A man and his wife were arguing. “It’s just not right”, the wife said. “You don’t like anybody in my family!” “That’s not true,” replied the husband. “I like your mother-in-law much better than my mother-in-law.”
David’s son, Amnon, became infatuated with his half-sister Tamar. He tricked her and then raped her. In spite of this terrible crime, David was unable to bring himself to punish his oldest son–– “because he loved him”––classic enabling behavior.
If David, a sinful human like us, laments loudly the killing of his rebel son, then the death of Jesus, who obeys the will of God, brings grief past imagining to the heart of his father. The Father accepts this grief even as the Son accepts his death. They do so freely. Love is the motive.
How is it that someone so good, someone who claimed to love God, became so bad. Some would label David a hypocrite – and they would be right. And God wasn’t happy with what David had done. Neither is God happy with our sins.
King David had one defining moment. Today I want to ask, “What exactly was his defining moment?” For many people, the defining moment was his act of adultery. For those who study the passage more carefully, his defining moment was his repentance.
David denies nothing. He says to Nathan, “I have sinned before the Lord.” A conniving sinner, David becomes an honest penitent. Nathan is the midwife at the second birth of this king. It can be helpful to have someone like Nathan in your life.
For several months, I have been doing battle with a pesky spider. The image of a spider’s web is appropriate for this sermon on David’s famous sin. For David, one sin led to a web of deceit and sin, and it created a web of impact that lasted for generations.
David could have been a gentleman and turned away. But boys will be boys, even boys in high places. “Let’s check this out! Who might this lovely be?” The answer comes back: this is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
No enemies threaten David. Life is going well. One afternoon over cocktails, he talks with Nathan the prophet. David has a great place to live––a palace. God has nothing comparable. David decides to build God a temple.
Today’s passage uses the word “house” seven times. It uses "house" in three ways. First, it means “palace.” Second, it means “temple.” Finally, it means “dynasty,” when God speaks of the “house” that God will build for David.