David and Bathsheba
The Story Behind Psalm 51
The historical account of David's gravest sin and his path to repentance—a story of fall, confrontation, and the mercy of God that gave us the Bible's most powerful prayer of confession.
Primary Scripture
2 Samuel 11-12 • Psalm 51
The Context of Psalm 51
To understand Psalm 51, we must understand what prompted it. The superscription tells us:"A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba."
This was no minor indiscretion. David, at the height of his power as Israel's beloved king, committed adultery with a married woman, orchestrated her husband's murder to cover it up, and lived with his secret sin for nearly a year. The story reveals both the depths to which even godly people can fall and the heights to which God's grace can reach.
A Note on Reading This Story: Scripture does not sanitize the failures of its heroes. The Bible records David's sin precisely because it happened, and because his journey from sin to repentance teaches us about both human weakness and divine grace.
The Story Unfolds
The Temptation
2 Samuel 11:1-5While his army was at war, David remained in Jerusalem. One evening from his rooftop, he saw Bathsheba bathing. Though he learned she was married to Uriah the Hittite, David sent for her and committed adultery. Bathsheba became pregnant.
The Cover-Up Attempt
2 Samuel 11:6-13To conceal his sin, David summoned Uriah from battle, hoping he would sleep with his wife. But Uriah, loyal soldier that he was, refused to enjoy comforts while his fellow soldiers were in the field. Even when David got him drunk, Uriah would not go home.
The Murder
2 Samuel 11:14-25David sent Uriah back to battle carrying his own death sentence—a letter instructing Joab to place Uriah in the fiercest fighting and withdraw, ensuring his death. The plan worked. Uriah was killed, and David married Bathsheba.
Nathan's Confrontation
2 Samuel 12:1-14Nearly a year later, the prophet Nathan came to David with a parable about a rich man who stole a poor man's only lamb. When David's anger burned against the rich man, Nathan declared: 'You are the man!' David's sins were exposed before God.
David's Repentance
2 Samuel 12:13, Psalm 51David's response was immediate and genuine: 'I have sinned against the LORD.' He did not excuse, deflect, or minimize. Psalm 51 captures the depth of his repentance—his broken heart, his plea for mercy, his cry for a clean heart.
The Consequences
2 Samuel 12:15-23Though forgiven, David faced severe consequences. The child born of the adultery died. Violence would plague his household—Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah. David's sin cast a long shadow, yet God's grace remained.
Nathan's Parable
2 Samuel 12:1-7
"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. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.
Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."
"Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, 'As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die...'"
Nathan said to David, "You are the man!"
Lessons from the Story
Sin's Progression
David's sin followed a predictable pattern: idle when he should have been working (v.1), looking when he should have turned away (v.2), inquiring when he should have fled (v.3), taking when he should have resisted (v.4). Small compromises led to catastrophic fall.
Position Doesn't Protect
David was 'a man after God's own heart,' Israel's greatest king, the author of countless psalms. Yet his spiritual resume did not inoculate him against temptation. If David could fall, so can anyone.
Cover-Ups Compound Sin
One sin led to another. Adultery led to deception. Deception led to manipulation. Manipulation led to murder. What began as a single sinful glance ended with an innocent man dead. Sin never stays contained.
God Sees Everything
David thought he had gotten away with it. A year passed. Then Nathan came. 'The thing David had done displeased the LORD' (11:27). God is not fooled by our cover-ups or impressed by our status.
True Repentance is Possible
Despite the enormity of his sin—adultery, murder, abuse of power—David found forgiveness. His repentance in Psalm 51 became the model for all who seek God's mercy. No sin is too great for God's grace.
Forgiveness ≠ No Consequences
God forgave David ('You will not die'), but consequences followed. The child died. Family violence erupted. Sin is forgiven, but its earthly effects often remain. Grace doesn't erase all temporal results of sin.
The Birth of Psalm 51
When Nathan said "You are the man," everything changed. David's carefully constructed denial crumbled. The king who had ordered a man's death could not escape the prophet's piercing words. And in that moment of exposure, David did something extraordinary—he repented.
His simple confession—"I have sinned against the LORD"—opened the floodgates. What followed was Psalm 51: raw, honest, desperate. Not a king's composed speech but a sinner's broken cry.
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin... Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."
— Psalm 51:1-2, 10
Grace in the Genealogy
Perhaps the most remarkable postscript to this story is found in Matthew 1:6—the genealogy of Jesus Christ: "David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah."
Matthew doesn't hide the scandal; he highlights it. Bathsheba is identified not by her own name but as "the wife of Uriah"—a perpetual reminder of David's sin. And yet, through this broken relationship, Solomon was born. Through Solomon's line, the Messiah came.
God did not merely forgive David's sin—He wove it into the tapestry of redemption. The child of David and Bathsheba's union (their second son, after the first died) became the ancestor of Jesus. Sin and its consequences remained real, but grace was greater still.
Frequently Asked Questions
King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, while Uriah was away at war. When Bathsheba became pregnant, David attempted to cover up his sin by calling Uriah home, hoping he would sleep with his wife. When that failed, David arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle, then married Bathsheba. The prophet Nathan later confronted David, leading to his famous prayer of repentance in Psalm 51.
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