God holds all people accountable for their sins.

Session 6 Accountable God holds all people accountable for their sins. 2 SAMUEL 12:1-14 Most businesses and organizations have some type of system in place to ensure financial accountability. Every dollar spent must be explained in light of its intended purpose. Every person who spends money is responsible for those financial decisions. Sometimes, an accountant will ask individuals to justify their spending. Can you have freedom without accountability? Explain. What are the pros and cons of being held accountable for your actions? Date of My Bible Study: 55

UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT 2 SAMUEL 11:1 12:31 Freedom can t be separated from accountability. We may be free to do as we desire but we are not free from the consequences of our behavior. The reason is grounded in Scripture. God holds us accountable for what we do. David s downfall began with fateful words: In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 11:1). In contrast to all the soldiers of Israel, the king was unengaged with the war against the Ammonites. The king s idleness led to personal and national consequences. When we read that he walked around on the roof of the palace (11:2), it suggests complacency had settled into the leadership of the king of Israel. With his life in neutral, David spied from a distance a beautiful woman named Bathsheba and he committed adultery with her. When he found out she was pregnant, he began efforts to conceal his sin. He recalled her husband, Uriah, from the battlefront (11:6). The goal was that intimacy with his wife could deceive him into thinking that he was the father of the child instead of David. However, the king underestimated Uriah s loyalty to his fellow soldiers still deployed in battle and his determination to not participate in civilian-type activities (11:8-9). David took his attempted cover-up to an unthinkable next level. When Uriah returned to battle, the king ordered him placed in harm s way and then abandoned without support from other troops (11:14-15). This ensured Uriah s death. Bathsheba mourned the death of her husband. Upon completion of her time of mourning, David married her. On the surface and in the view of those who were unaware and uninvolved, this action might have appeared commendable. However, the Lord had a completely different view of it (11:27). Highlight David s response to his sin as the story unfolds in 2 Samuel 12. What does his response reveal about his understanding of sin? 56 Explore the Bible Personal Study Guide

EXPLORE THE TEXT NATHAN CONFRONTS (2 SAM. 12:1-4) 1 The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. 4 Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him. VERSE 1 The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to confront David about his sin of adultery and murder. Nathan began his confrontation with a story about two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. No doubt the story caught David s attention, as accounts regarding life s inequalities often do. Yet this was more than just a riveting story. It was a call to accountability regarding sin. VERSES 2-3 Nathan continued the story. The rich man, of course, had great resources that included livestock. The impoverished man only had one female lamb. It was like a household pet which the man carefully nurtured and fed. Although we might view his behavior as excessive, he was obviously a compassionate man. As the details of the story unfolded in the ears of David, Nathan skillfully and carefully drew him in without the king s awareness. His story was like a literary Trojan horse as it made its way into David s experience without him realizing it. VERSE 4 The rich man received a visitor and sought to display the prerequisite hospitality of that day. Yet, inconceivably, he refused to deplete his own vast flocks but instead took the ewe lamb that belonged to the Session 6 : Accountable 57

poor man for the entertainment of his visitor. This was a selfish act. Of course, this egregious act was not simply a theft but also required taking the life of the lamb. To satisfy his own desires, the rich man had to shed blood. The unflattering portrait of David is slowly developing in the details of the story. How might God confront a person today about his or her sin? Should we expect to be confronted in some way about our sin? Why or why not? DAVID JUDGES (2 SAM. 12:5-6) 5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity. VERSE 5 David was incensed at the story told to him by Nathan. Rightfully so, he recognized the injustice of the actions of the rich man against the less fortunate fellow citizen. If such a thing were to occur today, social media would be filled with comments. There might be public outrage to the point that residents of the community would rise up and demand restitution and justice. It seems that in today s culture there is a heightened sensitivity to incidents of injustice. However, this rightful concern about abuse and injustice is typically limited to human interactions. The concern is directed toward human abuse of other humans, not human abuse of divine blessing. What about our abuse of God s law? What about our misappropriation of His blessings to be spent on our own pleasures? What about sin against a holy God? The very fact that David judged the actions of the man in the story as worthy of death revealed that he could recognize sin and understand that it should be judged. The same is true of people today. We possess some capacity to judge sin but are shortsighted in the ultimate aspect of it. Our shortsightedness seems to emerge when the offense in question is our own. 58 Explore the Bible Personal Study Guide

VERSE 6 David identified the essence of the rich man s crime as a failure to show the appropriate pity. The same word was used in 1 Samuel 15:9 for Saul s sparing of King Agag in disregard of the direct command of God. It is frequently used to describe action taken by one human being in regards to another. The penalty David wanted to impose was for the rich man to give his poor neighbor four lambs as restitution (Ex. 22:1). Some commentators suggest that the punishment decreed by David in some sense fell upon him in that he suffered four great tragedies in his life: the death of the child borne by Bathsheba, the rape of Tamar his daughter, the murder of Amnon his son, and the death of Absalom his son who betrayed him. What does David s response to Nathan s story reveal about himself? What does a person s response to sin reveal about that person? GOD PUNISHES (2 SAM. 12:7-12) 7 Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master s house to you, and your master s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. 11 This is what the Lord says: Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel. Session 6 : Accountable 59

VERSES 7-8 Throughout Nathan s narrative, he repeated the idea of the man. He described the rich man (vv. 2,4) and the poor man (v. 3). David actually picked up on this terminology and called out the man in verse 5. As a fitting conclusion of his choice words, Nathan identified David: You are the man! From this declaration of guilt, Nathan proclaimed a three-part oracle of judgment that referenced God s blessing on David, David s transgression against both God and man, and the consequences of his sin. Ultimately all sin is ingratitude toward the goodness of God (Rom. 1:18-21). The Lord God of Israel, the covenant God of His people, had blessed David in significant ways. Notice the verbs used to describe what God had done for David: I anointed I delivered I gave I gave. Primarily, God had installed David as the king of Israel and bestowed on him all the privileges of kingship. Yet in this episode of his life David failed to be the moral example Israel needed in their ruler. Of the verbs God used to describe His blessing of David, the last one was future and somewhat hypothetical, I would have given you even more. Temptation to sin is often couched in the lie that God has not been sufficiently good to us (see Gen. 3:5). Nothing could be further from the truth. Even God s chastisement of our sin is redemptive in nature and intended to bring us back to Himself. VERSE 9 Nathan identified David s transgressions and characterized David as having despised the command of the Lord (which according to v. 10 was equated with despising the Lord Himself) and doing evil in His sight. While David s sin certainly was a violation of his responsibility to Bathsheba, Uriah, and even the whole nation, it was foremost an offense committed against the Lord God (see Ps. 51:4). Though he was not actually present at Uriah s murder, God asserted that David struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword. The Lord views sinful deeds done from a distance as firsthand participation. VERSES 10-12 The consequences of David s adultery and murder would be severe. God would hold the king of Israel accountable for what he had done. Although David s dynasty would continue as the Lord had promised, violence 60 Explore the Bible Personal Study Guide

and bloodshed would accompany the king to the very end of his reign. As David took another man s wife, his wives would be taken and given to someone else. David had not only committed adultery, he had also committed a capital crime. The Lord did not deal with David as severely as his actions warranted, but He was just in the punishments He enacted. Although David committed his transgression in secret, the Lord would deliver His chastisement in broad daylight before all Israel. Nathan s deliverance of this message from God prefigured Jesus teaching along the same lines (Luke 8:17). Wisdom reminds us to avoid doing anything in the dark that we would not want exposed in the light. Are sins ever really secret? To what examples can you point in support of your answer? KEY DOCTRINE: Salvation Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. DAVID RESPONDS (2 SAM. 12:13-14) 13 Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan replied, The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die. VERSE 13 David s admission of sin was as concise as Nathan s confrontation. Without any excuse made, the king said, I have sinned against the Lord. While David was a great sinner in this matter, he was also a repenter of sin. This is what distinguished him from Saul. His confession was a humble confession, made before Nathan, who was a prophet but also one of David s subjects. Such an act took courage on David s part as well as contrition, evidenced in his authentic and vulnerable confession recorded in Psalm 51. Session 6 : Accountable 61

Equally surprising was Nathan s immediate pronouncement of forgiveness, a declaration that the Lord has taken away your sin. We would expect some act of contrition to be performed, some sacrifice offered prior to forgiveness. God s grace always exceeds our expectations. David s actions were worthy of death but the promise of God through the prophet was that you are not going to die. VERSE 14 Although God mercifully forgave David and spared him from death, there would be eventual (vv. 10-12) and immediate consequences from his actions. While Psalm 32 was written by David to express the joy of forgiveness, there would still be sorrow to endure as a result of his adultery with Bathsheba. Nathan forecasted that the child whom she was carrying in her womb would die; which did take place (2 Sam. 12:18). After delivering the word of God and discharging his mission, Nathan went home. Verses 1 and 15 provide the framework for this ominous episode in David s life. Perhaps lesser men would have shirked the task given to the prophet, but Nathan too was accountable to the call of God on his life. In obedience to God, he delivered a difficult and potentially dangerous message. In what ways could a believer draw on God s grace in enduring the temporal consequence of sinful behavior? BIBLE SKILL: Read a related passage. After being confronted by Nathan, David wrote Psalm 51 expressing his prayer of repentance. Review Psalm 51. How does Psalm 51 give greater detail to David s response to Nathan s confrontation in 2 Samuel 12? What can we learn about sin from these passages? Memorize Psalm 51:10. 62 Explore the Bible Personal Study Guide

IN MY CONTEXT Believers should expect to be confronted about their sins. People can recognize sin and understand that judgment accompanies it. Sin carries consequences and is never secret or without ramifications. How can your group hold one another accountable for being faithful to Christ? What principles need to be followed in light of today s study? How could you use the story of David to help someone understand the nature of sin and its consequences? How can you show them God s grace as well? With whom do you need to share these truths? Identify a person currently experiencing the temporal consequences of past sinful behavior. What insights from this study can you share with them as encouragement? When can you share these insights with them? Prayer Needs Session 6 : Accountable 63