Bible Men: King David and Bathsheba: The Evening When It Started To Rain

And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.  And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 2Sa 11:2-3 

Adultery and Why It is Difficult to Understand

Few scenes reek of treachery as this one. It comes after God had accomplished great victories for David. Saul had died. The warring nations surrounding him had been subdued. He had come to his rest and his cup was running over.

Then David saw a beautiful woman bathing. And instantly the clouds split and it started to rain. But rather than flee David threw himself into the downpour.

And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.  And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. 2Sa 11:4-5.  

The duplicity of sin is not hard to unravel, as Moses had warned, “be sure your sin will find you out.” So suddenly David sent for Uriah. And the rain beat hard.

And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.  But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 2Sa 11:8-9  

There are times a man can sweat even while it is raining. “And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah” (2Sa 11:14). The day becomes very dark when a poet turns into a villain, because he makes the devil look like a saint.

As if it wasn’t enough to make Uriah a cuckold, David gave him the letter directing his commander how to get rid of him, and Uriah innocently carried his death sentence in his own hands. Where was David’s heart at this time? Did it not smite him? But outside the rain poured and it did not let. Uriah died. And so the door for David to marry his wife was opened.

And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. 2Sa 11:27  

But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Pro 6:32  

“Thou art the Man.”

Sin brings depression. And the consequences of sin can remain even after we are forgiven. Nathan shone a mirror before David’s face, but David couldn’t recognize himself.

And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2Sa 12:1  

And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die. 2Sa 12:5 

Nevertheless Nathan refused the rain to fall on him. “Thou art the man.” For David the rain outside had built into a flood.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 2Sa 12:10  

That judgment took its toll fast. The child died. One son raped his sister. His favourite son Absalom scandalized him before his death. In total four sons of David perished untimely. The flood devastated him.  

However David repented from his heart. His Psalm 51 is a classic dirge. “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me” (Psa 51:3). It is instructive that in his old age Abishag, a young Shunammite girl was brought to David to comfort him, but he never touched her. 

Forgiven. Washed. Clothed.

The amazing thing about our God is that he forgives. There is no other God on earth who acts like that. It is no wonder elsewhere the gospel is called “the foolishness of God.” God went out to look for David. God restored him to being a man after his own heart again. God saves to the uttermost even to this day. Remember the self-assurance of Peter?

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Luk 22:31-32  

Whither should we be without God’s grace?

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Rom 8:26  

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Isa 1:18  

The grace of God super abounds. He gave David and his wife another son, Solomon, his heir, and by extension, Christ’s…

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. 2Sa 7:16  

A study of the lineage of Jesus Christ brings up very sorry wrecks. Who can save like our God?

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Psa 139:7-8  

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Rom 8:1  

According to St. Augustine David’s fall “should put upon their guard those who have not fallen, and save from despair those who have.” For the king the daylight was long in coming, but coming it eventually did. Are you in such a night? Are you in such a flood? The daylight will come. It always does to those who believe. 

Bible Men: King David: Depression, The Scriptural View

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Psa 42:5 

Suffering as a Christian

“Beloved, think it not strange… But rejoice (to be full of cheer).” So the apostle Peter offers in his take on Suffering as a Christian (1Pet 4:12-19).

Jesus’ rendering is even more arresting in his beatitudes on the same subject. According to Christ we are not only to rejoice, but be “exceeding glad (properly jump for joy)” (Mat 5:11-12).

Did the old believers believe this? Yes, every word. They literally lived their faith.

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. Heb 11:36-38  

And these were historical facts and not myths. But we of the present generation are usually attended by many fears, so our faith lacks power.

Present Suffering Means Nothing Compared To Eternal Glory

Every believer is a sufferer. By virtue of his carrying a “burden” in his chest from the Lord therefore he can’t run away from his calling as Jeremiah found out:

Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.  Jer 20:9  

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. 2Co 4:17 

The hunger for peace is real. Daily we pine for it. For some even the dropping of a needle is enough to rustle their peace. It is like a reed growing beside a stream. So the psalms of David sometimes ring with a haunting loneliness.

And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Psa 55:6-8  

My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? Psa 42:2 

And that is every believer’s hunger too. We hunger for a glory which is quite beyond this life. We hunger for it because it is what the Lord himself has promised us.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Rom 8:16 -17

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. Rom 8:22-23  

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28  

The palms are a pathos galore. They shake with pain. But (and this is the chief difference between a believer and a non-believer) they also irradiate with joy. No matter what the suffering might entail but in the end they always resound with praise!

When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. Hab 3:16  

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Hab 3:17-18  

Reading through the Lamentations of Jeremiah is like weaving a tapestry around a block of pain.

I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. Lam 3:1-5  

But in the end this is what Jeremiah sees:

This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lam 3:21-23  

So Paul too chooses to see glory (joy not misery) in his own infirmities “for when I am weak, then am I strong.”  Likewise Paul glories (make boast) in tribulations with a view to the graces it would bestow on him.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Rom 5:3-5.  

The exemplary nature of the love of God is that it hides nothing. It doesn’t shy. Rather faith shocks. Do I doubt God? I tell him! (Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him!)

Do I feel a rising repugnance for him? I tell him! (O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived!)

And so too we can say of depression that it is not anything new. “Brethren, think it not strange.”

 For elsewhere (in prison!) Paul breezes:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Rom 8:35 

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Rom 8:15  

God Gives Songs Even At Night

And at mid night Paul and Silas sang! Are you at a place like that fellow believer? Have you tried singing? Have you tried praise? Think God.

When peace like a river attendeth my way

When sorrows like sea billows roll

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say

It is well with my soul.

Yes, you too can sing my brother and sister, in any circumstances. Hope thou only in God, and in the night his song shall be with you. Amen.