instead of looking away, he fastened his attention upon her. It was only a matter of time before he would take the leap from looking to lusting.

Ironically, at this moment in his life, David had reached the pinnacle of success. He was the undisputed king of Israel. He had driven out enemies who had plagued his people for years. He was not only a political success but a spiritual success as well. God referred to David as “a man after My own heart” (Acts 13:22).

It is difficult to believe that such a great man could descend from such heavenly heights to such devilish depths almost overnight. But he did. In the moment of David’s greatest God-given triumph, the beautiful Bathsheba entered his life. And then came sin . . . and even greater sin. But in the aftermath of their adulterous affair and the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, the king was fortunate enough to have a friend who held him accountable. Nathan appeared on the scene to share an apparently innocent story that ended with a powerful and penetrating question for the king: “Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight?” (2 Samuel 12:9). We can learn much about our own vulnerability to sin from David’s tragic experience with sin.

RECOGNIZE SIN’S COURSE

All human beings—all around the world and throughout all time—have one thing in common: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We don’t usually enjoy admitting it. Yet David is Exhibit A of sin’s course.

Note the downward digression sin takes in David’s case. First, he simply saw Bathsheba, and this is not sin. We can’t help but see some things. Also, it is not a sin to have thoughts pass through our minds. The problem comes when we don’t allow those thoughts to “pass through,” but instead, grab them and let them take root in our minds. Next, David coveted. He began to think about her. He inquired as to who she was—and whose she was. He deliberately began to plot out the parameters and possibilities of his seduction. His was a premeditated plan that would result in greater sin. And that greater sin followed: David took her. He brought Bathsheba to his palace and committed adultery with her. And, as though he was not deep enough in sin, David tried to hide his adultery, even to the extent of allowing her faithful husband, Uriah, to be killed in battle.

It makes no difference whether it is David, or Adam and Eve, or you or me. The course of sin is the same. It begins when we see . . . then we covet . . . next we take . . . and finally we try to hide, hoping against hope we will not be found out.

REALIZE SIN’S CURSE

David was desperate that his sin not be discovered. He tried to hide his sin with treachery, then with lies, and ultimately with the death of Bathsheba’s husband. This is the curse of sin: once we indulge, it has its own way of taking over. It begins to completely dominate our thinking and can begin to control our actions. We find ourselves constantly looking over our shoulder, wondering if we will be found out. One lie is necessary to cover another, and then another lie covers that one, and on and on it goes.

David actually thought he could sin and win. He thought he could get away with adultery, lies, and murder. But like anyone else who has gone down this road, he was wrong.

REVIEW SIN’S CONSEQUENCES

David learned that the pleasures of sin are only for a season (Hebrews 11:25). Bathsheba conceived as a result of her encounter with David, but their little boy died as an infant. What had begun in pleasure ended in pain and loss in several forms. But this was just the beginning of the heartache David would know from his own offspring. His son Amnon raped Tamar, his own sister and David’s daughter. Learning of the incest, Absalom—another of David’s sons—killed Amnon. And, as though that were not enough, Absalom later led a revolt against his own father and, during the battle, was killed by some of David’s men. Hear the grief in David’s lament: “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33).

In a moment when we might anticipate the illicit pleasures of the flesh, we somehow deceive ourselves, thinking we can satisfy our desires outside God’s will without suffering any consequences. If only we would preview the consequences of our sin that are sure to follow. Sin’s momentary pleasures are never worth the pain sin brings.

REGARD SIN’S CONVICTION

Nathan helped David realize that he had done evil in God’s eyes. David’s eyes were opened and his heart was broken. Anyone who has ever read his prayer of repentance in Psalm 51 can see the broken heart of one who has experienced the terrible consequences of sin. When confronted with Nathan’s question, “Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight?” David accepted full responsibility for his wrongdoing. In genuine remorse and repentance, David admitted to God, “Against You, You only, have I sinned” (Psalm 51:4). Then the humbled king beseeched his loving and forgiving Lord, pleading, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. . . . Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (vv. 10, 12).

David stands as an example to all of us that, by God’s grace, we can know cleansing and forgiveness for our sin.

Q & A: “Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?” Sin is always evil in God’s sight, and there is bad news and good news here. The bad news? The sin you attempt to cover, God will uncover. Just ask David. And the good news? What you uncover, God will cover. As Solomon, another of David’s sons, rightly observed, “He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).