sin

Extremes

Wisdom does not keep us from committing sin. Sometimes people say, if I knew then what I know now, I would have done things differently, implying that you will make better choices as you grow wiser. The truth of the matter is that we make bad choices because we have a sin nature or tendency to sin, not because we are stupid and don’t know any better.

Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived, disobeyed God by marrying multiple foreign wives. It says in 1 Kings 11:3 that Solomon “had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.” Initially, Solomon was committed to the LORD God of Israel who appeared to him on two separate occasions (1 Kings 11:9), but when Solomon was recognized by the people for his gifts of leadership, wisdom and justice (2205), he began to care more about pleasing his wives that he did about pleasing God (1 Kings 11:4).

The interesting thing about Solomon’s situation was that Solomon’s disobedience wasn’t punished. When David committed adultery with Bath-Sheba, the child that was conceived died shortly after he was born. Solomon’s disobedience continued throughout his life, to the extreme that he accumulated 1000 wives and concubines, a direct violation of God’s command (Deuteronomy 17:17).

Deuteronomy 17:14-20 makes it clear that God knew in advance that Solomon would turn away from him and may even have set up or prearranged the situation by giving Solomon extreme wealth. In ancient times, the number of wives a man had was closely tied to his wealth. From a cultural perspective, it was appropriate for Solomon to have an outrageous number of wives because he was the wealthiest man on earth. The problem was that Solomon had foreign wives that wanted to keep worshipping their own gods and Solomon let them.

In says in 1 Kings 11:9 that “the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice.” The word translated turned, natah “connotes ‘extending something outward and toward’  something or someone…This is a figure of God’s active, sovereign, and mighty involvement in the affairs of men. So this phrase means ‘to stretch out’ something until is reaches a goal” (5186).

God had a purpose for allowing Solomon’s disobedience to continue unpunished. It may have been that God wanted Israel to see that they could be like everyone else, enjoy  peace and prosperity, but they would be miserable without him at the center of their lives (Ecclesiastes 12:8).

 

 

Confession

Between the ages of four and seven, my sister and I were molested by our brother. Because I am almost four years older than my sister, her abuse started about the same time mine ended. One year, when we were on a family vacation, my two brothers, sister, and I were in a truck camper on our way to Arkansas. While I was taking a nap, my two brothers molested my sister. I woke up in the middle of it, but pretended to be asleep so that they wouldn’t know I was listening and could tell what was going on. I never told anyone about it. Several years later, I was raped while spending the night at a friend’s house. I only recently realized the circumstances of the two events was very similar. It felt as if I was being punished for not protecting my sister because I could have stopped her abuse.

Solomon said, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Happy is the man that feareth always: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief” (Proverbs 28:13-14). According to Solomon, confessing and forsaking our sins can prevent our hearts from becoming hardened because when we receive God’s mercy we are then able to be merciful to others. The Hebrew word translated mercy, racham means to have compassion or show pity to someone and racham is also translated as love (7355). Mercy is at the heart of salvation and it was modeled by Jesus as he died on the cross.

I believe the process of hardening a heart begins at an early age, perhaps when we are as young as two years old. The tendency we have to rebel against our parents is the same tendency that causes us to rebel against God. I know it was a hard heart that made me keep silent instead of helping my sister and I was only about eight at the time. Today, because of what Jesus did on the cross, we can confess and forsake our sins at any time and receive God’s mercy. Just as the process of hardening the heart can go on for many years, I believe the process of unhardening or softening the heart can also take time. Thankfully, the condition of my heart has improved significantly since I accepted Christ.

Darkness

The first few years of my marriage were very happy ones. Becoming a mom was the best possible thing that could have happened to me, but after having three children, my ex-husband decided to have a vasectomy. My independent nature caused me to rebel against his decision and before long I found myself unhappy with my situation. I didn’t wake up one day thinking this sucks, there was a gradual change in my disposition. I went from being a very happy, contented wife to a miserable wretch over the course of about three years.

Proverbs 4:19 says, “The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.” The Hebrew word translated darkness, aphelah means duskiness (653). Aphelah is another form of the word aphel which means to set as the sun (651). The transition from day to night happens slowly and gradually, not in an instant like the flipping of a light switch. The problem with duskiness is that you can still see well enough to function, but your vision is distorted because of insufficient light. A wicked person that is guilty enough to deserve punishment, but does not, is probably avoiding punishment because his behavior overall is still pretty good.

What I didn’t see during the years when my marriage began to unravel was that I was becoming cold and indifferent to the people around me. Of course, the primary target of my selfish behavior was my husband, but my bad attitude affected everyone. I was difficult to get along with and I expected God to bless me even though I was living contrary to what it says a wife is supposed to in the Bible. I didn’t realize my unwillingness to submit to my husband was a serious sin that could ruin my marriage.

Repentance

Confession of sin and repentance do not always go together. Confession is really nothing more than an acknowledgement that we have done something wrong. The apostle John said about Jesus, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). So confession is all we need to do to receive God’s forgiveness.

Sometimes people joke about having committed a sin and say, the devil made me do it, as if that is an acceptable excuse for not taking responsibility for their actions. God wants us to admit our guilt so that he can make things right again.

It says in 2 Samuel 24:10, “And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done and now I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

It is important for us to confess our sins and although it is enough for us to be forgiven, confession does not change the outcome of our wrong actions. In David’s case, he was given three options for his punishment, but he still had to pay a penalty for his sin. “So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men” (2 Samuel 24:15).

The basic meaning of repentance is to be sorry, but it involves more than just saying, I’m sorry. “To repent means to make a strong turning to a new course of action…Hence, when one repents, he exerts strength to change, to re-grasp the situation, and exert effort for the situation to take a different course of purpose and action” (5162).

Initially, the pestilence was to be in the land three days. As a result of David’s repentance, it says in 2 Samuel 24:16, “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand.” So the LORD stopped the angel from destroying Jerusalem because David repented.

Healing for the soul

As we get older, there is a tendency to reflect on our accomplishments and our mistakes. I think it is easier to see mistakes and regret them when you have several decades of accomplishments to weigh them against. One of the things that older people seem to have more of than younger people is insight, the ability to look at outcomes and determine why they happened.

In David’s later years, he saw that his sin with Bath-sheba had caused many things to happen that he hadn’t expected. Looking at sin as a disease, David knew that he needed healing or eventually it would kill him. David prayed, “LORD, be merciful to me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee” (Psalm 41:4).

One of the meanings of the word translated soul is vitality (5315). David said, “The LORD will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing. Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness” (Psalm 41:3). David was confined to his bed as a woman when she is menstruating. David was experiencing weakness that he felt was associated with sexual impurity.

The Hebrew word raphah means to heal. It represents a restoring to normal, “an act which God typically performs” (7495). David’s request for God to heal his soul was motivated by David’s understanding that he needed to be transformed or turned back to the way he was before he sinned against God. David’s life was no longer filled with happiness and joy. He could not get things back on track as he once had.

Thinking about his many accomplishments, David said, “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday” (Psalm 42:4). David knew from many years of experience that the way to fix his problem was to get right with God, to restore the relationship that brought him joy.

David’s statement in Psalm 42:1, as the deer panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God, is based on David’s awareness that fellowship with God brought refreshment to his soul. Over the years, David had been revived when he connected with the LORD and trusted him for deliverance. David concluded Psalm 42 with the questions, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me?” (Psalm 42:11). At that point, David realized that the LORD had not left him, but was waiting for David to turn to him for help. David’s belief in God was the real issue. David said, “Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42:11).

The word translated health is yeshuw’ah. It means deliverance or salvation and is a synonym for the word yasha’, which means to be saved (3467). The name Jesus is a Greek form of the word yeshu’ah indicating that David was looking to his Messiah for restoration of health to his soul. The word countenance refers to the face or the look on one’s face (6440). David may have been thinking about the time when he would see his Savior face to face and would praise him for his gift of salvation and the completed work that would provide deliverance from his sin.

Divine intervention

“And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man: so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants” (2 Samuel 19:14). David’s return to Jerusalem after the death of Absalom was the result of a sovereign act of God. The word translated bowed, nâtâh (naw – taw´) means to stretch or spread out (5186). It is a picture of God extending his hand in order to accomplish something.

God does not always intervene in the lives of men, but he does control the outcome of events over time. God’s involvement in the affairs of men is a sign of his power (5186). As the creator of the universe, he does not just watch or oversee what is going on, he engages in activity that keeps the process going until a particular goal is achieved.

David’s return to Jerusalem was a sign that all was well again. The conflict was over. The word translated return, shûwb (shoob) means to turn back. “The basic meaning of the verb is a movement back to the point of departure” (7725). Although it is clear that David was returning to the city he had left sometime earlier, the significance of his return was greater. I believe his return signaled a return or restoration of his life from the point in time when he sinned against Uriah (2 Samuel 11:15).

The death of Absalom marked the end of a chapter in David’s life that had caused conflict in his family and in his country. Even though things had not reach the point of chaos, there was a great disturbance when Absalom attempted to take the throne from his father. The people of Israel lost confidence in David and were unsure of God’s will for their nation (2 Samuel 19:9-10). God’s involvement was necessary to restore order.

It says in 2 Samuel 19:9 that, “all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel.” The word translated strife, dûwn (doon) means to rule (1777). This word is comparable to the words adon and adonay which mean sovereign, Lord, and master (113, 136). If you think of strife in terms of conflict or a fight amongst people, it marks the point when an umpire is needed to settle the dispute. In Israel’s case, it marked the point when God needed to step in and make it clear that David was still his chosen leader of their nation.

Unfortunately, only the tribe of Judah was given the opportunity to welcome David back into the country and the other tribes of Israel did not appreciate being left out. “And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king?” (2 Samuel 19:43). In spite of David’s return to the throne, there was not a complete restoration of peace to the nation of Israel. The damage that was done by Absalom’s revolt left a permanent mark on David’s reputation as king and a crack in the foundation of Israel as a nation. The peace the nation experienced when David was at the peak of his career (2 Samuel 10:19), seemed to be lost when Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel (2 Samuel 15:6).

Starting over

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. (2 Samuel 12:11-12)

These words were spoken to David by Nathan the prophet when he confronted David about his sin with Bath-sheba. The word translated raise, qûwm (koom) means to arise or stand up. “It is also used to denote the inevitable occurrence of something predicted or prearranged” (6965).

The prophecy was fulfilled after Absalom came into Jerusalem and took over as king. At the advice of Ahithophel, it says in 2 Samuel 16:22, “So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house; and Absalom went in unto his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.”

Although it may seem as if the prophecy against David was harsh, David knew God was right to punish him and when David was ridiculed by Shimei, he did not doubt that he deserved to be cursed. What guided David through the experience was a belief that God still cared about him and would not bring on him more than David could handle.

David said regarding his punishment, “It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day” (2 Samuel 16:12). The word translated requite, shûwb (shoob) means to turn back. “The basic meaning of the verb is movement back to the point of departure” (7725). David’s hope was that he would regain his position of right standing with God, so that the LORD could bless him as he once had.

Two Hebrew words related to shuwb are nacham which means to repent (5162) and teshubah which is a recurrence or beginning (8666). Together these words convey the idea of starting over or beginning a new life. Because, in a sense, the penalty for David’s sin with Bath-sheba was paid when Absalom desecrated his wives in public, David was free to move on and was given a fresh start.

Note: Unlike David, we do not have to pay a penalty for the sins we commit. Jesus paid the penalty for all our sins when he died on the cross. He made it possible for the LORD to “requite us good”  automatically at the moment of our conversion. The only thing we have to do from that point forward is confess our sins and the penalty is taken care of by Jesus’ death.

 

Actions & Consequences

If sin were a disease, it would be feared and dreaded more than any other because of the pain and suffering it causes those who contract it. Sin is a killer and like cancer, it often spreads so quickly, that by the time it is detected, it’s too late to do anything about it. Sin is both hereditary and contagious. You have to be careful to not get too close to someone infected with it and be aware that you may be predisposed toward a certain type of sin because of the sins of your parents.

“And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister” (2 Samuel 13:4). Amnon’s confession of love to his friend Jonadab was understood to mean that he wanted to have sexual relations with his brother’s sister, Tamar. In response, Jonadab lays out a plan for Amnon to rape her. These two men were not only related to each other, they were both related to king David, the father of the woman Amnon was planning to rape.

David’s sin with Bath-sheba had caused his family to become infected with sin. In the same way that David had given in to his lust for Bath-sheba, Amnon decided he was going to have sex with Tamar. What was different about Amnon’s situation was that Tamar was a virgin and unlikely to agree to have sex with him outside of marriage.

Amnon’s friend Jonadab is described as being very subtil. The Hebrew word for subtil, chakam actually means wise (2450). Jonadab’s plan was not some sinister plot, but a well thought out means of obtaining what Amnon wanted, a private encounter with Tamar. Most likely, the intent was to have sex secretly, so that if anyone found out, Amnon could deny it.

“And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel; do not thou this folly” (2 Samuel 13:12). The word translated folly, “nebalah is most often used as a word for serious sin. It signifies ‘disregarding God’s will'” (5039). In other words, Amnon knew what God’s will for him was regarding Tamar and he decided to do the opposite. Jonadab was an accessory to his crime, and together, the two of them planned to deceive king David and trap his daughter Tamar, so that Amnon could have sex with her.

Rather than keeping it a secret, Tamar displayed her shame openly after Amnon raped her. “And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying” (2 Samuel 13:19). The word used to describe Tamar’s condition afterward, desolate or shamem in Hebrew means ruined (8076), but the root word shâmêm (shaw – mame´) means to stun or intransitively to grow numb (8074). Tamar was traumatized by what happened to her and most likely suffered from what we know today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) the rest of her life.

You’re going the wrong way

The Global Positioning System (GPS) that enables electronic car navigation to work properly has a feature that is comparable to forgiveness. Once a destination has been identified and a route planned, GPS recalculates the route if the driver get’s off course.

David used three key words in Psalm 32 related to navigation, imputeth, transgression, and iniquity, that describe how God’s forgiveness works. David said, “Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity” (Psalm 32:2). The word translated imputeth, châshab (khaw – shab´) “signifies a mental process whereby some course is planned or conceived” (2803). When God charts the course of a person’s life, it is similar to entering an address into a navigation system. Once the coordinates are locked in, the system makes adjustments as necessary.

As with reaching a desired destination in traffic, life sometimes causes us to intentionally veer off course. David said, “I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD” (Psalm 32:5). The word translated transgressions, pesha‘ (peh´ – shah) signifies a revolt, “a willful rebellion from a prescribed or agreed upon path” (6588). Sin and transgression are sometimes used interchangeably to describe an offense against God. The important thing to note is that these words do not represent mistakes, like taking a wrong turn, they describe actions that are taken that ignore or circumvent the course that God has charted for us.

Occasionally, due to an accident or road construction, we are forced to take an alternate route. Iniquity is an alternate route that we take because we choose or want to avoid reaching our destination. David said, “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid” (Psalm 32:5). The word translated iniquity, ‘avôwn (aw – vone´) portrays sin as “a perversion of life (a twisting out of the right way)” (5771). When David said that he had not hid his iniquity, he was not talking about it being hidden from God because that would be impossible. David had been deceiving himself, he thought that because he had Uriah killed in battle (2 Samuel 11:15), he was not guilty of murder. David’s navigation system tried to tell him he was going the wrong way, but his iniquity caused him to turn it off, so he didn’t have to listen to its annoying reminders.

After Nathan the prophet confronted him, David said, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” (Psalm 32:1). Nathan did not tell David he had sinned. David knew he had sinned before Nathan came to see him. God sent Nathan to tell David to turn his navigation system back on so God could start giving him directions again and correct his course. That’s what it means to be forgiven.

God’s grace

“And the LORD sent Nathan unto David” (2 Samuel 12:1). As a prophet, it was Nathan’s job to speak on behalf of the LORD. Typically, the prophets received messages of judgement that they had to deliver to God’s people. In David’s case, Nathan was given a parable to share with David in order to get David to judge himself. God wanted David to see the seriousness of his sin without becoming defensive about it.

Nathan told David the story of a rich man who took a poor man’s lamb in order to feed a traveler that came to visit him. (2 Samuel 12:1-4). After hearing the story it says in 2 Samuel 12:5-7, “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…And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.”

According to Mosaic Law, the penalty for adultery and murder was death, so David was deserving of the death penalty, but that is not the punishment he got. After David heard what his punishment was going to be (see 2 Samuel 12:10-12), “David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD” (2 Samuel 12:13). David knew he deserved death and realized that God was being merciful to him. His confession of being a sinner was an acknowledgement that God was right in judging him. “And Nathan said unto David, the LORD hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (2 Samuel 12:13).

It says in 1 John 1:8-9, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Although David confessed his sin, he could not be forgiven because Jesus had not yet paid the penalty for it. The term put away or ‘abar (aw – bar´) in Hebrew, “is sometimes used of ‘passing over’ a law, order, or commandment as if it were not binding” (5674). In this instance, God made an exception for David and did not act according to his own law.

What God did for David could be considered a miracle. When God does something miraculous, he goes against the laws of nature; what would normally happen does not. Up until this point in his life, it can be assumed that David had not broken any of God’s commandments. In spite of his perfect track record, David’s sin would have cost him his life if God had not intervened.

God, in his wisdom, chose to make an example of David’s life. The message the LORD brought to David through Nathan was harsh and yet David saw God as merciful and wanted his relationship with him to be restored. In the end, David lost the child that was conceived through his act of adultery. After he was told of his child’s death, David said:

While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

Immediately after the child’s death, we see that David’s favor with the LORD is restored. Two events mark another turning point in David’s life. First, his son, and successor to his throne, Solomon is born by Bath-sheba and second, the children of Ammon are destroyed completely.

And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him…And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. And he took their king’s crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with precious stones: and it was set on David’s head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. (2 Samuel 12:24, 29-30)