Silence of the Lambs

This is a midterm paper I wrote in 2016 for a class on biblical leadership, which examined the life of King David in the larger story of 1st and 2nd Samuel. Though the paper doesn't mention it specifically, both God's mercy and justice in the biblical passage point directly to Jesus and his death on the cross.

What it does address is God's word - that it's not something separate from him, but instead an intimate part of himself. In fact, the Bible tells us that Jesus himself is the Word of God in the gospel of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it... ...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. ~John 1:1-5, 14

Lambs play a big part in this event in David's life, but the most influential and essential lamb to remember is the source of the mercy shown to David: Jesus Christ, the Passover lamb of God.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’" ~John 1:29-30

I would suggest reading 2 Samuel 14 and 2 Samuel 12:1-15 before continuing on. Of course, the full story detailing the devastating consequences of David's sin can be found in the rest of the book. Sin is serious and destroys everything, but God is good in the middle of our brokenness.

I hope this encourages you today.

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Silence of the Lambs

[Based on David's confession from 2 Samuel 12:1-15]

“...the play's the thing Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the King.”

– Hamlet, Act II, scene 2

The story of Nathan's parable and David's confession is a sobering one, and constitutes a major turning point in David's life. Earlier in the story, David had been following the Lord very closely, being a man whom God Himself calls His servant (2 Samuel 7:8) and a man after His heart (1 Samuel 13:14). Because of David's heart for God, it pleased the Lord to bless him with the throne of Israel, innumerable military victories, and a holy covenant promising his bloodline would produce the coming Messiah (2 Samuel 7)! Then came the most glaring blight on King David's reign: his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah the Hittite. The consequences of David's crimes against Uriah are severe, affecting his own household and possessions, as well as the fate of all Israel, but what is not immediately apparent is God's tremendous mercy and grace in the midst of those divine judgments.

Nathan comes to David at least 9 months after his act of adultery; We know this because David's son has already been born by Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:27). Imagine that: David had been living in a state of, at least partially, unrepentant sin for the better part of a year! It must have weighed heavily on his spirit, because in Psalm 51 (which he wrote after being confronted by Nathan) he pleads, “Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.” He did not know what the Lord might do to him; he had never rebelled against God in such a brazen way before. He possibly anticipated the kingdom or even his life to be taken away at any time, which would have put him in a paranoid and anxious state of mind. David rejected the Lord, the source of his joy and hope (Psalm 43:4-5). Where can he find peace now?

Nathan begins telling the parable of the poor man's precious lamb and the rich man's greed, and it is apparent that David receives it as a true story. It would not have been unusual for reports to be made to the king in this way, given that David was acting as Israel's judge at the time, and Nathan may have relayed the people's disputes in the past. As Nathan tells of the poor man's loving care of his only ewe lamb, how he gave it food from his own table and cherished it like a child, David is instantly engaged. Nathan is describing his humble roots and the relationship he had with his own flock, and he strongly relates. Being a good shepherd, David understands the tender care given by the poor man. He remembers the loving bond he formed with his sheep through self-sacrifice (1 Samuel 17:34-35) and the many hours of work: pouring himself into maintaining their health, safety, and emotional well-being. He has felt his heart skip a beat when he realized that one sheep was missing and set off after it. So, when Nathan tells of the cruelty of the rich man, who stole the ewe, he is outraged! “So David's anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, 'As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! (2 Samuel 12:5)'” The word “anger” here is the Hebrew word 'aph and is associated with the face or nose: breathing hard with passion is what it means specifically. David is so angry he can hardly contain himself! He's so disgusted that he immediately decrees that the man should die, which is much more than the man in the story deserves by Torah standards - he should restore four lambs to the poor man, which David adds to his sentence (Exodus 22:1). Then Nathan breaks in with the hard truth: “You are the man!”

We need to take a moment to appreciate the grace of the parable. God could have used many different methods to humble David forcibly. In the past, He had used things like sickness (as with the tumors: 1 Samuel 5:9), war (the Philistines defeating Israel: 1 Samuel 4:10), and random 'accidents' (Eli's death: 1 Samuel 4:18). Instead He sends a messenger, the prophet Nathan, who tells David a story that allows him to distance himself from his circumstances and clearly see his own sin in another person's life. In other words, the Lord is giving David the chance to return to Him willingly. The beautiful thing here is that God is not only concerned with dealing out justice, tit for tat, but desires to reconcile the broken relationship between Him and His servant. He once again proves to David that He is a relational and personal God, who has now come for His lost lamb.

The confrontation continues. Nathan lists the Lord's mighty acts in David's life: keeping him safe from Saul, causing him to rise to power from life in the country, and ends by saying that he would have given much more. David may have believed that he had hit the ceiling of divine blessings (grace), that after all God had done there could not possibly be any more to receive, but God declares to him that that idea is wrong! Now the gifts of God are tempered because David, “despised the commandment of the Lord (1 Samuel 12:9).” In verse 10, however, God says that the punishments are coming on him and his household because David despised God Himself. This appears to be an escalation at first, but it is not. David would have recognized that rebellion against the king's commands is rebellion against the king, but what God is hinting at is that His commands are not arbitrary, but are intimately connected to Himself. To many hearing this story in David's time, this would have been a revelation!

It is interesting that Nathan never mentions Bathsheba by name in his proclamation against David, but Uriah is mentioned twice. Nathan even goes out of his way to say his name and not hers, saying, “You have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.” Clearly the Lord is making a point to put the focus on Uriah, perhaps because David had not faced up to his crimes against him.

Now I want to switch gears and look at the nature of the judgments. In rabbinic literature, there is an idiom (common saying) called Midah KeNeged Midah, or Measure for Measure: the measure you use will be measured back to you. This idea goes back to the Torah, which David knew and understood very well. Exodus 22:22-24: “The foreigner do not oppress, and do not mistreat him because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. Any widow and orphan you will not oppress, and if you oppress them…I will become angered, and I will kill you with a sword. And your wives will become widows and your sons will become orphans.” God has repeatedly shown that He takes sides, especially the side of the oppressed and helpless. When God punishes David, He uses the measure that he used to oppress others. He killed by the sword, and so will be attacked with the sword. He took a wife, so his wives will be taken. Last, but not least, he took a 'ewe lamb' that was loved like a daughter, so he will not keep his son.

Bathsheba is affected by her son's death as well, as she was a co-conspirator with David by keeping silent and being willingly taken. David bears the brunt of the death judgment however, because four of his sons die prematurely. Bathsheba's son became ill, Amnon was murdered by his half brother, Absalom (2 Samuel 13:29), Absalom was stabbed in a terebinth tree (2 Samuel 18:14), and Adonijah is killed by King Solomon (1 Kings 2:24-25). Four sons (i.e. four lambs) for the 'lamb' David stole.

David had a choice. He could have had Nathan killed. After all, Saul had not hesitated to kill prophets when they failed to support him (1 Samuel 22:18). He could have run further away in hopes to escape the consequences of his error. If that had happened, the rest of the story would have played out much differently, but David is cut to the heart. He confesses that he has sinned, “against the Lord,” the primary One he has offended. He has already condemned the rich man in the story, and therefore himself, but now he is owning his sin and the consequences. Nathan then says something that must have greatly surprised David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” This act of mercy is shocking to anyone who knows the Torah. God has David dead to rights on three counts: one, the punishment for murder (Leviticus 24:17), two, the punishment for adultery (Leviticus 20:10), and three, the punishment for despising the command of the Lord (Numbers 15:30-31). When Nathan says that the Lord has “put away” David's sin, he uses the Hebrew word`abar, which not only means to completely vanish, but also to pass over or over look. David would have known that that same word is used in Exodus 12, the story of Passover! The houses in Egypt with lamb's blood over the doorposts were spared by the Lord, and the plague did not enter.

Of course, the supreme act of mercy and grace is David's renewed relationship with God, the lifter of his countenance! After all he had done, after all the fears, doubts, and hardships (past, present, and future), David is where he belongs. He can honestly say that, “Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. (Psalm 23:6)”

~Daniel Escobedo