Wednesday Bible Study: And now a word from David, part two

 

....Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle."  1 Samuel 17:28

Today we hit the second part of the Mistakes of David.  Last time, we learned that Eliab's words were a prophecy of the things that David would mess up throughout his life, and we learned the first four of them we found were failing to commit to God his truth, safety, wrath, and fear.  This time, we start by looking at the things he failed to SUBMIT to God.   Bear in mind though, that despite making these mistakes even up to his last words, his HEART was with God, and his mind was set on service to God.  But like all men, David had his down moments...

GROUP 2:  Things he failed to SUBMIT to God

 

Sin 5- I know what I'm doing

 

David went to all his advisers, and it was unanimous among them that the time was right to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem from where it had sat since the Philistines sent it back to Israel.  But if you had read the Books of the Law- which David had NOT- you'd know that there were very specific instructions on how to carry the Ark...

Exo 25:13  You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
Exo 25:14  And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them.
Exo 25:15  The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.

Num 4:15  And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry.

But David?  He just brought it back on the ox-cart that the Philistines put it on.  And so the inevitable happened. 

2Sa 6:6  And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.
2Sa 6:7  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.
2Sa 6:8  And David was angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day.
2Sa 6:9  And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"

David failed to check with God through the Word on what to do, and as a result, he had more blood on his hands- that's why he was angry.  Later on, after he messed up, he submitted to God that he didn't know what he was doing, and as a result....

1Ch 15:12  and said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.
1Ch 15:13  Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule."

"We" meaning HE.  Because David gathered the people together to assent to moving the Ark the first time, and they followed his lead.  He however didn't submit KNOWLEDGE to God, and sinned in his ignorance.

Sins 6-8, the Bathsheba Case

Sin 6- I can do what I want

 2Sa 11:1  In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
2Sa 11:2  It happened, late one afternoon...

"...It happened late one afternoon..." and why did it happen?  Because David was NOT where he should have been.  That 'but' was a biiiig one. When you put yourself in the roadway of temptation, you have to expect something will happen.  "I'm a Christian, I am under God's protection" doesn't cut it, believe me.  In this case, of all the times he SUBMITTED HIS OBEDIENCE to God, this time he didn't.  You see the trend here?  In the first four mistakes, it was like David was looking away from God and saying, "Who can do this?"  In this set, he's looking God in the face and saying, "I can do this."  How did that work out for him?

Sin 7- I deserve whatever I can get

 

2Sa 11:3  And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
2Sa 11:4  So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.
 

No moral dilemma here for David- he was king, he sent servants she obeyed, he got what he desired.  The thing was, this one 'little thing' was about to become the thing that would haunt all of David's days...

1Ki 15:4  Nevertheless, for David's sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem,
1Ki 15:5  because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

This was said some 55 years after David's death.  All because he didn't SUBMIT HIS DESIRES. And what about Uriah?

Sin 8- I'll clean it up

 2Sa 11:5  And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, "I am pregnant."

You know the story here.  David tries every trick in the book to get Uriah to have sex with his wife before it would be apparent that Uriah was NOT the father.  But Uriah was an honorable man, and as long as the army was fighting his battles, he would not give in to HIS desires, as David had.  So instead of David SUBMITTING HIS SIN and asking for help, he had Uriah killed.  Result?

Psa 32:3  For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
Psa 32:4  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 

 

And still, he was foolish and prideful enough, and so determined not to let anyone know- even God, who already knew- what he did, it took the prophet Nathan tricking him to get him to admit it.  

Stop and think about this.  Eve did what she wanted, and as a result, "Ye shall surely die".  In what David didn't submit, Uzzah, Uriah, and his child with Bathsheba- along with those who would die in Absalom's rebellion- it was a bloody trail.  Most times when we see this verse:

1Ch 22:7  David said to Solomon, "My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the LORD my God.
1Ch 22:8  But the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth.

You think only of the blood of the wars.  But consider God mentioned 'shedding blood' AND 'waging war'. Could this be a reminder that he was disqualified for this honor, over and above the wars he waged, BECAUSE of Uzzah and Uriah and the others?  Lesson to us is, God is forgiving- but even forgiven actions have consequences.