HOLY BIBLE 101 - SIN & Repentance

King David wrote Psalm 51 as a prayer of repentance. He had done some terrible things (kidnapping, adultery and murder) and God was displeased with him. Let me tell you the story from 2 Samuel 11:1-27.

It was a time when all kings in the region now called the Middle East were at war with each other. David, King of Israel, sent his nephew Joab a General of his army, with all his servants, to fight the king of Ammon while he stayed behind in Jerusalem.

And so it was, at eventide, the time between sunset and twilight, that David got up off his bed and walked to the roof of his house. As he looked out he saw a very beautiful woman bathing on the roof of her house. David sent and inquired who she was and someone told him that she was Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite. David immediately sent messengers and snatched her away. Although she was snatched away from her home, Bathsheba came in unto David and he lay with her. She then returned to her house. Bathsheba became pregnant and sent and told King David.

David had a plan. He sent a message to his nephew Joab telling him to send Uriah to him. When Uriah came to David, David questioned him about how the war was going then sent him to his house with a large portion of the king’s meat. But Uriah was distraught and felt guilty that he would be in his house eating and drinking while the ark of the Lord, Israel and Judah were in tents and his soldiers were on the battlefield fighting and dying. He told David that he could not go home.

David promised to send Uriah back to the encampment in a few days. David called Uriah to eat with him and got him drunk but Uriah still did not go home. David wanted Uriah to go home and lay with Bathsheba so that Uriah would think she got pregnant at that time. However, because of Uriah’s feelings of guilt about not being with the encampment and because Uriah refused to go home, David’s plan was not working.

David decided to kill Uriah. He wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. The letter said that Joab should put Uriah on the frontline in the heat of battle and withdraw from him so that he would be killed. Joab did as he was commanded by his uncle the king, and Uriah was killed in battle with some of David’s soldiers.

Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead and went into mourning. At the end of the period of her mourning, David moved her into his house, married her and she had his son (who later took ill and died). It is obvious that David married and moved her in quickly to hide his own sins of adultery and murder, and to ensure that Bathsheba was not disgraced for bearing a child that could not have belonged to her husband. What treachery by the man of God!

God sent Nathan the prophet to David to tell him about his sin. David repented immediately by praying Psalm 51 to God. In this Psalm David uses nine (9) different Hebrew words to describe his sin.

1. Transgression (v.1)
This was translated from the Hebrew word PESHAH (Strong's H6588), which literally means defection and rebellion but is also translated trespass and sin (Genesis 50:17). It is used to refer to defection and rebellion against individuals, nations, and God (Job 34:37).

2. Iniquity (v.2)
This was translated from the Hebrew word AVON (Strong's H5771), which literally refers to perversity and depravity. It is also translated fault (Psalm 59:4) and mischief (2 Kings 7:9). It comes from the root word AVAH (Strong's H5753), which refers to bending, twisting, perverting or distorting something (Job 33:27).

3. Sin (v.3)
This was translated from the Hebrew word CHATTA’ATH (Strong’s H2403), which refers to the condition of sin. This Hebrew word derives from the root CHATA. It is also translated punishment (Lamentations 4:6).

4. Sinned (v.4)
This was translated from the Hebrew word CHATA (Strong's H2398), which means miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit and miss the mark like an archer would miss hitting the bulls eye. It also means making a false step or stumbling (Proverbs 19:2). This specifically refers to someone taking the consequence for sin. When anyone misses the mark they become liable to a penalty or a forfeiture of something. The penalty for sin is death or eternal separation from God but Christ paid the penalty. If people sin without repenting, continue in sin, and die in it then they bear the penalty themselves.

5. Evil (v.4)
This was translated from the Hebrew word RA (Strong’s H7451), which refers to malignant, disagreeable, miserable, unhappy evil calamity and wickedness. It is also translated wickedness and sin (Genesis 6:5).

6. Sin (v.5)
This was translated from the Hebrew word CHET (Strong’s H2399), which refers to sin the fault and calamity the consequence for the fault.

7. Transgressors (v.13)
This was translated from the Hebrew word PASHA (Strong’s H6586), which refers specifically to rebellion and revolt resulting in falling away and breaking a covenant (Isaiah 1:28; Ezekiel 18:31).

8. Sinners (v.13)
This was translated from the Hebrew word CHATTA (Strong’s H2400), which refers to an offender who is exposed to condemnation. This specifically refers to one who bears the weight of blame or one who has not been regenerated. The word is used of the sinners in Sodom (Genesis 13:13).

9. Bloodguiltiness (v.14)
This was translated from the Hebrew word DAM (Strong’s H1818), which refers to bloodshed and slaughter, the guilt of it and the shedding of innocent blood.

David painted a vivid picture of sin. It is defection from and rebellion against God; it is perversity and depravity, fault and mischief as well as bending, twisting, perverting or distorting something; it is a condition and it is a false step or stumbling as well as missing the mark like an archer missing the bull’s eye. Moreover, it is a fault that brings consequences and the offender is exposed to condemnation. David’s actions displeased God and there were a slew of consequences following theses occurrences. You can read about them in 2 Samuel 12. In spite of the consequences of their actions and the death of their first child, God still blessed David and Bathsheba afterwards with their son Solomon.

One of the marks of our calling as born-again believers is that we must ABSTAIN from every way that is contrary to God and be OBEDIENT to God’s Word. We cannot use the excuse: “everybody sins” to justify disobedience to God’s Word. We cannot think that because we are weak and sin-prone that we must not do our best to walk in obedience. We cannot expose ourselves to the consequences of sinful actions. We must use the “one-day-at-a-time” method to be obedient. If we can’t do one-day-at-a-time then we can try to do “one-hour-at-a-time” until we can build up to one-day-at-a-time.

There is no room for compromise!