| A Boss After God’s Own Heart 10 / ABAGOH >>> |
|
A Boss After
God’s Own Heart (ABAGOH)– Part 10 King David condemns himself |
2 Samuel 12: 1-7 – AMP – And the LORD sent Nathan the prophet to David. He came and said to him, “There were two men in a city, one rich and the other poor. “The rich man had a very large number of flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had purchased and nourished; and it grew up together with him and his children. It ate his food, drank from his cup, it lay in his arms, and was like a daughter to him. “Now a traveler (visitor) came to the rich man, and to avoid taking one from his own flock or herd to prepare [a meal] for the traveler who had come to him, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared it for [a]his guest.” Then David’s anger burned intensely against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. He shall make restitution for the ewe lamb four times as much [as the lamb was worth], because he did this thing and had no compassion.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! (…)”
At
this point of the events, God is fed up with king David’s wicked behavior
and sends His servant, Nathan the prophet, to confront him. God is patient
and merciful, and the Bible says that His mercy endures forever. But
He is patient in the sense that He gives us the time to repent and to
amend our ways. In His mercy and goodness, God is always ready to pardon
and forgive. But when we harden our heart and shut our ears to His warnings,
He sends His judgment. And this is what happened in the case of king
David who had been chosen, appointed and anointed by God to be a model
for the children of Israel and lead them on the path of righteousness.
David went too far on the path of wickedness and stubbornly ignored
God’s call to exercise justice and righteousness. So God sends Nathan
the prophet to David with a very specific message. He starts by telling
him a simple story about two men who lived in the same city. At the
end of the story, David can easily identify who among the two men is
the wicked one deserving to be punished, and who has been abused and
deserves that justice be done. His verdict about the issue is clear.
He condemns the one who has done wrong and by so doing, indirectly condemns
himself without his knowing it. David’s prompt reaction and condemnation
of the evil that has transpired shows that he is still able to differentiate
between good and evil, and between right and wrong. His sense of righteousness
and justice was not dead, and this means that what he did with Bathsheba
and Uriah was a deliberate act of wickedness. The story that Nathan
the prophet tells David is so easy to understand that even a child can
perceive that something unjust has happened. God is full of wisdom and
He knows how to get our attention, even when we are pretending. God
has a way of confronting us with our actions and shaking up our conscience.
Let’s have a closer look at Nathan’s short but revealing story to comprehend
the gravity of David’s actions and understand how much God hates oppression
and injustice.
Once upon a time, there were two men who lived in the same city. One
of them was rich and the other one was poor. This is a reality and a
contrast that will always exist in every society until the Lord Jesus
comes back. He said in His Word that we will always have some poor people
around us that we can care for (Matthew 26:11; Mark 17:7). And as it
looks like, there will also always be a minority of rich people who
are never satisfied with what they have and are not ashamed to rob the
poor. So the rich man in Nathan’s story did not lack anything. He had
everything he needed and even had more than what he needed. He did not
have to beg his bread. He never had to worry about tomorrow because
he had more than enough to meet his daily needs. He was wealthy and
there was nothing that he could reasonably envy to anybody. Nathan said
that the rich man had a very large number of flocks and herds. It was
not just large, it was very large, so large that he could have helped
those around him who were lacking, but he did not. He wanted more, like
most of the rich people do. On the other side, the poor man had nothing,
yes nothing but one little ewe lamb, a female sheep. His entire wealth
consisted in that little ewe lamb. Notice that Nathan did not just say
a lamb, but a female sheep.
The poor man was so proud of his nice little ewe lamb. He had had to
work hard to get the money that would enable him to purchase that ewe
lamb. He was poor but he was hard working. He had managed to buy this
ewe lamb and had invested time, energy and the resources that he could
get to nourish it, take care of it when it was sick and protect it as
good as possible. The little ewe lamb was so dear to the poor man and
he loved it so much that it ate of his food, drank from his cup and
lay in his arms. His children had grown up with the nice little ewe
lamb and loved playing and running around the yard with it. It was a
source of joy and consolation for the poor man’s family. Nathan the
prophet said that the little ewe lamb was so dear to the poor man that
it was like a daughter to him. That’s how close he was to the little
pet. It was more a companion than a potential meal. Even though he was
poor, the poor man never would have killed his nice little ewe lamb
to eat it at diner because he just loved it so much. It would have been
a drama if the children had heard that their little friend had landed
in the cooking pot. No, that could and should never have happened. The
little ewe lamb was part of the family and they did not want anything
bad to happen to it.
One day, an old friend came by to pay a visit to the rich man. And because
they had not seen each other for so long, the rich man decided to make
his guest feel welcome by preparing a nice good meal. And in those days,
as it is also today, a nice good meal is not one without some good and
tender meat (for those who are not vegetarians). So everybody would
think that the rich man would pick one animal from his very large flock
to prepare for his guest. But no, he went ahead and shamelessly snatched
away the poor man’s little ewe lamb, killed it and ate it until he and
his guest were satisfied. Nobody could help the poor man or fight for
his cause because the rich man had the power. He was stronger and he
could do what he wanted. And that was the end for that poor man’s little
ewe lamb. Can you imagine how the entire family and specially the children
felt that day, when their life friend was taken away from them and killed?
They were just inconsolable. None of the family members would ever forget
that day when the rich man took their dear friend away. But there was
no way to reverse the facts and what had happened had happened. They
now had to live with that pain and frustration, and the rich man did
not care at all. He had the power.
The Bible says that David’s anger burned intensely against the rich
man, and he said to Nathan: “As the LORD lives, the man who has
done this deserves to die. He shall make restitution for the ewe lamb
four times as much as the lamb was worth, because he did this thing
and had no compassion.” And Nathan’s answer to David was: “You
are the man!” In other words, you king David deserve to die because
the evil rich man in this story is you! You did not have pity on Uriah
your faithful servant. You stole his precious wife away and got her
pregnant, and as if that was not enough, you had him killed even though
he was perfectly innocent. By condemning the rich man, you are condemning
yourself, David. How easy it is to see other people’s faults, judge
and condemn them! Jesus said in Luke 6:41-42: “Why do you look at
the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice or consider
the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother,
allow me to take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself
do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite (play actor,
pretender), first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will
see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.”
(AMP – Bible Gateway Online). David actually judged and condemned the
rich man way beyond measure. According to God’s law given to Moses (see
Exodus 21:37), the punishment of the rich man should have only been
to restore back the lamb four times its value. But David sentenced him
to death. Nathan told David that he is the one who deserves death because
he committed adultery and murder, and those sins were punishable by
death in God’s law (Leviticus 20:10; Leviticus 24:17). David did not
know that he was passing a judgment on himself, because later on, he
lost four of his sons: Bathsheba’s first son (2 Samuel 12:8), Amnon
(2 Samuel 13:28-29), Absalom (2 Samuel 16:14-15) and Adonija (1 King
2:25). God is not through with David yet, as we will see in the next
lesson. mt