Even kings reap what they sow - 14 March 2024

The principle is as universal as it is biblical. I think that, often, we do not realise that what we do has consequences. I have been alluding to this over the last few days. We have been considering the patriarchs, with particular emphasis on Jacob whom God called Israel.

The nation Israel was firmly established in Egypt where the number of Hebrews had swelled to such an extent as to be a threat. God was always with them even when they endured periods of scattering or faced war and hostility.

Eventually, King David, in the lineage of Jacob – whom God described as being a man after God’s own heart – rose up. However, David’s own heart became ensnared by sin and he was wrested from following God’s precepts. Seemingly, no one is immune.

The Bible does not shy away from the warts-and-all parts in the lives of his servants. God had given a pattern for marriage, for kings too (Deuteronomy 17:17), yet even by those standards David had many wives. King David had blithely ignored it and garnered for himself, as kings of old often did, quite the harem.

One day, when kings were supposed to go to war, King David saw a married woman bathing as she observed the requirements of ritual purification (2 Samuel 11). She did nothing to entice the king. Nor did she do anything to set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to deceit, murder and, finally, God’s righteous judgement through Nathan, the prophet.

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. 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. 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. 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.’ “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. … Before your very eyes … You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” (2 Samuel 12:7-12)

David had a problem with women and over the years, he had many wives and concubines. The incident with Bathsheba was perhaps a wake-up call: she was officially David’s last wife.

We have been looking into deception and the Bible makes it clear that we should not be deceived about this one thing: God will not be mocked. The day will come when God acts and then it will be appropriate and proportionate for what has been done.

Prayer: Father, thank you for loving us enough to confront us with our sins. Nobody gets away scot-free as sin has consequences. Not even earthly kings are exempt. Amen