sin

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)

He didn’t like it

There are two times in our lives when we are most likely to do something really stupid, when we are at the peak of our success, and when we are in the depths of despair. David was at the peak of his success when he decided to tarry at Jerusalem while his army went out to destroy the children of Ammon.

And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of his house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. (2 Samuel 11:2)

There are a few things about David’s story that make it appear as if David planned what he was about to do next. First, “David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel” (2 Samuel 11:1)) out to fight. The last time all Israel had gone out, David was leading them, so it was unusual for him to stay behind. Second, David was in bed at eveningtide, around sunset, when the day is turning to night. Third, David was walking on the roof of his house, a place where he would be vulnerable to attack. Knowing that all his soldiers were out of town, David would have been an easy target for anyone that wanted to do him harm.

“And David sent messengers and took her; and she came unto him, and he lay with her…And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child” (2 Samuel 11:4-5). The woman David took was Bath-sheba, “the wife of Uriah the Hittite” (2 Samuel 11:3). Although it appears that David and Bath-sheba had only one sexual encounter, it is possible that they were together multiple times before and after the incident in which she is noted as becoming pregnant.

After David was told that Bath-sheba was pregnant, he tried to make it look like the child was Uriah’s by bringing him back home and getting him to sleep with his wife, but his plan failed, and so David had Uriah put in a position on the battlefield where he could be killed. This elaborate plot to cover up his sin is probably the most compelling evidence that David planned to have sex with Bath-sheba before he saw her from the roof of his house.

“And when the mourning was past, David sent and fet her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD” (2 Samuel 11:27). The words translated displeased, ‘ayin and ra‘a‘ together have the meaning of seeing something unpleasant or perverted (5869/7489). Because the LORD’s eyes were continually upon David, he saw what David did with Bath-sheba and her husband Uriah and the LORD didn’t like it.

Giving credit where credit is due

When God redeems a man, he is exercising his complete, sovereign freedom to liberate a human being. Redemption involves some intervening or substitutionary action which effects a release from an undesirable condition (6299). Jesus’ death on the cross effected the release of every person from the bondage of sin and death. No other person ever has or ever will die for the sins of another. God chose to liberate man from his sin nature and offers redemption from sin to anyone who desires it.

Rechab and Baanah thought they were doing David a favor when they killed Saul’s son Ish-bosheth and brought his head to David as evidence (2 Samuel 4:8). What they didn’t understand was that Ish-bosheth was not a threat to David. David was not distressed about Ish-bosheth’s appointment as king of Israel. David declared to Rechab and Baanah that the LORD had redeemed his soul from all adversity. What David meant was that Ish-bosheth’s sin  no longer had any effect on David’s life because David had been redeemed from all sin, not just his own.

The sins that usually hurts us the most are sins that are committed against us. When God redeems a man from sin, he does not just release him from the effect of his sins, but the sins of everyone else also. When I was 14, I was raped and it had an extremely negative effect on my life. I suffered a great deal of adversity as a result of someone else’s sin. It wasn’t until I realized that Jesus died for that person’s sin against me that I was freed from the effect of that sin on my life.

David described Ish-bosheth as a righteous man (2 Samuel 4:11). The word David used for righteous, tsaddîyq (tsad – deek´) means just. It is said that a Christian is justified by the death of Jesus on the cross; it is just as if the person had never committed a sin. If a sin has never been committed, then there can be no effect from it. What David was doing was crediting Ish-bosheth’s sin to Jesus and claiming redemption from that sin. It was not going to have any effect on him and therefore, Ish-bosheth’s murder was unnecessary.

Every sin can be credited to Jesus’ account. Jesus died for every sin that had been or ever will be committed when he shed his blood on the cross. The only thing we have to do is give him the credit.

The end

This blog is dedicated to my niece Stephanie who died of a drug overdose this past weekend. She was the victim of child sexual abuse and never recovered from her trauma.

It is hard to explain why Christians don’t always end up with a wonderful life, but there are at least two factors that can cause someone that has submitted his life to God to follow a pathway of self destruction. Everyone has a sin nature that is not changed when a person is transformed by the Holy Spirit and God will not force a person to obey him even if that person has been anointed for a particular job in God’s kingdom.

Saul’s life was derailed when he chose of his own free will to disobey God’s command. His position as king of Israel made him accountable for the destiny of the nation and therefore, God could not just let Saul go his own way. After he let Agag the king of the Amalekites live, God decided to replace Saul with a man whose heart was right toward him, a man who would seek to do God’s will instead of his own. David was a young shepherd when God called him to be king. His defeat of Goliath showed that he was willing to do anything to honor God before the enemies of Israel.

As a result of David’s success, Saul determined that he was a threat that needed to be eliminated. David was certain that Saul wanted to kill him, so he went to Jonathon, Saul’s son for help. David’s plea to Jonathon reveals the love between these two men and the anguish David felt that they could not be friends.

And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathon know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. (1 Samuel 20:3)

Jonathon’s love for David caused him to have to choose between his loyalty to his father and loyalty to David, the man he loved as his own soul (1 Samuel 18:1). After speaking to his father, “Jonathon knew that it was determined of his father to slay David” (1Samuel 20:33).

The word translated determined, kâlâh (kaw – law´) means to end (3615). In Saul’s case, kalah meant that he had made a firm decision. There was no way to change his mind. One of the ways the word kalah is used is to represent “coming to an end” or “the process of ending” (3615). When Saul decide to kill David, you could say it was the end or the process of ending his walk with the LORD. Saul had the potential to rule over Israel for ever, but his stubborn determination to go his own way ruined not only his future, but the future of his son Jonathon as well.

The story begins

When my children were young, I tried to teach them everything they needed to know to be able to take care of themselves, like how to cook, clean, and do laundry. Although there were many things they were able to do for themselves, there were some things I had to do for them because they couldn’t handle the responsibility. For instance, I had to pay the bills because they had no concept of earning a living, having a budget, or being responsible for debt.

God tried to teach the Israelites how to be holy, but they did not understand the concept of forgiveness. Forgiveness was the only way the Israelites could be holy because they, like all humans, had a sin nature and could not live a perfect life. When forgiveness occurs, it is like wiping the slate clean, there is no more evidence of the offense. But in order to do that, there has to be a departure or taking away of the sin. Sins do not magically disappear just because they have been forgiven. The sin is removed and placed on the sacrifice where it is atoned for.

The spirit of the LORD departed from Saul because of his disobedience, but the underlying problem was that his sins were not forgiven. Saul was not aware that he was carrying his sins around with him, that the accumulated weight on his spirit was making it impossible for the spirit of the LORD to function in his life. It wasn’t until the spirit of the LORD departed that Saul knew he was in trouble.

Saul sought out a man to soothe his spirit when he was troubled and the man he selected was the man God anointed to replace him. David is described as a man “that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him” (1 Samuel 16:18). David was the great grandson of Ruth and Boaz. At the time he was called to serve Saul, he was a shepherd responsible for tending his father’s sheep. The only thing he had in common with Saul was that he was also anointed to be king.

We all need Jesus

“And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever” (1 Samuel 13:13). If Saul had been able to live a perfect life, if he had obeyed all of God’s commandments, then there would have been no need for Jesus to come and die for the sins of the world. Even though God made Saul another man and gave him another heart, Saul was still a man and he had a sin nature like everyone else. Even though I am born again and love God with all my heart, I still sin, I make mistakes and screw things up. That’s why I need Jesus, why you need Jesus, why we all need Jesus.

Take my life

Family conflict may be the hardest to deal with because it can be very personal. Some family conflicts go on for years, even decades or entire lifetimes. In some instances, conflicts are generational and resolution seems impossible. The Israelites’ family conflict centered around the fact that Jacob had two wives, one that he loved and one that he didn’t. The wife that Jacob loved, Rachel had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.

When Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, Jacob became so attached to Benjamin that he wouldn’t let him out of his sight. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin, so his father became his primary parent and no doubt had a strong influence on his personality and character.

The tribe of Benjamin grew very strong in the Promised Land. His favored status in the family may have caused Benjamin’s descendants to become prideful and what my grandma used to call, a little too big for his britches. The men who raped the Levite’s concubine were from the tribe of Benjamin and so there was a confrontation to have the men handed over so they could be punished, but the Benjamites wouldn’t do it and decided to go to war instead.

The children of Benjamin had 26,000 men in their army and “among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men lefthanded: every one could sling stones at a hair breadth, and not miss” (Judges 20:16). The men of the tribe of Benjamin’s army are described as men of valour, which means they were very powerful. They were probably not only physically strong, but smart and able to conduct themselves well in battle. They must have been very confident because “the men of Israel, beside Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men that drew the sword: all these were men of war” (Judges 20:17).

The battle between Benjamin and the rest of the children of Israel lasted three days. The first two days, the Benjamites had the upper hand and killed 40,000 of their brethren. On the third day, God delivered the children of Benjamin into the hands of their brothers, 25,000 men were killed and their cities were set on fire.

The result was the purging of sin from among God’s people. The cost of the battle, 65,000 lives for the rape of one woman, seems rather high, but it demonstrates the importance of holiness to God. It is not surprising then that he gave his only begotten son to cleanse the entire world of all sin. Thank you Jesus!

Doing the right thing for the wrong reason

I think the worst thing a Christian can do is do the right thing for the wrong reason. It seems like if you do the right thing, you should always get a good result, but that is not the case. What is more important than what you do is why you do it. God does not tally up all the good things we do and reward us for our effort; he looks at our heart. God judges the motive behind every action we take and makes sure that bad motives do not produce good results.

I married my ex-husband for two reasons: 1) I was pregnant, and 2) I had no means of supporting myself. I had only been a Christian for a few months. I was still recovering from being abducted and raped by a serial rapist the year before and had overdosed on sleeping pills, so my emotional state was unstable.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that I had completely cut God out of the picture. There was no repentance or asking for forgiveness, just a desperate attempt to fix things and conceal my wrong doing. I thought I was doing the right thing and would be rewarded for my effort, but I had no interest in being married to the father of my child; I just wanted him to take care of us.

It says in Judges 18:30 that the children of Dan worshipped a graven image or false god until the day of their captivity. The word translated captivity, gâlûwth (gaw – looth´) is derived from the Hebrew word gâlâh (gaw – law’) which means “to leave, depart, uncover, reveal” (1540).

The day of my captivity was the day my ex-husband left me for another woman. At that point, I had no one else to rely on but God. I wish I had turned to God sooner, but unfortunately, like the Israelites, I was a stiff-necked, stubborn woman and thought I could take care of my own problems.

“And they set up Micah’s graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh” (Judges 18:31). My guess is that Laish, where Micah’s idol was kept, and the house of God in Shiloh were not that far apart in distance. It was probably not for convenience that the Danites wanted to worship at home rather than going to the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle was where you went to acknowledge your sin, and like me, the children of Dan wanted to keep that a secret.