David:The Shepherd King, #23
The Immutable Law of Reaping
II Samuel 12-I Kings 2
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
"So it is in life. The immutable law of reaping. We get back in return what we give. It all comes back. We reap what we sow. If you are tempted right now to sin and are thinking that you will probably get away with it, think again. Think again, and turn away..."
Introduction
A periodical called "The War Cry" carried a story about a tenant farmer who had worked hard for many years to improve the production of the land he leased. Then something happened that caused him to become very bitter. When it was time to renew his lease, the owner told him he was going to sell the farm to his son who was getting married. The tenant made several generous offers to buy it himself, hoping the man's decision would be reversed, but it was in vain. As the day drew near for the farmer to vacate his home, his weeks of angry brooding finally got the best of him. He gathered seeds from some of the most pesky and noxious weeds he could find. Then he spent many hours scattering them on the clean, fertile soil of the farm, along with a lot of trash and rocks he had collected. To his dismay, the very next morning the owner informed him that plans for his son's wedding had fallen through, and that he would be happy to renew the lease. He couldn't understand why the farmer exclaimed in agonizing tones, "Oh, Lord, what a fool I've been!"
That man sowed good seed in fertile ground for many years, and reaped great crops. In a moment of anger, prefaced by several weeks of bitterness, he sowed bad seed. No doubt, for years after, he had to reap that crop as well.
There is a principle in Scripture that could have saved that tenant farmer a world of hurt had he known and heeded it. It is found in Galatians 6:7 -
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life."
That principle is an immutable law of God. What you sow, you reap. It is presented in different words and forms several times in the Bible. Eliphaz stated it in Job 4:8 -
"According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it."
Hosea said it in Hosea 8:7 -
"For they sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind..."
It's a principle worth talking about, because it could save you and me a world of hurt as well.
There is a story in the Old Testament that shows this immutable law in action. It is the tragic story of the consequences of David's sin with Bathsheba, and we are going to consider it together in this message.
(Please turn to II Samuel 12)
The chapter immediately preceding this one contains the story of David's sin. We covered it in a previous message. If you aren't familiar with it, let must just say that David, the king of Israel 1000 years before Christ, the man referred to in Scripture as "The man after God's own heart," in a moment of unbridled passion, committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba. When it was discovered that she was pregnant, David ordered the death of her husband and took her for his own wife. He then proceeded to cover up the whole mess for almost a year. The cover-up ended, when God sent his prophet, Nathan, to expose David by using a parable about a rich man who stole a poor man's pet lamb. So effective was Nathan's rebuke that David was left convicted. He confessed his sin.
(Read 12:13)
Notice how quickly the response of God's forgiveness came once the confession was made. David said, "I have sinned against the Lord," and Nathan said, "The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die."
There is an encouragement there for all of us to confess our sins to God right away. We should never delay when we have done wrong. David could have had this forgiveness a year before, had he confessed rather than covered the matter up.
There is a problem with that, though. Since God is so generous with his forgiveness, we may be inclined to take it lightly. We may be inclined to forget this immutable law of reaping. Where is the principle of reaping what we sow in this passage? It is in the previous verses.
(Read v. 10-12)
You see, when we sin against God and then confess our sin, turning away from it and forsaking it, God forgives us of the eternal penalty. But he does not take away the temporal consequences. We still, must reap what we have sown.
Notice in these verses that David reaped in kind what he had sown. The seeds sown were adultery and murder. The crop predicted by Nathan was the same as the seed. In David's family from then on there would be adultery (someone close to David would lie with his wives in broad daylight) and murder (the sword would never depart from his house). Don't miss that word "never" in verse 10. David would be reaping the crop he had sown for the rest of his life. There would be no respite!
Part of my work is to counsel people both publicly and privately from God's Word. Every once in awhile someone will come to me with a problem that cannot be fully resolved because it is something that is the result of this sowing and reaping principle. "Please tell me how God's Word says I can end this misery in my life," the person says. I must tell the truth: "There is no way to end it. God's word tells us that we reap what we sow. I can give you advice on how to live with it and live through it, but there is no advice that will take away the reaping of a miserable crop once it has been sown."
Folks, we dare not be deceived in this area. God will not be mocked. We will have to reap the crop that comes up from every seed we have sown, even though God forgives us of the eternal consequences. If you mess around outside your marriage and lose your family, if you get hooked on drugs and do permanent damage to your brain or your body, if you rebel against your parents and land in jail, if you mistreat your children to the extent that they will have nothing to do with you, God probably will not take away the consequences of that sin. Yes, you can be forgiven when you come to Him - you won't have to suffer in hell for what you have done, but you will have to suffer the temporal consequences here.
So that we can get the full impact of these implications, let's trace the consequences of David's sin through the next few chapters. I have counted eight separate consequences that David had to deal with. The first is this:
1. David's Own Wives Were Violated.
Verse 11 predicted,
"I will even take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel..."
Several years after this, David's son, Absalom, would lead a rebellion against David. It was so strong that David was forced to flee Jerusalem for his life. As soon as Absalom came into the city and took control, he asked his counselor, Ahithophel, a man who defected from David, what he should do to assert his new power. Ahithophel's advice is found in 16:20-22.
(Read 16:20-22)
As Absalom went in and out of the tent he pitched on the roof that day, word would travel through Israel like wildfire. David would be utterly humiliated. Notice where this act took place. It was in the same place where the sin with Bathsheba took place: on the roof of the palace! The reaping of what was sown was reaping in kind.
Incidentally, a little study into the background of this counselor, Ahithophel, reveals something often overlooked in this account. According to II Samuel 11:3, Bathsheba was the daughter of a man named Eliam. Then in II Samuel 23:34, we learn that Eliam was Ahithophel's son. In other words, it appears that Bathsheba was Ahithophel's granddaughter! Knowing that, it isn't difficult to understand why he would give Absalom such scandalous advice. Knowing that also helps us see that "what goes around comes around." We reap what we sow.
The second consequence of David's sin that we can trace is:
2. Death of the Child Conceived by David and Bathsheba.
Notice another of Nathan's predictions regarding what David would have to reap due to his sin.
(Read 12:14-19)
Perhaps the thing to notice most here is the earnest plea of David to spare the child. He didn't eat for seven days! He slept out on the cold ground. Yet, God did not spare the baby. Why? Why didn't God spare the child? Certainly David was sincere in his plea. The answer is in verse 14, which we just read. It was "because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme..." In other words, had God taken away that consequence, it would have given opportunity for God's enemies to mock. Remember, God will not be mocked. They could say something like, "Their God claims to be so holy, yet he lets his subjects get away with murder!" Therefore, we must reap what we have sown! It is a sobering concept to realize that even earnest prayers will not cause God to remove the law of reaping from us.
Understand, before you sin, that no amount of pleading later will take away the consequences of what you are being tempted to do. That ought to be a strong deterrent for standing up against temptation - for saying no and meaning it.
The third consequence we can see that was a result of David's sin and the law of reaping was
3. The Rape Of Tamar.
Tamar was David's daughter. She was very beautiful. She was raped by one of David's sons, a young man named Amnon.
(Read 13:1-2)
In the next few verses, Amnon's cousin suggests a plan for getting Tamar to go to bed with him. "Play sick and ask David to have Tamar be the nurse who takes care of you." So Amnon did just that. And verse 11-14 tells the result.
(Read 13:11-14)
Now, the irony of this is that from here to the end of the account of David's life, you will not find that David did a single thing about this. He neither intervened to stop it (he really wasn't in tune with what was going on in his home) nor did he discipline Amnon for doing it. The single passage that gives David's reaction is 13:21.
(Read 13:21)
That is all he did. He got mad!
Well... how could he do otherwise? He was guilty of the same thing! Amnon could easily have frustrated David's discipline by saying something like, "Well, Dad, where do you think I learned to force myself of a beautiful woman? I learned it from you."
Dad's, if we don't strive to practice what we preach, the discipline in our homes becomes a meaningless mockery. Our kids know what we do wrong! When we do wrong, or deny that we do wrong, but hold them accountable for doing right in the same area, they lose respect for us and our discipline.
You see, the field in which all the seeds David had planted came up was his family! They suffered along with him for what he had done wrong.
If you are being tempted right now to do evil and you find yourself about ready to give in even though you know you are going to have to pay for it, stop and consider your family! They will have to pay for it too! They will have to reap in that field, as well! Don't put that on them!
The fourth consequence of David's sin was
4. The Hatred between Brothers in David's Family.
Tamar, the young woman raped by Amnon, was the full-blooded sister of Absalom, the son of David who would ultimately lead a temporary takeover of David's throne. After the incident with Amnon, she went straight to Absalom with what had happened.
(Read 13:19-22)
That hatred went on for two full years!
What do you think it might have been like to visit in the palace? Suppose, young ladies, that one of David's daughters had invited you over for a slumber party. What do you think it would have been like to stay in that house with all this hatred? You know, you really learn what a family is like when you stay with them.
Where did the hatred come from? It was all the fallout of David's sin with Bathsheba!
The fifth consequence of David's sin was
5. The Murder Of Amnon.
You don't hold the kind of hatred Absalom had for Amnon inside forever. Sooner or later it is going to come out.
And in this case, it came out in murder.
(Read v. 23-29)
I firmly believe that, had David known what a few moments of passion was going to cause him in heartache to follow, he would never have sinned with Bathsheba. He would have said, "It's just too expensive. I'm not going to do it." But he didn't see ahead. He wasn't thinking of the law of reaping.
That is why I'm bringing this message to you today. We need to remember that we reap what we sow. Not only that, but the crop we reap will be many times larger than the seeds we originally put into the ground.
A tiny packet of tomato seeds can give you a whole year's worth of tomatoes! A seemingly insignificant "indiscretion" can bring a world of hurt to you and your family.
Like Israel of old in the days of Hosea, "they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind." When you picture that, don't picture some little summertime "dirt devil." Picture a full-blown tornado. Two sons of David are dead so far because of the uncontrolled wind in David's life.
There is more. The sixth consequence of David's sin was
6. A Runaway Son.
(Read 13:37-39)
If you check the background of "Talmai the son of Ammihud, the king of Geshur," you will learn that he was Absalom's grandfather. Absalom ran away and ended up at grandpa's house. Whether David knew Absalom's whereabouts, I don't know. I do know two things, however. First, I know that David's mourning for Amnon went on for days, maybe even weeks or months. Verse 37 says, "And David mourned for his son every day." I cannot help but think that his mourning must have been even more miserable since he knew that he had a part in the cause of it.
Second, we know that David missed his son Absalom, even after what he had done, just like modern day parents would miss a runaway son or daughter. Verse 39 says, "And the heart of King David longed to go out to Absalom..." That went on for three long years.
I have talked to parents of runaway children before and seen the results of months or years of the anxiety of not knowing where their children are or whether they are alive or dead. It is a miserable position to be in. I've even heard them say in their frustration, "It would be easier if we just would hear that they are dead." Well, no matter how we might guess what David was feeling, it was not easy on him.
The seventh consequence of David's sin would come a few years later when
7. Joab Murdered Absalom.
Absalom returned home after 3 years, but he and David were never close. His bitterness was never resolved. Unresolved bitterness will always come out somewhere, sometime. In due time, it did. Absalom led a rebellion against his father's kingdom and very nearly succeeded in overthrowing him. We don't have time for the details this morning, but we will look at the end of it.
David's army was locked in combat with Absalom's army over in chapter 18. People were running around everywhere.
(Read 18:8-14)
David was far from relieved at the death of his son. When word finally reached him about Absalom's death he was devastated.
(Read 18:33)
There is no greater mourning than the mourning of a loss that you know was your own fault. "It could all have been prevented," David must have thought, "had only I turned away from that temptation with Bathsheba!"
But this wasn't the end. There was yet one more loss for David to bear before he died.
8. The Death Of Adonijah.
David was old, getting very near death. It was time to make known his choice of a successor to the throne. So he chose Solomon. Whose son was Solomon? He was the son of Bathsheba.
(Read I Kings 1:28-31)
Now, under normal circumstances, that would have been the end of it. In this case, it wasn't. That sword that Nathan had predicted still had not departed from David's house. Not long before this, another son of David had declared that he would be king. His name was Adonijah. He was a bit of a spoiled brat, but he was David's fourth born son according to II Samuel 3:2-4. That made him older than Solomon. If you consider that David's firstborn, Amnon, and David's third-born, Absalom were dead, and that the second-born, Chileab, had not been mentioned since his birth, that makes Adonijah, David's oldest surviving son. As the oldest, he figured he should be in line for the throne.
(Read I Kings 1:5-6)
To shorten the story, David hurriedly had Solomon anointed to be the next king. Adonijah, seeing his predicament, and knowing that Solomon could now have him executed as a rival to the throne, came down before Solomon and begged that his life be spared. Solomon's answer is in I Kings 1:52.
(Read I Kings 1:52-53)
Things went well for awhile, but later, after David's death, Adonijah made a strange request of Bathsheba, Solomon's mother that led Solomon to believe that he was planning again to contend for the throne. Solomon had him executed.
(Read I Kings 2:23-25)
So a fourth son of David dies, an incident that can be linked up with the time that Bathsheba came into the family after David's sin.
It is of more than passing significance that this was the exact fulfillment of the judgement David pronounced upon himself in his response to Nathan's parable back in II Samuel 12. Remember, after Nathan told David the story of the man who stole his neighbor's pet lamb and fed it to his house guest?
(Read II Samuel 12:5-6)
That fourfold restitution was exactly what the law of Moses prescribed for such a crime. Now, count the sons whom David lost in death:
- The child born to Bathsheba
- Amnon
- Absalom
- Adonijah
A fourfold restitution. An exacting punishment.
"But," someone says, "this is an Old Testament story!" Indeed, it is! But the sowing and reaping law is repeated in the New Testament, as we have already seen, in Galatians 6:7 - "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap."
Conclusion
A young boy lived with his grandfather on the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. Often just to hear the sound of his own voice echoing back to him, he would go outside, cup his hands around his mouth, and shout, "Hello!" Up from the canyons the reply would reverberate: "Hello...hello...hello..." Then he would call out, "I love you..." and back it would come, "I love you...I love you...I love you..."
One day the boy seriously misbehaved and his grandfather disciplined him severely. In anger, he shouted, "I hate you!" To his surprise, the rocks and boulders across the mountainside responded in kind: "I hate you...I hate you...I hate you...I hate you..."
So it is in life. The immutable law of reaping. We get back in return what we give. It all comes back. We reap what we sow.
If you are tempted right now to sin and are thinking that you will probably get away with it, think again. Think again, and turn away...
