Thou Art The Man!

by: Carole D. Hicks (Jan 24, 2025)

Last night, after reading thru some hurtful, ridiculous, and what I’d deem loathsome and dishonest posts pertaining to the backlash with Rt. Rev Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon at the National Prayer Service (Jan 2025), my mind went to the story of King David. Specifically, the part of his story with Bathsheba and Uriah (her husband), and the prophet, Nathan.

Let’s consider it together.

It was Spring and a time when people and their Kings went to war on the regular. But this particular Spring, David stayed back at the palace and did not go fight. One evening, as you may recall, he was out walking on his roof and caught sight of beautiful Bathsheba taking a bath. He sent for her, and she came to him, and they slept together. Soon she advised him that she was pregnant.

Now her husband, Uriah, was away fighting in that Spring war. So David sent for him thinking he’d sleep with his wife and then she could say the baby was his.  BUT … Uriah had some “scruples” about him and refused to go home and be comfortable (comforted) while his mates were still at the front, fighting. David even got him drunk the next night thinking he’d mosey over and catch up with Bathsheba. NOPE! Not Uriah.

So, David sent him back to the field, carrying orders to his commander, orchestrating his own demise. Sure enough, Uriah was placed at the worst part of the battle and offered NO HELP for defense and was killed. Bathsheba mourned and David ended up making her his wife.

OH, THE PEOPLENESS, huh?

Well, if you’ll read in full the account in 2 Samuel 11-12, you’ll see that the prophet, Nathan, came to David and “wanted to tell him a little story.”  The story was about a rich man who did a poor farmer wrong … and as irony would have it, David was enraged to learn about how this rich man treated the poor farmer and he insisted to know who this man was and vowed that he’d be punished … many times over.

You may recall what Nathan said to David, “THOU ARE THE MAN!”  And then he proceeded to tell David how he had displeased the Lord and his actions against Uriah just would not stand.

He said to him directly, with no qualms, “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes?”    This qualifies as “calling him out” — “stepping on his toes” — “in his face!”

It’s what prophets do.

In verse 11, Nathan says this from the Lord, 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.’”

Sounds bad, huh? And David (remember God considered him “a man after God’s own heart” at one time) said, “I have sinned against God.”

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^[c] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

David mourned a lot while this child was sick. He had hoped that God would have mercy and change His mind. But that was not the case. After the death of the child was announced, David decided there was no use to mourn any more but to get up, wash his face and move on.

He went to the temple and worshipped God. The Bible says, he then went home, ate food and comforted Bathsheba, made love to her and she became pregnant again.

Think about this … had there not been Nathan … would David have repented, accepted accountability of this terrible wrong? Would he have thought he got away with it? Would this “power” have changed the “heart that was once after God’s own heart?”

Wonder why he didn’t deride and insult Nathan for “speaking TRUTH TO POWER.” 

Wonder why Nathan’s words were accepted upon a repentant heart when other kings might have called for Nathan’s head?

People do make mistakes. People who know and have a heart for God make mistakes. Those who truly value such a relationship with their Maker, feel conviction from sin and they want to make things right again. They repent, they ask for forgiveness, they worship and are thankful for grace and mercy even if they are uncomfortable with humility.

PRIDE is a deterrent from a living, breathing, walking, talking relationship with God.

In Proverbs, Solomon writes of things the Lord hates:

Proverbs 6:16-19

¹⁶ There are six things the Lord hates,
    seven that are detestable to him:
¹⁷         haughty eyes,
        a lying tongue,
        hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸         a heart that devises wicked schemes,
        feet that are quick to rush into evil,
¹⁹         a false witness who pours out lies
        and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

As fate (and irony) would have it, Solomon is the second son of David and Bathsheba.