The Repentance of King David

   Reading Scriptures: Second Samuel chapter 11 and 12; Second Samuel chapter 24.

   Second Samuel 11 and 12 tell us about David’s adultery, his murder, and his repentance. These records state that in the spring of the year, at the time kings go to battle, David sent Joab, the commander of the army of Israel, and the whole army to destroy the people of

   Ammon and besieged Rabbah, their royal city; but he himself remained in Jerusalem. It happened one evening when David was walking on the roof of the palace, that he saw a woman with unusual beauty whose name is Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, taking her bath. David sent messengers to bring her, and when she came to the palace, he slept with her, and afterwards, she returned home.

   Later, when David discovered that Bathsheba was pregnant, he sent a message to Joab on the battlefield, commanding him to send Uriah to him. So Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah arrived, David persuaded him to go to his house and take a rest; pushing him to go and lie with his wife. However, Uriah slept at the door of the palace and did not go down to his house. When David heard of it, he asked him to wait and depart the following day. It happened that in the morning before Uriah departed, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hands of Uriah. In this letter, he instructed Joab to set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and then pull back from him so that he will be killed. As David commanded in the letter, so Joab did, as a result, Uriah, along with several other Israelite soldiers were killed.

   These incidents displeased the Lord greatly, so He sent Nathan, the prophet to rebuke David. Nathan, therefore, went to David and pointed out his evil deeds to him. When David came to the consciousness of his transgression and heard the judgement of God on him, he condemned his actions before Nathan and sought to be reconciled with God. He continued in fasting and prayer for seven days, pleading with God to relent from the disaster his sins have brought on the innocent child Bathsheba had begotten to him.

   Furthermore, Second Samuel chapter 24 uncovered another sin King David committed and how he repented of it and turned to God. It recorded that King David sent his men to go through all the tribes of Israel and count the people, that he may know the number of the Israelites. Joab, the commander of the army tried to prevent him; however, he was relentless. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went throughout the entire territory of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, counting the people.

   After nine months and twenty days, Joab and the captains returned and gave an account of the total number of the people to the king. So it was that David’s heart condemned him as soon as he heard the number of the people of Israel. So David prayed to the Lord, confessed his sins, condemned his action, and pleaded for forgiveness. Afterwards, he prayed to turn away the disaster that the Lord brought upon Israel in consequence of his iniquity.

   The above stories unveil the gravity of David’s sins and how he repented of them. Concerning his adultery which led to the death of Uriah and several Israelite soldiers, we saw that David totally condemned his actions, sought to be reconciled with God, and fasted to turn away the disaster that his sins have brought on the child who was begotten to him through his adultery. It is so clear that David did not justify himself nor gave any excuse to whitewash his immorality in any way.

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