We are going to begin our study by reading a small portion of King David’s life. Hold on to your seats and come along for a ride into history. I think you will find that the issues biblical figures faced back then are not much different than they are now. I am so thankful God recorded such events, aren’t you? They allow us to realize God’s amazing grace and love for His people. David had many triumphs in his life but what we are about to read records of one of his biggest failures. Failing to control his lustful thoughts, King David finds himself knee deep in sin. I want you to read the entire chapter so you can see the progression of David’s sin. We will go back and dissect some of the verses within the chapter throughout the week.

To begin our journey, please read 2 Samuel 11:1-26. There is so much to learn from this story of David and Bathsheba. We could spend several days picking it apart and learning many valuable lessons from it; however, today we are just going to examine one small portion of it. Please read the chapter now if you have not done so.

I wanted you to read the entire chapter so that you could see the big picture before we focus on one set of particular verses. Before we discuss the scriptures, I want to ask you a few personal questions to prepare you for today’s lesson.

If I were to say that most sin begins in our thought lives, would you agree? Why?

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How do you think our thoughts might be related to the sin in our lives?

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I think you will find it interesting how much our thought lives have an impact on our everyday actions. Think about it for a moment. Recall some of the poor choices you have made in your life. Before you made any of those choices, they all probably began with a thought in your head. You probably had thoughts about the sinful action long before you ever acted on it. Whether they were thoughts of bitterness that led to a verbal confrontation, or lustful thoughts that led to sexual sin, any act of sin probably began as a thought. If this sounds a bit strange, hang in there with me. We are going to drive this point home by using the text we read today as an example.

Let’s look at verse 1. We know by this verse that it was springtime and the scripture tells us that usually during this time of year kings were usually where?

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Where did David remain instead of going off to war? ____________________________________________________

Scripture tells us most kings were at war during this season. Why do you think King David was not there?

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To give you some background, winter in Israel tended to be a rainy season. Crops were usually planted during this season. With the abundance of rain in the spring, there would be plenty of food for the traveling armies. The rainy season would be over by springtime and the roads would now be dry which helped the armies move along them without trouble. This is why wars were usually fought during this time of year. The roads would no longer be wet which made it easier for the troops to travel and there would have been plenty of food for them. A king would normally be with his army during a war. King David obviously abandoned his role and stayed home. According to the scriptures he handed over his responsibilities to Joab and stayed behind. Scripture doesn’t tell us why he stayed, but we know that he should have been with his troops. We can assume that since most of his companions were off at war, David was probably bored and lonely with no men around to socialize with. I don’t know about you, but without any girlfriends to get pedicures with, talk on the phone with or go to Bible study together I would probably be lonely too! Some of those things I just can’t seem to get my hubby interested in. I’ve tried to convince him that a day at the spa would far outweigh a day of hunting, but he has not fallen for that yet!

Look back to a time when you had a period of loneliness. Can you identify why you were lonely? What did you fill your time with?

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How did you respond emotionally and spiritually to this time?

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We are wise to fill all of our alone time with the things of God so when these darker seasons come we are already occupied. If not, we are capable of making poor choices. We will see this idea prove true with David. I know as I look back at periods of time right before falling into rebellious sin, I was somewhat bored and out of close fellowship with the Lord.

Simply for background knowledge, let’s look at Deuteronomy 17:17. It says, “He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray.” The scripture here is referring to a king.

What did God command a king not to do? ______________________________________________________________

Now read 2 Samuel 5:13. What did King David do? ______________________________________________________

What does scripture say will happen when a man takes too many wives?

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Scripture tells us that David had many wives and concubines. It’s hard to imagine when he stayed behind during war that he could have been bored with that many women surrounding him! When you have a large amount of women in one place, there is bound to be drama! Surely there were enough drama queens to keep him entertained! We will close the curtain today on our scene and we will pick up where we have left off tomorrow. Today’s lesson was a short one. As we get further into our study most of the lessons will require more time. Thank you for joining me on this journey. I love studying God’s Word with other sisters. I hope you will be blessed by it as well.