holbeck

“The man who has done this deserves to die!”  Strong words! Especially coming from a ruler who had the power to put the guilty man to death. But there was a huge problem. Nathan was a prophet sent to tell King David about a great travesty of justice. A powerful man had taken advantage of a poor man and robbed him of a very precious possession. David fumed as he heard the story. He immediately decided that the man deserved death.

The huge problem? Nathan had been referring to something King David himself had done in robbing another man of his wife. To the King’s surprise he heard these strong words being addressed to him. “You are the man!” said Nathan to David. What a shock to David to discover that the object of his sudden anger was himself! He was guilty! Guilty of coveting what belonged to another! Guilty of injustice! Guilty of immorality! Guilty of murder! Through Nathan’s rebuke he at last recognised it.

We may wonder why it took so long for David to see the enormity of his sin. There is an answer. The same process takes place today in human lives everywhere. Deliberate sin hardens those who engage in it. That’s what the writer of Hebrews 3:13 warns, But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. A person commits one sin and seems to get away with it. Then comes another temptation and the person yields to that. Still nothing seems to happen. And so it goes on, as deliberate sin seems to bring no immediate consequences. What is happening of course it that the person is becoming less and less sensitive to sin and to guilt. Their consciences become hardened. Paul described those who live a lie as David was doing, like this, … Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 2 Timothy 4:2, (NIV)  OR Their sense of what is right and wrong has been burned as if with a hot iron. (New International Readers Version).  They become insensitive to the sinfulness of their own sin. King David was a classic case.

David however did change. He did become penitent. We see it in the opening verse of Psalm 51 as he cried out to God for mercy, Psalm 51:1, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. … . The word for “transgressions” is from “pesha” which was often used to describe rebellion, including rebellion against God. David had indeed rebelled against God in a number of ways. David knew the law of God and said he delighted in the law (meaning the Pentateuch or the first five books of the Old Testament), Psalm 40:8, I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.” However he rebelled against what God had said in the law. We see how David had broken many of the commandments in the Decalogue or the Ten Commands that God had given to His people in the Law.

David had begun to make a whole series of wrong choices. He broke the tenth commandment in terms of coveting another man’s wife when he saw Bathsheba bathing. Instead of turning away his gaze he deliberately chose to keep on looking. His looking soon turned into lust.  Lust led him to another dangerous choice. To enquire more about Bathsheba. In spite of being told that she was married to a man named Uriah he made another wrong choice and had her brought to him. In that sense he deliberately broke the commandment “You shall not steal” by stealing another man’s wife in his absence. When Bathsheba came into his presence, David broke another commandment by making another wrong choice. He chose to commit adultery with her knowing she was another man’s wife.

When Bathsheba became pregnant to him, David continued his series of wrong choices. He chose to have Uriah recalled from the war on the pretext of finding out from him how the war was going. In reality it was to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so that Uriah would be seen as the father of the child to be born to Bathsheba. David’s plan didn’t work the first night. So he chose to have Uriah stay another night. Still his plan didn’t work. So David chose to try to get Uriah drunk so that his plan might work in those circumstances. Uriah was too committed to his task as a soldier to take advantage of marital privileges that his comrades on the battlefield were denied.  (Rather shocking when you think about it that David did not share his commitment when he was the real leader of the army of Israel. But as 2 Samuel 11 begins, In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And …  remained at Jerusalem. David should have been out leading his troops. Instead he had chosen to relax at home. He was out of God’s will. Being out of the will of God opened him to temptations he would not have been exposed to if he had been in the will of God. Instead of being “on guard” as the commander of the army, he was caught “off guard” at home while shirking his responsibilities as the King.)  

 David had behaved abominably as the King of the nation. Worse was to follow. Uriah would eventually come to know that the child to be born to Bathsheba was not his. To cover his affair with Bathsheba, David chose to get rid of Uriah. Here we read of the man “after God’s own heart” planning the deliberate murder of one of his own soldiers. He implicated Joab the commander of the army in the plot by having him post Uriah at the forefront of the battle. Not only that but Joab was instructed in the letter David sent by the hand of Uriah, to draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”  Despicable stuff! David chose to have Uriah carry his own death warrant to Joab. Poor Uriah! He thought he was serving his King and country as he carried this important communiqué from the King. Uriah would never have suspected that his King could be so deceitful.

We gain some insight into how far David had departed from the will of God when he was told that Uriah and others had been killed in battle. His response was shallow, callous and uncaring, Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another, 2Samuel 11:25. ( It was almost as thouigh David held his hand to his mouth, yawned and stated in a bored manner,  “Ho, Hum! That’s war for you! People die! Don’t worry about it!”  His hard heartedness meant that he devalued people, even his own troops. No sadness about the loss of life. Just relief that Uriah had been “got rid of”.

The final part of the whole sordid business was the taking of Bathsheba by David to his house, and his marriage to her in perhaps the shortest possible time. This was to lessen the time between the marriage and the birth of the child. Deception continued. We read one of the greatest understatements in the Bible, But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, 2 Samuel 11:27. A stronger statement is made in the Septuagint Greek version of the Bible where the translation is, the thing David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord. “Evil” here is from ponēros, meaning wicked or malicious. David was deceived about his own wickedness. God was not.  God in His mercy sent Nathan the prophet to open the eyes of the spiritually and morally blinded King.

 Can God ever forgive such ongoing deliberate sin?                                     

David prayed, Psalm 51:1  …Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2)  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! The words he used in asking God to forgive him show his understanding of God as a God of mercy. He asked God to “have mercy” on him. The word is “chanan” denoting a desire that God treat him graciously. We see that his confidence in asking God for mercy lay in the way he saw God as having “steadfast love” and “abundant mercy”. His sin might have been heinous but God’s mercy was abundant to cover even heinous crimes.

Having become very aware of his sin he wanted it to be taken away from him. He used 3 different expressions to indicate the extent of the forgiveness he needed.

i).   He wanted his transgressions “blotted” out where “blot out” is “machan” meaning to “erase” or “wipe out” completely. It is also used in verse 9, Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. David wanted all trace of his transgressions to go, so that even God would not look upon them any more.

 ii).  He saw his need to be “washed” from his iniquity, verse 2.  “Wash” is from “kabas” meaning to trample underfoot as in the washing of garments. “Iniquity” is from “avon” often used to describe deeper levels of sin such as perversity or depravity. It may also include the guilt arising from such sin. David carried a lot of guilt because of deliberate sin and rebellion against God. He wanted his “filth” completely removed by a vigorous wash. He wanted God to cleanse him inwardly.

iii). He desired that God “cleanse” him from his sin. “Cleanse” is “taher” a word used often in Leviticus where it was used for ritual cleansing and in other places for moral cleansing. “Sin” here is “chattath” used for sin against God (including idolatry) and against fellow humans. It is also used in verse 3, For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. He knew he needed cleansing. He repeated this request to be “clean” in verse 7, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

 He realised he had sinned against God in sinning against Bathsheba and Uriah. Psalm 51:4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. He had deliberately broken God’s law. He needed forgiveness from God for sinning against Him in the many things he had done which were contrary to the law of God and to the will of God for him as the King of God’s people.

He knew he needed to be different. He needed a clean (tahor) heart Psalm 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. “Clean” here is the adjective of the verb found in verse 2.  He needed God to cleanse him and to create in him a clean heart.  He needed a renewed spirit within him to become a more trustworthy, reliable person.

He knew he was guilty of shedding blood. The blood of Uriah and perhaps that of the soldiers who were deliberately sent to the battlefront with him.  Psalm 51:14  Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

He wanted to know restoration of the joy of his salvation.  Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. He knew what he was missing from being out of fellowship with God. He wanted that joy back. He also knew he needed to be strengthened, and uphold me with a willing spirit. (In the Greek Septuagint, the LXX, the reading is establish me with thy directing Spirit.)  It is the Holy Spirit of God who enables our spirit to be willing to do the will of God.

He wanted to be released to be able to praise God once again, 15  O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. He realised that because he had sinned, God could withdraw His Holy Spirit from him as He had done with Saul when he had rebelled against God. 1Samuel 16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him. David prayed that God might not do that with him, Psalm 51:11 Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

 The whole Psalm is the cry of a man who knew he had done terrible things in the sight of God. However he believed in the love and mercy of a righteous but loving and forgiving God. This God could not only forgive him of his sins but could also cleanse him and make him to be different. That was David’s sincere cry in this Psalm.

This Psalm is a great encouragement to those who believe that their sins are too great to ever be forgiven by God. You can’t become much more guilty in life than David became. If God could forgive him for all his sins when David cried out to him for forgiveness, then there is hope for those who have done perhaps more or less than David. It is not so much the depth of human sin that is the deciding factor. Rather it is the depth of God’s grace and forgiving love that makes it possible for humans to be forgiven today.

 BUT! And it’s a very big BUT! But we need to approach this loving, gracious, forgiving God with the same penitence for our sin that David showed, calling our sin by its real name, “sin”. It means asking that He forgive us of all our sins. It means asking Him to cleanse us and to renew us with a new spirit so that we live always for Him.  It means from that point always being “on guard” in the centre of His will and never allowing ourselves to be caught “off guard”, out of His will, when temptations come.

Questions for consideration by individuals or groups. (Added 21 Sept 2016)

Jim Holbeck.  Blog No.15.  Posted on Monday 7^th March 2011

Shirley said excitedly, “I feel that a whole load has lifted off my shoulders.”  She had come to see me because she felt so burdened. She had been through cancer surgery and other treatment and survived.  It soon became obvious as we talked that she was carrying a lot of resentment and unforgiveness. I shared the gospel message about Jesus who could forgive her of the things of which she said, she felt ashamed.  Not only that but He could help her forgive those who had hurt her. Then she would be able to move on in life without all the bitterness and pain she had been carrying.  I led her in a prayer of commitment to Jesus in which she thanked Him for dying for her on the cross. She then invited Him into her life.  The result was a different Shirley.  She was smiling and looking more at peace as she said those words above.

Had anything happened? Yes! A whole load of guilt had indeed been lifted from her as she prayed the prayer. She became even more relaxed in the weeks that followed. She began to understand more fully who Jesus was and the implications of what He had done for her on the cross. She began to know the peace that forgiveness brings to those who receive it from God. She also knew a greater ongoing release as she forgave more of the people she recognised had damaged her life in some way in the past. She has remained in good health many years later.

There were people in the Old Testament who had similar experiences of release through forgiveness.  One of the words used for “forgive” in the Old Testament is “nasa”. It refers to the lifting up or removal of sin leading to forgiveness in several of the 600 plus occurrences of that word in the Bible.  The word also means to lift up or carry away. It refers in a literal sense to the lifting up some part of the body such as the head, eyes, face, hands, or lifting up one’s voice.  It was used to show how God had lifted up and carried the nation of Israel to safety. We note how it is used in the following verses where nasa is underlined.

 i).            God spared His people from their enemies

The sin of the city Sodom was repugnant to God. He vowed to punish it. Abraham asked God to spare the city if there were fifty righteous people to be found in it.  His reply was “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Genesis 18:26. It appears in the story that there were not even ten righteous people in the city and so punishment fell. If there had been ten, the widespread punishment of the city would have been averted; they would have been spared.

In Exodus 19 we read of the Israelites as they journeyed from bondage in Egypt towards the promised land of Canaan.  They came into wilderness of Sinai. There the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:  Exodus 4)  You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Exodus 19:3, 4. He reminded them of His faithfulness in leading them out of Egypt.  (He “bore” [nasa] them on eagles’ wings).

There are many people in today’s world who relate to those verses. They feel that God did carry them through the difficult times they experienced. It is the theme behind the well -known poem “Footprints in the Sand” where the writer describes life as walking with the Lord in the sand. However she notices only one set of footprints in the sand at the difficult times of life. In the poem she enquires of the Lord, Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?” The Lord replied, “The times when you have seen only one set of footprints, is when I carried you.”  Hundreds of people have shared with me over the years some very tragic stories of experiences in their lives. But many of them have shared that it was only as they thought back over those times much later on that they realised that God had indeed supported them or carried them through those times.

We see a similar reference to the Lord’s protection of Jacob in Deuteronomy 32 where again the word nasa is used for “bearing” the nation.  Deuteronomy 32:9, But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. 10 “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. 11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions.  He had carried them. He had protected them. He remained trustworthy. But they needed to trust Him and to obey Him to enjoy the blessings He had in store for them in His covenant with them.

ii).          God saved His people by removing their sin from them

God taught His people in many ways that sin could be removed.  One such example was an instruction to Aaron the priest to lay hands on a live goat and confess the sins of the nation over it. Then the goat would be led into the wilderness. It was as though the sins of the nation were transferred onto the goat and the goat carried the sins far away from the people,  Leviticus 16:22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. The scapegoat was to bear and take away the sins of the people.

However the people of Israel were accountable to God for their sin. In many passages in Leviticus the phrase “he shall bear his iniquity” occurs where “bear” is “nasa’. (Leviticus 5:1, 17, 7:18, 17:16, 19:8, 20:17,19, 22:16). These verses speak about various kinds of sin but common to them all is the accountability to God of all the people involved.   Sin does matter to God but even in the Old Testament revelation we see the willingness of God to take away or to remove sin from those who would otherwise have to bear their sin and its consequences.

 Centuries later John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching him, (John 1:29)  The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away (Greek is airō = lift up or take away) the sin of the world!  And in John 1:36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”  John the Baptist obviously believed that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, the One who had come to take away the sin of the world. John the apostle wrote of Jesus, 1John 3:5 “You know that he (Jesus) appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” The phrase “take away”  here is (airō) the same word he used in  describing what Jesus would do as the Lamb of God in Jn 1:29.

 iii).         Humans forgave fellow humans. (nasa here used in terms of forgiving.)

It is possible for people to forgive one another! It was even in Old Testament times. Joseph did so. When Jacob the father of Joseph and his brothers died, the latter were afraid that Joseph might now pay them back for selling him into slavery.  So they sent a message purportedly coming from the lips of Jacob before he died. Genesis 50:17 “Say to Joseph, Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.”  They needn’t have worried. Joseph had already decided to forgive them and not hold their sin against them.  Joseph in that sense released them from their sin against him.

 In Exodus 10 the story is of Pharaoh summoning Moses and Aaron when a locust plague came on the land of Egypt.  He recognised that he had sinned against the God of Israel and against the people of Israel in not allowing them to depart from the land. He asked Moses and Aaron, Exodus 10:17 Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me.” He wanted to be released from his guilt towards God’s people. He also wanted God to cancel the consequences of his sin in rejecting God’s will for His people by refusing to let them go. He asked for forgiveness. Unfortunately he forfeited it by hardening his heart again towards God’s people.

Abigail asked David to forgive her for her husband’s evil in showing contempt towards David and his servants. (1Samuel 25:28)  Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live. She was not personally guilty but was willing to bear any punishment that might have been meted out to her husband Nabal and to the other men who had rejected David’s messengers. She recognised David and his men as fighting the battles of the LORD, 1Samuel 25:28. She asked this servant of God for forgiveness.  David was moved by her selflessness and chose not to destroy Nabal and the males of that place as he had previously vowed to do.

In the next section we will see that God not only spared [nasa] His people and saved [nasa] them but was willing to forgive [nasa] them. But we also are faced with verses which indicate that God did not forgive some people. We need to see what those verses mean if it is true, as the Bible states, that God’s nature is to forgive.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER by Groups or Individuals. (Added on Wed 27 July 2016)

Ques.1. In the story about Shirley what experiences did she have when she asked the Lord to forgive her? Can you relate to any of those experiences? Which ones?

Ques 2. In Section i) what does the expression “bore you on eagles wings” mean for you in your own Christian walk?  Can you share times when it seemed as though the Lord was carrying you?

Ques 4. In Section ii) what do you think is the significance of Aaron laying hands on the goat? What could have been in the minds of the gathered people as Aaron prayed over the animal and then led it into the wilderness?

Ques 5. In Section iii) what do you think was the difference in the attitudes shown by Pharaoh and Abigail as they asked God for forgiveness?

Jim Holbeck. Blog No.8.  Posted Tuesday 22 February 2011. Revisited 27 July 2016

 We saw in the last article how Dawn continued to love her husband John even when he became aggressive towards her when he was drunk. She loved him and didn’t want to walk out of the marriage.  She prayed. God answered. John gave his life to Jesus and was transformed.   He asked God to forgive him and to release him from the bondage of addiction to alcohol. He was set free by the power of God and remained set free.

How does God release people?  We gain some insight by looking at another Hebrew word in the Old Testament, “Salach”. This word has the sense of bringing release to someone.  It can be translated to release, to forgive, to be forgiven, to pardon, to spare.  It is always used of God as the One who forgives or who sets free. It occurs at least 45 times in the Old Testament. We look at the variety of meanings in many of those verses to discover how rich is the concept of forgiveness.

 i).            It is used of God releasing people from the guilt of making inappropriate vows

God saw vows as being binding on those who had made them.  Here it seems to refer to vows based on premature decisions made without mature counsel.  They were in the nature of “thoughtless utterances” or “rash statements”.  If young women living at home made such vows and their fathers opposed them on the issue, then the vow would not stand. God would forgive the woman for her “thoughtless utterances” made in the vow.  Numbers 30:5  … And the LORD will forgive her, because her father opposed her.

 Similarly if a woman who had made one of these inappropriate vows were to marry and share the vow with her husband, he could oppose the vow and make it void. Numbers 30:8  … he makes void her vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. And the LORD will forgive her.

In both situations men who loved and cared for their loved ones could protect them from their wrong vows, and God would forgive those loved ones.

There was a twofold release. The first, from the binding power of a vow. The second, from the guilt arising from making vows in the form of thoughtless utterances.

God can do the same today in the lives of those who make “ungodly” vows. That is, vows made in anger or deep hurt which leave God out of the equation.  I have often come across folk who have vowed, ”I will never forgive them as long as I live!” Such folk may be bound up in resentment and unforgiveness and need to be released and set free.  God can indeed set people free from the power of their vows. He can also convict them of the sin of making such vows and can release them from guilt when they ask Him to forgive them.

 ii).          It is used of humans pleading with God for forgiveness

We see it used in King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple.  He anticipated that the people of Israel would sin against their God.  He asks that when he or any other Israelite turned to God for forgiveness, He would forgive them,  (1Kings 8:30)  And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. (The latter phrase is also found in 1 Kings 8:34, 36, 39, 50).

It is instructive in looking at 1 Kings 8 to see the expressions Solomon used.  He spoke of the people repenting of their sin, confessing it to God and thus receiving forgiveness from Him.  Notice the underlined words which Solomon saw as describing the determination needed by the people to turn from their sin and back to God. 1Kings 8:46  “If they sin against you–for there is no one who does not sin–and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near, 47  yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ 48  if they repent with all their mind and with all their heart in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name, 49  then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, and maintain their cause.

 In Australian terms they had to be “fair dinkum” (genuine and sincere) in their turning away from their sin, confessing it to God and in turning back to Him.  We see that especially in how they were to turn in their hearts and not just their minds, verse 47; in their need to plead with God, verse 47, and in confessing their sin as being perverse and wicked. Their repentance, meaning a change of mind and a change of heart, was to be wholehearted,  with all their mind and with all their heart. No half measures here.  It was to be genuine repentance towards One who alone could forgive them.

Daniel also asked God to forgive His people.  He recognised that forgiveness could come to the people of God, not because they were righteous, but because He was merciful. Their plea to God for forgiveness had to be based on the mercy of God and not on anything they had to offer of themselves.  Daniel 9:18-19  O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. 19  O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act….

 iii).         It is used of God’s forgiveness towards human wickedness and sin

God heard Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the temple. Later the Lord appeared to him at night telling him that he had heard his prayer. He then promised Solomon that if His people humbled themselves to turn back to Him, He would forgive them and bless them, 2 Chronicles 7:14,  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

 This is one of the most well-known passages in the Bible regarding forgiveness. It shows God’s willingness to hear His people’s request for mercy. It also shows the magnitude of His forgiveness. God encouraged Solomon by promising that should the nation sin against Him, they could be forgiven and know His ongoing blessing. However they needed to humble themselves. They had to sincerely repent of their sin. That meant turning away from it and turning back to Him.

Before we look at some other aspects of this word in Part 2 we turn to another true story which follows on from the story of Dawn and John.  It will be at the beginning of Part 2.

Questions for individuals or groups to consider. (Added Wednesday 25th of May 2016)

Ques 1). In section (i) can you think of ungodly vows that are made in today’s world? How can people be set free from the ungodly vows they have made?

Ques 2). In section (ii) we find a number of expressions that are used in seeking forgiveness from God. Which expressions do you think show genuine repentance?

Ques 3). Again from section (ii) what you think is the basis of forgiveness?

Ques 4). In section (iii) what is involved on our part in asking God for forgiveness? What does He promise to do for those who ask Him from the right motive?

Ques 5). Do you think the passage from 2 Chronicles 7:14 applies in today’s world? If so, what implications does it have for us today?

Jim Holbeck.   Blog No.6.      Posted Monday 14February 2011. Updated 25th May 2016