David Punished for His Sin

David trembled, because he was afraid that he would be cut down, guilty and unforgiven, by the swift judgment of God. But the message was sent to him by the prophet, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.” Yet justice must be maintained. The sentence of death was transferred from David to the child of his sin. Thus the king was given opportunity to repent, while the suffering and death of the child, as a part of his punishment, was far more bitter to him than his own death could have been.BOE 364.7

When his child was stricken, David pleaded for its life with fasting and deep humiliation. Night after night he lay in heartbroken grief interceding for the innocent one suffering for his guilt. When he heard that the child was dead, he quietly submitted to the decree of God. The first stroke had fallen of the very punishment that he himself had declared just.BOE 365.1

Reading the history of David’s fall, many have asked, “Why did God see fit to throw open to the world this dark chapter in the life of one so highly honored by Heaven?” Atheists and unbelievers have pointed to the character of David and have exclaimed with a sneer, “This is the man after God’s own heart!” As a result, God and His word have been blasphemed, and many people, while professing to be religious, have become bold in sin.BOE 365.2

But the history of David does not give any approval for sin. It was when he was walking with God and following His counsel that David was called a man after God’s own heart. When he sinned, this stopped being true of him until by repenting he returned to the Lord. “The thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord” (KJV). Though David repented of his sin, he reaped the deadly harvest of the seed he had sown. The judgments upon him testify how much God hates sin.BOE 365.3

David himself was broken in spirit by the consciousness of his sin and its far-reaching results. He felt humbled in the eyes of his subjects, and his influence was weakened. Now his subjects, knowing about his sin, would be led to sin more freely. His authority in his own household was weakened as his guilt kept him silent when he should have condemned sin. His evil example exerted its influence on his sons, and God would not step in to prevent the result. So David was severely punished, and no repentance could help him escape the agony and shame that would darken his whole earthly life.BOE 365.4

People who point to the example of David to try to lessen the guilt of their own sins should learn from the Bible record that the way of transgression is hard. The results of sin, even in this life, will be found bitter and hard to bear.BOE 365.5

God intended that the history of David’s fall would serve as a warning that even those whom He has greatly blessed are not to feel smugly secure. And it has served this purpose to everyone who has humbly tried to learn the lesson He designed to teach. The fall of David, one so honored by the Lord, has awakened in them distrust of self. Knowing that their strength and safety was in God alone, they have been afraid to take the first step onto Satan’s ground.BOE 365.6

Even before the divine sentence was pronounced against David, he had begun to reap the fruit of transgression. The agony of spirit he endured then is brought to view in the thirty-second psalm:BOE 366.1

When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Psalm 32:3, 4BOE 366.2

And the fifty-first psalm is an expression of David’s repentance, when the message of reproof came to him from God:BOE 366.3

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ...
Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,
The God of my salvation,
And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. Psalm 51:10, 11, 14BOE 366.4

So in this sacred song that was to be sung in the public assemblies of his people, the king of Israel told of his sin, his repentance, and his hope of pardon through the mercy of God. Instead of trying to hide his guilt, David wanted others to be instructed by the sad history of his fall.BOE 366.5