2 Sam. 10-11: “David Tries To Make Peace With Ammon / Commits Adultery With Bathsheba”

By

Jim Bomkamp

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1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Samuel:

1.1.1. In chapter 8, we saw that David initiated an aggressive campaign to conquer and subdue all of his enemies within the land that the Lord had promised to Israel, His people. David was successful in that campaign and destroyed and/or subjugated all of Israel’s enemies within that promised inheritance for Israel.

1.1.2. In chapter 9, we saw that for Jonathan’s sake that David made a search for any living descendant of Saul that he might show kindness to him :

1.1.2.1. David found Mephibosheth, a son of Jonathan, and he brought him into his palace daily to eat. Plus, he restored to Mephibosheth all of the possessions that had belonged to Saul, his grandfather.

1.1.2.2. We saw that David’s dealings with Mephibosheth paint an incredible picture for us of the grace of God that He extends and has for each of us as His children.

1.2. In our study today, we are going to look at chapters 10 and 11 of 2 Samuel.

1.2.1. In chapter 10, David sends a delegation to the sons of Ammon to grieve with them over the death of their king. However, the Ammonites interpret this as a ploy to spy out their land to conquer them and they publicly humiliate those spies. David then gathers his army and goes against the Ammonites and has a great conquest of them.

1.2.2. In chapter 11, the sordid story of David committing adultery with Bathsheba is told.

1.2.2.1. We will look at what led to David’s temptation with Bathsheba.

1.2.2.2. We will seek to learn as much as we can from this story so that each of us can hopefully keep from committing such an act ourselves some day.

1.2.2.3. In the scriptures, we see that the many stories of the good as well as evil committed by the heroes of the faith gives us assurance of the validity of the word of God. None of the stories of the failures of God’s saints found in the scripture ever makes light of the sin that they committed, nor does it excuse the sinful actions. These stories are included for our instruction who throughout the ages find ourselves in similar temptations and circumstances. It is intended by the Lord that we must learn by the failures of God’s saints of the past so that we ourselves do not go and do the same ourselves.

1.2.2.4. This story becomes very disturbing and ugly as we see the man after God’s own heart stooping to the lowest level. David’s sin of adultery leads to further sin, when Bathsheba tells David that she has conceived a child as a result of their affair, and as sin leads to sin David eventually plots and carries out the murder of Bathsheba’s husband in order to cover up his sin. Because of David’s sin, not only is Bathsheba’s husband Uriah murdered by David, but also several of David’s other faithful fighting men are likewise killed.

1.2.2.5. David’s sin has grave consequences. We will see in the study next week that when Nathan the prophet eventually is called by the Lord to come and to rebuke David in 2 Sam. 11:14 that he tells David that, “he has given the enemies of the Lord great occasion to blaspheme.” Even today we find that this story of the sin of David in committing adultery causes people to stumble in their faith and sometimes even choose to turn away from the Lord. How could a man of God do such a thing?

1.2.2.6. We see in our study next week that grace eventually wins out when the Lord forgives David of his sin.

2. VS 10:1-5 - “¹ Now it happened afterwards that the king of the Ammonites died, and Hanun his son became king in his place. ² Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent some of his servants to console him concerning his father. But when David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, ³ the princes of the Ammonites said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think that David is honoring your father because he has sent consolers to you? Has David not sent his servants to you in order to search the city, to spy it out and overthrow it?” ⁴ So Hanun took David’s servants and shaved off half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle as far as their hips, and sent them away. ⁵ When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly humiliated. And the king said, “Stay at Jericho until your beards grow, and then return.”” - Upon hearing of the death of the king of the Ammonites, David determines to show kindness to the son of the king, Hanun, and sends a delegation to the Ammonites to mourn their king, as was the Oriental custom in that day

2.1. This story in chapter 10 of 2 Samuel gives us the background of how the battle against Ammon described in 2 Sam. 8:2 had come about for David and Israel.

2.2. In chapter 8 of 2 Samuel we saw how that David had come to be a world power by aggressively going out and conquering or subduing the enemies of Israel in all of the land that had been given to Abraham and his descendants as an inheritance. The Ammonites were one of the peoples conquered and subdued by David and his army in that chapter

2.3. At the outset, it might seem like our present chapter is a continuation of chapter 9 which described David going and making a search for any descendant of Saul that he might show kindness to him. Now, you might think David is extending to the Ammonites that kindness and grace that he had shown to Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. However, there are two problems with these notions :

2.3.1. The events of this chapter actually occurred before the events of chapter 9 and as David was completing his conquest and subduing of all the promised inheritance of Abraham. This battle is recorded in chapter 8 of the book.

2.3.2. This was the king of the Ammonites, one of Israel’s perennial enemies, who David is attempting to show all of this kindness to. The Lord had told the Israelites specifically that they were to show no mercy to the Ammonites.

2.3.2.1. When the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, the Ammonites had refused to meet the children of Israel, “with bread and with water in the way, whey they came forth out of the land of Egypt.” Thus, the Ammonites were forbidden to enter the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation (Deut. 23:3-4). Plus, the Lord had told the children of Israel to do the following with them in Deut. 23:6, “⁶ “You shall never seek their peace or their prosperity all your days.”

2.3.2.2. If you look further back in Samuel, you will see that this very man whom David now is supposedly mourning for is the same wicked king who in 1 Sam. 11:1,2 had told the people of the city of Jabesh-gilead that he would make a covenant with them if he could first gouge out all of their right eyes, “² But Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “I will make it with you on this condition, that I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you, thus I will make it a reproach on all Israel.””

2.4. So, why then did David seek at this point in time to show kindness to the Ammonites at the death of their king? I propose that he did so because he wanted to form a political alliance with them because now being at the end of his long campaign to conquer and subdue all of his enemies he was tired of the constant struggle that he had been going through, tired of warfare, tired of conflict, tired of being away from home, and yes tired of being zealous for the Lord.

2.4.1. It had been several years that David had been continually fighting the enemies of the Lord in the land of promise. In fact, we saw in our last study concerning Mephibosheth, when David sought to show kindness and grace to Mephibosheth, that Mephibosheth was at that time a young man. When king Saul had first been killed and David was made king, Mephibosheth was only 5 years old. Much time had passed for David, many trials had been endured, and much war had been fought.

2.4.2. We saw earlier in the study of 1 Samuel how that David had gotten tired of the endless trials of constantly running from King Saul who was hunting him like an animal to kill him and that for that reason he had taken his mighty fighting men and gone and lived among the Philistines and even served the Philistine king. David is making the same mistake again you see, this time with the Ammonites. Again, David is trying to circumvent his trials and tribulations by compromise.

2.5. We Christians must learn the lesson that though we too can choose to remove ourselves from under the chastening hand of the Lord in our life, thus short-circuiting the hand of the Lord conforming our character, that the consequences of doing this are great. We will see in the next chapter that this same compromising attitude actually leads to David’s committing adultery with Bathsheba.

3. VS 10:6-19 - “⁶ Now when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and the Arameans of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and the men of Tob with 12,000 men. ⁷ When David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army, the mighty men. ⁸ The sons of Ammon came out and drew up in battle array at the entrance of the city, while the Arameans of Zobah and of Rehob and the men of Tob and Maacah were by themselves in the field. ⁹ Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and in the rear, he selected from all the choice men of Israel, and arrayed them against the Arameans. ¹⁰ But the remainder of the people he placed in the hand of Abishai his brother, and he arrayed them against the sons of Ammon. ¹¹ He said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, then you shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will come to help you. ¹² “Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight.” ¹³ So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Arameans, and they fled before him. ¹⁴ When the sons of Ammon saw that the Arameans fled, they also fled before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned from fighting against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem. ¹⁵ When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they gathered themselves together. ¹⁶ And Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans who were beyond the River, and they came to Helam; and Shobach the commander of the army of Hadadezer led them. ¹⁷ Now when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together and crossed the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Arameans arrayed themselves to meet David and fought against him. ¹⁸ But the Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army, and he died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings, servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. So the Arameans feared to help the sons of Ammon anymore.” - David and his men conquer the sons of Ammon as well as the Arameans who had come to help the sons of Ammon

3.1. The Lord causes David’s misguided attempt to show kindness to the Ammonites to work according to His purpose and give David a great victory over not only the the Ammonites but also the Arameans.

3.2. The sons of Ammon knew that their publicly humiliating the ambassadors of David had infuriated David and that he would mobilize Israel to attack them, and knowing of the great success that Israel had been having in battle, the Ammonites hire a bunch of Aramean mercenaries to fight Israel along with them.

3.3. David knew that he would have to fight on two fronts, the Arameans ahead of them and the Ammonites behind them, therefore with the Lord’s help he came up with a brilliant strategy that brought about victory. David determined to place his best fighting men to fight the Aramean mercenaries in the front, then David had his brother Abishai take the rest of the army and fight the Ammonites in the rear.

3.4. David ends up having an incredible conquest of the Arameans as we read that he killed, ‘700 charioteers of the Arameans and 40,000 horsemen and struck down Shobach the commander of their army.’

3.5. Those left of the Arameans made peace with David and Israel and became subservient to Israel.

4. VS 11:1-4 - “¹ Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. ² Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. ³ So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.” - David commits adultery with Bathsheba

4.1. In our discussion of the previous chapter, I mentioned that the motive and attitude of David in seeking to show kindness to the king of the Ammonites had led to his committing adultery with Bathsheba. There we saw that after years of fighting wearying battle after battle that David sought to just end all of the strife and make peace with the enemy of the Lord. David was again seeking to get himself out from under the chastening hand of the Lord and the trials he was being called to endure.

4.2. Here we see that when the spring time appeared, which was the time when kings went out to war because of weather now permitting them, that instead of go out and lead his men in the conquest of his enemies that David instead opted to stay home and slough off his duty. This led David to be entertained with temptation. There are some lessons to be learned from this story of David concerning temptation :

4.2.1. Temptation will be endured whenever we slough off the responsibilities that the Lord has put before us.

4.2.1.1. David should have been out leading his army in battle.

4.2.2. We are to beware of being lazy because laziness becomes a workshop for the Devil to ensnare us into various sins, as the old proverb goes, “An idle hand is the Devil’s workshop.”

4.2.2.1. David had too much time on his hands.

4.2.3. There is never a time when we should think that we are safe and that we can let down our guard because temptation will knock on our doors at an hour we do not expect it. Our guard must always be kept up expecting that the Devil shall seek to tempt us and lead us down a path that ultimately leads to destruction if we choose to stay on it.

4.2.3.1. In relaxing and being at ease, David had taken off his armor, however the word of God tells us in Eph. 6:11, “¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.”

4.2.3.2. In Matt. 26:41, Jesus told His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane that they were to “watch and pray” that they would not enter into temptation. Praying for ourselves is important, regarding our temptations, but in addition to praying we are also to “watch,” keep a watchful eye being on the alert for the Devil to lay a snare for us, just as Peter admonished us to do in 1 Peter 5:8, “⁸ Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

4.2.4. David had a wandering eye.

4.2.4.1. He was looking around for something to get in trouble with. He gets up out of bed and wanders around and then looks out over all of the houses around his palace.

4.2.4.2. Beware of a lustful wandering eye and of looking at the grass on the other side of the fence that always seems to be greener.

4.3. In James 1:13-15 we read of a progression that occurs when a person commits a sin, “¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. ¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. ¹⁵ Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” Alan Redpath notes the following progression of events which lead up to David committing the sin of adultery with Bathsheba :

4.3.1. A thought.

4.3.1.1. Being relaxed and kicking back with all of the time in the world on his hands, on this evening the king decides to look out over his kingdom. In the back of his mind he is probably wondering if he might be able to see something unseemly.

4.3.1.2. It is not a sin to be tempted, for all are tempted, even Jesus was tempted. However, what we do when we are tempted can lead to sin if we are not careful.

4.3.1.2.1. If you are being tempted you need to run and flee that temptation as soon as possible before you get sucked into full blown sin.

4.3.2. A look.

4.3.2.1. David looks out and sees Bathsheba bathing on her roof top.

4.3.2.2. In Israel in this day ( as well even as today ) people recreated and entertained upon their rooftops. However, Bathsheba should have been more discreet rather than bathe on her rooftop.

4.3.2.3. In the dark, David may not have hardly seen anything of Bathsheba’s body as she bathed. However, the temptation was now placed firmly in his mind as he continued to look out his window and consider her.

4.3.2.4. Proverbs 4:23 warns us to be careful to continually watch over our hearts with all diligence, “²³ Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.” In Mark 7:21 Jesus taught us why it is that we must watch over our hearts, “²¹ “For from within , out of the heart of men , proceed the evil thoughts , fornications , thefts , murders , adulteries ,”

4.3.3. A desire.

4.3.3.1. Lust takes place in the heart before the act of sin is actually committed. After taking a long look down at Bathsheba as she bathed David becomes committed to having an illicit relationship with Bathsheba.

4.3.4. Committing of the act.

4.3.4.1. David has Bathsheba brought to him and lies with her.

4.4. David’s sin here seems even worse when we consider :

4.4.1. David is already 50 years old, so why is struggling with uncontrolled lust such as might happen to a younger man in his prime?

4.4.2. David already had X number of wives, what in the world did he need another woman for? Why does he think that he is so important as to deserve this?

4.4.3. David was the king of Israel and therefore as God’s representative he should have held himself to a higher standard of conduct. There is a price to pay for being a leader over God’s people. Those not willing to pay that price should not lead.

4.4.4. Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband was such an honorable, loyal, righteous ( he was obviously a Gentile proselyte ), and faithful man, and on the battlefield he was sacrificing his very life daily for the king, so how could David have sinned against such a man as this?

4.5. I do want to bring out here that Bathsheba was not innocent in this matter. She should have known better than to bathe up on her roof. Personally, I believe that she was scheming all along. She knew that the king was in town and that his window overlooked her roof. She thought that nothing could be more exciting than a little tryst with the king of Israel, the man who was known for having slain his ten thousands.

4.6. The roots for David’s falling into the sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba really go back 20 years at this point. We have already seen how 20 years earlier that David had begun to multiply wives to himself as he was brought into power. With each new conquest or position of power and influence David added more wives to himself. We have mentioned many times that he did this in knowing disobedience to Deut. 17:17 which forbid kings from multiplying wives to themselves.

4.7. Someone once said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” As David rose in power in becoming Israel’s king, he began to be corrupted and to think that God’s kingdom and people were somehow there for his own gratification. In other words, he subtly over time began to think that he was there to be served rather than to serve. He also began to consider that his success had something to do with him and his abilities. He thus became carried away with a sense of his own importance and pre-eminence. He should have realized that his success was all from God and that God could have raised up anyone to work through. He should have realized how fortunate he was that God had chosen him, an insignificant shepherd boy in Israel, to be His servant and represent Him to His people. I believe that these are some of the root causes that led David began to multiply wives to himself, which led to his committing adultery.  After this incident with Bathsheba the scriptures do not record that David ever took another wife for himself.

5. VS 11:5-15 - “⁵ The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, “I am pregnant.” ⁶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ Now when they told David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” ¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.” ¹² Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house. ¹⁴ Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ He had written in the letter, saying, “Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”” - David tries to cover up his having committed the sin of adultery with Bathsheba but the Lord arranges circumstances such that David is not able to cover up his sin, then in desperation David finally plots the murder of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba

5.1. Horror of horrors for David-- he finds out now that Bathsheba has conceived his child.

5.2. We see in this story that David tried so hard to cover up his sin. No one knew about the matter of him having lain with Bathsheba, with the exception of David, Bathsheba, and the servants who went and brought the woman to king David.

5.3. King David’s plan for secrecy fails however when Bathsheba becomes pregnant as a result of her affair with David.

5.4. David was in a huge dilemma. According to the Law of Moses, adulterers were to be stoned to death. Uriah the Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba, had not had relations with his wife in a good long while because he had been with the army in battle against Israel’s enemies, therefore when Uriah would find out that Bathsheba was pregnant Uriah would know immediately that he was not the father. Uriah could then call for Bathsheba to be stoned to death, taking even the life of the child within her fathered by David.

5.5. David determines to send to the battlefield for Uriah the Hittite to come to him. David pretends that the reason that he has requested that Uriah come to him was because he respected Uriah’s opinion and he wanted to get an update on how the war was progressing.

5.6. In reality the reason that David wanted Uriah to come to him was so that Uriah and his wife Bathsheba could have relations and then Uriah would not know that the child that Bathsheba would deliver would not be his.

5.7. David tries to arrange for Uriah to go to his house and have relations with his wife as he tells Uriah to go and wash his feet and even gives Uriah some sort of house-warming gift. To “wash his feet” was just an expression David used to tell Uriah to go and to relax and enjoy his wife.

5.8. Uriah however was such a dedicated soldier that he tells David that he refuses to go to his house and enjoy that comfort because after all his fellow soldiers were having to sleep out in the open fields by night and fight by day and the Ark and Israel and Judah were staying in temporary shelters.

5.8.1. This must have been a rebuke for David because David had refused to go off into battle this spring vying instead to sit back at home and enjoy his comfort and ease.

5.9. Next, David attempts to get Uriah drunk thinking that when Uriah gets drunk that he will naturally want to go and to sleep with his wife at his house. However, though Uriah does imbibe some drink, there is no way that he is going to go to his home and be with his wife when the rest of David’s army were roughing it in the elements and fighting hard by day.

5.10. Because of pride, David is so concerned about hiding his own sin that he finally determines that he must have Uriah murdered in order to keep Uriah from accusing Bathsheba of committing adultery.

6. VS 11:16-25 - “¹⁶ So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷ The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸ Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war. ¹⁹ He charged the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, ²⁰ and if it happens that the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹ ‘Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ” ²² So the messenger departed and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell. ²³ The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. ²⁴ “Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.” ²⁵ Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it’; and so encourage him.”” - Joab follows David’s orders and causes Uriah the Hittite to be killed in battle and then reports the news of Uriah’s death back to David

6.1. Here we see that following David’s orders, Joab jeopardized his entire army by bringing the men too close to the wall of the city. The archers on the walls then were able to shoot and kill some of Joab’s men.

6.2. Joab sends a messenger to David to report to him about how the battle went, but also instructs the man to be sure to mention that Uriah had been killed in the battle.

6.3. David sends back a note to Joab saying in essence for him not to let the incident of the death of Uriah bother him because it came about as a result of one of the unfortunate results of combat.

6.4. Then, David encourages Joab to make the battle against the city stronger and overthrow it.

7. VS 11:26-27 - “²⁶ Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷ When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.” - After Bathsheba had some time to mourn over the death of her husband, David calls her to his house and she becomes yet another wife for David

7.1. David thought that he had now succeeded in covering his sin. To this point in time, only Bathsheba, some of his servants, and Joab knew that David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

7.2. However, the Lord never lets a person get away with anything. What David did was evil in the sight of the Lord. David’s conscience will brutilize him over the next year and then we will see in the next chapter how that the Lord sends Nathan the prophet to come to David and to rebuke him for his sin.

7.3. Though David did not suffer capital punishment for his sin, the Lord saw to it that he did not get away with these sins, for we will read in the next chapter when Nathan comes and rebukes David and tells him that the sword would now never depart from David’s house (2 Sam. 12:10), plus the baby conceived by Bathsheba will die.

7.3.1. From this point on David’s life is in constant upheaval due to domestic troubles.

7.4. We will also see in our next study how that when David finally confessed and repented of his sins concerning Bathsheba and her husband Uriah that the Lord in His grace and mercy forgave David and continued to work through his life as king over Israel. In Rom. 5:20 we read about how that God’s grace abounds over sin, “²⁰ The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”

8. CONCLUSIONS:

8.1. As we consider David’s falling into adultery with Bathsheba and all of his actions that followed that, we need to learn from his mistakes :

8.1.1. Beware of shirking your responsibility.

8.1.2. Beware of being lazy and having nothing to do. Always be alert, watching.

8.1.3. Never let your guard down, you are never safe.

8.1.4. Flee temptation, don’t try to fight it.

8.2. If today, you find yourself in David’s place under condemnation because of your own sin, remember that the Lord does provide forgiveness and atonement for the sins that we have committed, even after we have become one of God’s people. 1 John 1:9-2:2 tells us as Christians God’s remedy for sinners, “⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. ¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”

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