Devotions
Rev Gav
Justice
2 Samuel 12:1-17
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”
David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
“This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.”
Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”
After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused.
Reflect
Not too quick was he, David? The prophet Nathan told him a story and he didn’t click it was about him!
Now, one or two of us Fabbers (not mentioning any names) have a tough time with the way ‘the Lord’ seems to do unjust things. For example, in today’s reading, Nathan tells David, “… because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord … your child will die.” What??? God kills an innocent child because David had disobeyed God? If I’m honest, I struggle with this too, and find the death of David and Bathsheba’s child very difficult to reconcile with a loving God.
Although it’s not easy, we hold in tension the God we encounter in these stories with the God we came to know through Jesus. The death of a child is horrendous and sickening but if we can step back a little, we understand that this is a story about the consequences of sin. You see, God is perfectly merciful but also perfectly just, and for there to be justice, there has to be a consequence for sin. In the case of murder, for the scales of justice to remain balanced, there has to be an ‘atoning’ death. We absolutely should be appalled, but also be under no illusions — sin has serious life-impacting consequences.
In terms of David’s actions, the fault lay squarely with David and not with God. David knew that his actions would have consequences, yet he chose to put his own wants and needs first, before God and before others, including Bathsheba and Uriah.
Some theologians suggest this story highlights the need for an atoning sacrifice for all our sins — a metaphor for Jesus, of the line of David, who would atone for the sins of the whole world. Firstly, there is the story told by Nathan, about the poor man’s beloved only lamb who was killed. And then there was Bathsheba’s child, an only son, who died to bring about God’s justice.
These are all high level theological abstractions, but perhaps they allow us a way into the story and to make sense of such an appalling situation?
Pray
Holy God
Forgive me for living my life
indifferent to the
consequences of my sin.
I am so grateful
that your one and only Son,
Jesus Christ, gave himself
for my sin, and for the
sins of the whole world.
and then