2Samuel 11:1-5
That Dirty Rotten Sin
I know it is my title; but if I were to ask you what the dirty rotten
sin was, what would you say? Just by the reference you would probably
say, "Adultery;" and you’d be right. I call adultery the dirty rotten
sin not because it is the most common sin and not because it has the
most destructive consequences, but because I think it is the most
common sin with the most destructive consequences.
No doubt there is more lying that adultery, but the consequences are
not as high. Murder has greater consequences, but it is not as
common. Adultery is the dirty rotten sin because it is the most
common sin with the highest destructive consequence.
We read in our text that David committed adultery. I experience a
full range of emotions when I come to this part of David’s life.
1. I feel remorse. David is one of my Bible heroes. It is always
disheartening when your hero falls. David wasn’t perfect. No
human, but it’s still heartbreaking to see a godly servant
fall.
2. I feel fear. David was a better man than I. He knew the
Person, the Presence, and the Power of God more than I will
ever know. If someone like David could fall, there appears
to be no sure inoculation for it.
3. But I also feel some comfort. As grieved as I may be for what
David did, he was forgiven and finished his race for God. In
that, i find comfort.
Let’s spend some time to see if we can learn something that will help
us.
I. \\#2Sam 11:1\\ David was out of place.
2Sam 11:1 And it came to pass, after the year
was expired, at the time when kings go forth to
battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants
with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the
children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David
tarried still at Jerusalem.
A. The events of the last chapter have relevance on this chapter.
1. Ammon and Israel had bad blood for centuries but of late,
things had been good between David and Ammon’s king,
Nahash.
a. But Nahash died.
b. David wanted to honor Nahash so he send some
ambassadors to Ammon.
c. Nahash’s son them and then hired an army of
mercenaries to fight against Israel.
2. When that happened, David dispatched Joab to teach them
some manners.
2Samuel 10:7 And when David heard of it, he sent
Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.
3. Unfortunately, they did not get finished with the lesson
in time so in chapter 11, Israel prepares to go back.
B. But David was not in his place.
2Sam 11:1 …at the time when KINGS go forth to
battle… But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
1. The verse does not say at the time when "armies" go forth
into battle but at the time when "kings" go forth to
battle.
2. I do not know all that makes it the time to go into
battle (probably weather), but David did not go to the
fight.
3. I do not know why David did not go; but the way God wrote
that verse it seems obvious that is where David should
have been.
C. I don’t want to make too big a deal out of this because all of
us have gotten tired, weary, or just plain lazy in our duties
from time to time.
1. Just because we did, it didn’t mean we were headed for
adultery or murder.
2. However, we need to note that no one starts on the pathway
of sin by starting the doorway of big sin.
3. We all start the pathway of sin at the small sin doorway.
a. A little bit of laziness,
b. a little lie,
c. a little looking at the wrong things,
d. a little thinking wrong things…
e. These are the seeds that grow into a major sinful
meltdown.
Song of Solomon 2:15 Take us the foxes, the
little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our
vines have tender grapes.
D. \\#2\\ Tells us that in the evening (probably a hot evening),
David went out on to the roof of his palace home.
1. What David was doing was not uncommon.
a. It was hot.
b. There was no air conditioning—not even electric fans.
c. The homes in Israel and that region of the world,
were and are designed so that you could go on the
roof to cool.
2. \\#2Sam 5:6-9\\ tells that David built his palace on
MOUNT Zion, which at the time, was higher than the city
of Jerusalem.
3. That meant his roof literally had a view of all the city.
4. While on his roof, David saw something that stirred him.
II. \\#2Sam 11:2\\ Bathsheba was out of place.
A. In no way do I want to excuse men in general or David in
particular; however, one must note that David is not the only
out of place here.
2Sam 11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide,
that David arose from off his bed, and walked
upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the
roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the
woman was very beautiful to look upon.
B. Bathsheba’s morals are out of place.
1. A roof was a perfectly normal place for people to go to
cool off, but it was not an acceptable place for people
to go to bathe.
2. And even if it was, any modest person would know to put up
some kind of partitions to keep others who were on their
roofs from seeing you.
3. Ladies, God has blessed you with a beauty and a body that
men desire, but with that gift comes some commands.
1Timothy 2:9 In like manner also, that women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with
shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided
hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
10 But (which becometh women professing
godliness) with good works.
Titus 2:4 That they may teach the young women
to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good,
obedient to their own husbands, that the word of
God be not blasphemed.
a. You are to keep your beauty and body for your husband,
even if he doesn’t appreciate it.
(1) For most ladies present tonight, I am neither
your father nor your husband, but no woman ought
to show anything she does not want a strange man
to touch.
(2) I am not saying a strange man has a right to
touch what you show; but I am saying you should
not show what you don’t want to be touched.
(3) God has given to you a very special gift and a
command so that you and your husband can delight
(4) My job is to deliver to you that message. You
decision is to decide whether you want to or
not.
b. Men, you need to stay away from a woman who doesn’t
know she needs to do that.
(1) You are man with desires. They are natural
desires given to you by God to make you want to
find a wife and have a family.
(2) And there are some girls in every age group that
will fling themselves to men like bait is cast
in front of a fish.
(3) Some men, men who don’t care very much about God
or the Bible, will use women willing to be used.
(a) I hope no one here would do that.
(b) And if you would have yesterday, I hope God
will deal with your heart by the time you
leave here so that you won’t ever again.
(4) But like the ladies have a choice to make
concerning their bodies, you have some choices
to make concerning yours.
(5) What a man needs to do is find a woman who has
loved you since before she knew your name and
kept herself for you.
(6) Find that woman as quickly as you can, love her
as much as you can, and you keep yourself for
her just like she is keeping herself for you.
4. So Bathsheba was out of place bathing on that roof, but is
that all?
C. I believe Bathsheba may have been out of place in her heart.
There are several things I see that just don’t strike me as
right.
1. I have mentioned Bathsheba’s immodesty by bathing on the
roof.
2. But then, I can’t help but to wonder why she would go to
the king’s palace without an escort?
2Sam 11:3 And David sent and enquired after the
woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the
daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and
she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for
she was purified from her uncleanness: and she
returned unto her house.
a. I know that I am an ignorant man, but I find it
strange that a woman would want to be along with a
man not her husband—and vice-versa.
b. The king might have commanded her appearance.
(1) The text says "David sent… and took her."
(2) The word means to fetch, to bring, to carry, but
it can also mean to seize or take away.
(3) David was a king and he could have forcibly
removed Bathsheba from her house.
(4) He had that kind of authority.
c. But there are differences in the behavior of a woman
being forced to go someplace and wanting to go.
d. This woman seemed willing to go.
3. \\#4\\ That belief is further fostered by the fact that
Bathsheba didn’t tell anyone what had happened.
a. I understand that silence does not mean a woman was
not forced, but the further into this story we go,
the more things just don’t add up.
b. So bear with me for a while.
(1) We know that Uriah, her husband, was one of
David’s mighty men, one of his valiant 30.
(2) Being so meant a certain level of authority and
fame in the king’s court.
(3) Bathsheba would have been able to reach her
husband if she had a mind to do so.
(4) (Jesse, David’s father, was able to reach his
sons when he wanted to do so.)
c. \\#3\\ In addition, Bathsheba’s grandfather was named
Ahithophel \\#2Sam 23:34\\.
(1) Ahithophel was one of David’s counsellor’s
\\#2Sam 15:12\\.
(2) If Bathsheba couldn’t reach Uriah, she could have
reached her own family.
d. But it appears that she told no one of the incident.
e. This woman was most likely neither unlearned or
helpless in the political events of Jerusalem.
(1) I believe that even if she had been forced by the
king himself, she would have been able to make a
fuss about it to someone.
(2) She did not.
(3) That by itself does not bring us to a conclusion,
but with the other oddities, it does suggest
something is amiss.
4. \\#5\\ It was David Bathsheba turned to when she
discovered that she was pregnant, not her husband, her
father, or her grandfather.
2Sam 11:5 And the woman conceived, and sent and
told David, and said, I am with child.
a. I accept that a woman who has been attacked and forced
might not want to tell anyone of it.
b. However, I cannot accept the fact that a woman who is
attacked would return to her attacker to fix her
pregnancy!
5. \\#5\\ I also notice that she had a way to get a
sensitive, secret message to the king! This is either a
woman who knew the political system of Jerusalem very
well, or else she and David put a plan into effect for
some communications and probably for some return visits.
6. \\#2Sam 11:14-18 27\\ I notice that this woman allowed her
husband to be killed.
a. Maybe she did not know what David would do.
b. It really does not appear that David knew what he was
going to do.
c. But after the deed was done, it would be very hard not
to at least suspect what David had done.
7. And once Uriah was dead, Bathsheba married the king.
a. By the way, all of this was done in haste.
b. They were married quick enough that Bathsheba could
pretend the child was David’s.
D. I am not a math whiz but these facts just do not add up.
1. Could I suggest to you that Bathsheba and David were not
strangers but had met before?
a. Uriah was one of David’s chief soldiers.
b. Ahithophel was his chief counselor.
c. It is very likely that David had met Bathsheba before.
2. Could I go further and suggest that one or both of these
had flirted with the other before?
a. Why else would the king of Israel have felt he could
send for another man’s wife, the wife of one of his
most loyal and devoted soldiers and the granddaughter
of his trusted advisor, and not have her scream to
the highest heaven?!
b. It is even possible that Bathsheba was purposely
bathing on the roof top for David?
c. Is it possible that David encouraged her?
d. I do not know but I do know that both David and
Bathsheba were out of place.
III. Two people being out of place lead to the dirty rotten sin.
A. I do not mean to impugn a pure woman’s reputation.
1. Perhaps Bathsheba was dumb—maybe she was the dumbest woman
that has ever walked on God’s green earth—but I don’t
think so.
2. I think she had her eye on David and perhaps David had his
eye on her.
3. I think she was one of the woman that David will later
warn his son to avoid.
Proverbs 2:16 To deliver thee from the strange
woman, even from the stranger which flattereth
with her words;
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and
forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her
paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither
take they hold of the paths of life.
20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men,
and keep the paths of the righteous.
4. Ladies, do not become that kind of woman.
a. Not for any man.
b. Not for any passion.
c. Not for the "old maid" complex.
d. Not to fit in.
e. Not because everyone else is doing it.
B. Regardless of what kind of woman Bathsheba was, David should
have resisted.
1. I said at the beginning that nothing Bathsheba might have
done could excuse David—and it cannot.
2. David knew God and David knew better.
3. A man of God and a man of character must be strong enough
to withstand no matter what kind of woman comes across his
path.
C. Even saying all of that, let me point out that the Scriptures
record only one time in the lives of David and Bathsheba that
they turned themselves over to this sin.
1. I do not say that to praise them but to make a point.
2. We sometimes think that people who commit this sin, or any
kind of sin, must have some kind of defect in their
character.
a. It is possible—I don’t think it is very probable, but
it is possible—that everything that happened was
innocent and out of ignorance.
b. Looking at the whole of their lives, they were more
faithful than frivolous in character.
c. Yet, they fell so far!!
3. But that just makes the danger all the worse.
a. Sexual lust and neglect can make monsters out of
otherwise good and godly people.
b. We know that David was a good and godly man and since
David married and cared for Bathsheba the rest of
their lives, we may assume she was not a woman for
hire, but what awfulness came out of them both.
D. As Christians, my recommendation is that we all—both men and
women—put up walls between us and every other opposite.
1. If you don’t allow yourself any opportunities to be
tested, you will not fall.
2. There are places faithful and moral should not be,
things we should not see,
thoughts we should not think,
and situations we should not be in.
3. Let us make our walls of purity long, and wide, and high so
that even if we later want to climb over them, we will not
be able to do so.
4. If we do not, I believe our lives will end in regret.
I like westerns. A few years ago, I came across a series with Steve
McQueen that I had never heard of, entitled, "Wanted: Dead or Alive."
The series aired when I was between 1 and 4, which is why I never
watched it; but I had never really known much about Steve McQueen so
I took the opportunity to read about his life. It was a life that
started out hard.
1. His father abandoned the family when Steve was 6 months old.
2. His mother, an alcoholic, couldn’t provide for him so she gave
him to a family member.
3. Things happened and he ended up a kid in the big city running
a street gang. His run-ins with the law ended him up in a
correctional home for boys.
4. He eventually landed up in the Marines, straightened up some,
and used the VA bill to get into acting.
5. He always lived like a lost man but he had what he and
everyone else said was a good relationship with a his wife,
yet he got the lust bug after more than 14 years and lost his
family.
6. Here was a man who had riches and fame, in his mid-30’s he was
the best-known actor in the world; but as I read about his
life, I felt sorry for him!
7. Steve McQueen died at 50 of cancer and was with his third
wife.
8. I was reading secular sources but some said that Steve McQueen
trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior three months BEFORE he was
diagnosed with cancer.
https://www.breakingchristiannews.com/articles/display
_art.html?ID=8277
9. He went back to some of those in his life he had hurt and
tried to make things right before he died.
10. It was obvious by those who recorded his life that he had many
regrets.
Don’t let the lust bug fill your life with regret. Make it your
life’s goal not to fall into this dirty rotten sin.
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