Key Theme: Repentance
[Core Gospel Concepts: Repentance, Sin, ]
One day in the springtime when normally kings would go off to war, David was walking on the roof of his palace in Jerusalem when he saw a beautiful young woman taking a bath. Her name was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was in David’s army off at war. David told his servants, “Go get her for me.” So Bathsheba was brought to the palace and David slept with her. A little later she sent the king a message: “I’m going to have your baby.”
So David told Joab, his army commander, to send Uriah home, thinking Uriah would sleep with his wife. But Uriah didn’t because he felt it was wrong to be with his wife when all of his friends were at war. So David told Joab in a letter to put Uriah where the fighting was heaviest and then pull back the rest of the troops so he would be killed. Joab did as David commanded him and Uriah died.
Then David married Bathsheba right away so when she had the baby, no one except David, Bathsheba, and Joab knew what really happened. But God knew and he was displeased.
Then the prophet Nathan went to David and told him a story. He said:
“Two men lived in a town; one was rich and the other one was poor. The rich man had huge flocks but the poor man just had one little lamb. And it was so precious to him that he couldn’t think of eating or selling it. It was a pet, but it was like a daughter to him and his family.
“One day the rich man had a visitor from out of town. But instead of taking one of his own sheep, he stole this poor man’s pet and killed it and served it for dinner.”
David was furious. “The man who did this deserves to die!” he said.
Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man. God says, ‘I anointed you king of Israel and delivered you from Saul and I gave you his kingdom. If that weren’t enough, I’d have given you twice as much. So why did you do this evil thing, killing Uriah and stealing his wife? Because of this, your own family will bring disaster and shame on you. And the child will die, too.”
When he heard this, David didn’t try to hide anymore. He just said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” He also wrote a prayer of repentance in Psalm 51.
Even though David repented and God forgave him, and despite God calling David “a man after his own heart,” Nathan’s prophecy still came true.
The child did die and some of David’s other children brought him a lot of grief. But soon Bathsheba had another son they named Solomon, and God loved him.
Optional Memory Verse: Mark 1:15 –“. . . the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the Good News!” ● Colossians 2:6,7 - “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord [i.e. through repentance and faith in Jesus], continue to live in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”