“Cleanse Me With Hyssop”

[Scripture readings of the day are reprinted at the end of the post]

Last week I ended our sermon with the words “to be continued…” because when we left off last week, King David had just committed adultery and murder. He had slept with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and she had gotten pregnant; and when David’s attempt to cover up the affair failed, David sent word to Joab, commander of the army, and said “put Uriah where the fighting is the hardest and then draw back so he dies”.  And that’s where our scripture reading ended last week: on a very dark note.

Side note: in that Uriah was an innocent man put to death by a conspiracy that was both illegal and immoral, and yet his death set in motion a series of events that would end up blessing the nation – in as much as that’s true, Uriah’s story foreshadows the story of Jesus, because Jesus also was put to death by a conspiracy that was both illegal and immoral, and yet his death brought blessing to the nation… and in fact to the whole world.

So last week we saw King David – a man who had been called “the man after God’s own heart” – breaking a majority of the Ten Commandments and seeming to get away with it.

As our scene opens today, Uriah has just died, and Bathsheba is alone at home, grieving the loss of her husband. She has no way of knowing David is the one who ordered her husband’s death; and she has no way of knowing that David has further plans for her. She only knows she is alone and pregnant with no means of support.

Scripture says David sent for her when her time of mourning was over – which was probably around 30 days later. In Jewish tradition the death of a spouse is usually grieved for a year, but the most intense period of grieving was the first 30 days – after which the person in mourning would slowly return to daily life. Our passage tells us ‘she became David’s wife’ and then ‘bore him a son’ in that order, which means Bathsheba was still in her year of mourning when David married her.

We have no record of how Bathsheba felt about any of this. We don’t know whether she had consented to the affair in the first place; we don’t know how she felt about David. All indications are she was honestly grieved at Uriah’s death: he had been a kind and loving husband to her. And it seems Bathsheba’s marriage to David was, at best, on his timetable rather than hers. But it also meant she and her child would have a home and would be provided for.

II Samuel 12 continues: “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord; and the Lord sent Nathan to David.” (II Sam 12:1)  It strikes me as strange that the Lord didn’t send Nathan the prophet right away.  This conversation takes place after the marriage, after the child has been born, so it’s been close to a year since David first saw Bathsheba bathing on that rooftop. One wonders if maybe David was starting to think he’d gotten away with it somehow, that the crisis was past and everything was going to be OK?

I also notice Nathan does not approach David with guns blazing and moral outrage flaring. No doubt Nathan had heard the palace gossip about the affair – and no doubt he has been praying for David.  In answer to his prayers God gives him a message, which comes in the form of a parable. The parable is a study in opposites: rich vs. poor; many flocks vs. one single lamb; the powerful vs. the powerless; the guilty vs. the innocent.

Nathan tells the story: “There were two men in a city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had many flocks and herds; the poor man had only one ewe lamb.” And this lamb ate from his table, slept in his bed, and was like a member of the family.

Side note: I’d like to take a moment to appreciate the amazing gift God gives us in animals! Especially the ones who share our homes. They are a joy and a comfort and somehow they seem to understand us even though they can’t say so in words. We say a dog is “a man’s best friend” but they’re also a woman’s best friend; and I think cats have earned the same title as well. They really are members of the family and I thank God for them.

So this one lamb who belonged to the poor man was an animal of the house. In spite of the fact the poor man had very little to eat, this lamb was not going to be on the dinner table, ever. She was a friend, a member of the family, and if it hadn’t been for that rich man she would have lived out her whole life in peace in that poor man’s house.

So to interpreting the parable: the many flocks and herds in the story represent David’s many wives and concubines, and the one ewe lamb represents Uriah’s Bathsheba. So who or what is the traveler, the visitor who comes to the rich man and needs to be entertained? Could it be temptation, perhaps? Or perhaps desire? At any rate the traveler represents something temporary. By definition, travelers don’t stay; they have a meal, they may stay overnight, and then they’re gone. The traveler represents something passing. And this rich man could easily have satisfied the traveler with what he already had – but he chose not to. Instead he chose to take by force the poor man’s best friend – and kill it, and serve it up to satisfy a visitor who would be gone tomorrow.

On hearing Nathan’s story, King David was furious!  David exclaims “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die!”  The original Hebrew is actually a bit stronger: David shouts “Son of death!” – which was probably a expression equivalent in English to a cuss-word followed by “that man ought to be shot!”

David and Nathan, 1672 (oil on canvas) by Scheits, Matthias (c.1630-c.1700)
oil on canvas
47×55.5
© Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
German, out of copyright

And Nathan replies: “You are the man.”

“…and God says to you: I made you king over Israel. I rescued you from Saul. I gave you everything Saul had – his house, his wives, his throne. And if that were too little I would have given you even more!” (II Sam 12:7-8, paraphrased)  God is reminding David not just of what God has done for him, but what David himself has said God has done.  Remember David’s prayer after God promised to build David a house? David praises God for keeping him safe through all the years and for promising a son who would follow him on his throne. God is reminding David of David’s own words.

God the brings the charges against David. The first charge is that David has killed Uriah with the sword. The second charge is that David has taken Uriah’s wife. The third charge is that in doing these things, David has despised God’s word (has literally broken two of the Ten Commandments) and has done what is evil in God’s sight, and therefore has despised God Himself.

And then God passes sentence: First, the sword will never depart from David’s house. God is not going to put an end to David’s house as he did with Saul’s; God’s promise that David’s house will last forever still stands. But the kingdom will always be marked by violence and rebellion. (Next week we will hear about the first of those rebellions when David’s son Absalom tries to take the throne.) And God’s second sentence: God will take David’s wives and give them to one of David’s neighbors, who will sleep with them in broad daylight. What David has done in secret, God will do in public.

And David replies: “I have sinned before the Lord.”  No excuses. No explanations. No attempts to plea-bargain or blame-shift. David looks his sins and God’s judgement straight in the eye and doesn’t flinch. He owns it. You gotta admire him for that.

David’s full confession is found in Psalm 51, where he begs God’s mercy: not because he deserves it – David says “I was born guilty” and “you are justified in your sentence” – but because God is a God of “steadfast love”. David puts himself completely in God’s hands, grieves over his sins, and yet he knows “the joy of God’s salvation” will be restored before all has been said and done.

This prayer, Psalm 51, unknown to David, also points us to Jesus as the one who brings healing and forgiveness. When David says “cleanse me with hyssop” this is, in part, a prophecy. Hyssop will be used to offer Jesus a drink of wine when he’s on the cross. John 19:28-29 reads:

“…when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.”  A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.”

In order to fulfill the scriptures. Psalm 51 is one of only a few scripture passages where hyssop is mentioned; the others are: (1) the night of the first passover in Egypt, when the people of Israel put the blood of the lamb over their doors, they used hyssop to put it there; and (2) at the giving of the Torah, Moses uses hyssop to sprinkle blood on the Torah and on the people hearing it to make them holy.

So David’s hyssop ties together Israel’s deliverance and Jesus’ death – which is our deliverance.  Hyssop points to the Passover and to the Cross, and to the one who will die so that all people can be forgiven.

So even at the lowest point in David’s life, God is using him as a prophet… answering David’s prayer that he might “teach transgressors your ways” and that “sinners will return to you.”

But back to Nathan’s message. God’s immediate reply to David’s admission of guilt is: “you will not die; but because you have scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you will die.”  This baby is never named that we know of. After David’s conversation with Nathan, the child gets sick and dies. This is disturbing to us, and it should be; because what meaning or purpose could this child’s death possibly have? Could one say the child has died in David’s place? In a sense maybe, but not in any redemptive sense, not like Jesus. Is God saying the child’s life is the price of David’s life? No. Is it possible God is using this situation to share with David what forgiveness actually costs: the death of a son? Perhaps. And if that’s the case, then David’s prayer for the life of his child might have a parallel in Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, that is, “if it’s possible let this cup pass from me” – but the cup doesn’t pass for Jesus, and it doesn’t pass for David’s child. The Bible doesn’t really answer the question ‘why?’, other than that sin leads to death.

But at the end of the story God does not forget mercy. When everything’s over, scripture says David “comforts his wife Bathsheba” – really sharing her pain this time – and the child born of this togetherness will be Solomon, the wisest king Israel ever knew.  Solomon’s name means ‘peace’, like ‘shalom’.  And God will give Solomon a second name, “Jedediah”,  which means “beloved of God”.  God, in his great mercy, brings good even out of the ashes of David’s sin.

So a few take-aways for today:

1. Whenever we have a need to confront sin in others, Nathan gives us a good example. Pray first, wait for God’s word, and then when God gives the word, speak the truth firmly but without anger. When Nathan said “you are the man” I don’t think he shouted it; he simply spoke the truth.
2. When we have a need to deal with sin in our own lives, David gives us a good example: confessing it openly and completely to God without holding back. And sometimes it can help to have a Nathan in our lives who will listen and be honest with us and speak God’s word into our lives.
3. When we sin, Psalm 51 can become our prayer. It’s a prayer of power and peace, that speaks truth and inspires trust and renews the Holy Spirit in us.
4. Last and most important, we are all God’s children and God is our loving parent. No matter where we’ve been or what we’ve done, God wants to forgive us and welcome us home, not because we deserve it but because that’s who God is.

From here on out, God and David will go forward into the future together. Things will never be peaceful in David’s household after this; but whatever happens, God will be with David… and with his son Solomon, and his children after him, until the day when Jesus, the Son of David, arrives to forgive us all. AMEN.

 

Preached at Carnegie United Methodist Church and Hill Top United Methodist Church, 8/5/18

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2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:14  When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD, and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child that is born to you shall die.”

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Psalm 51:1-19  (A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba)

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.
³ For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.
⁶ You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
¹³ Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodshed, O God, O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.
¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
¹⁷ The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
¹⁹ then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.