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Sin promises satisfaction, but the hidden price tag is often far greater than we ever imagined. Today we walk through one of the darkest chapters in David’s family and discover how God’s forgiveness is real, even while the scars of sin remind us why we desperately need Jesus.

Throughout this story, David has blatantly disobeyed 3 of the 10 commandments - he has coveted his neighbor’s wife, which led to adultery with her, which led to David’s murdering her husband.

The LORD has taken away your sin; you will not die. That’s GREAT NEWS, because the Scriptural standard for both adultery & murder…is DEATH! Yahweh will spare David, taking away his sin.

David is hurting over his infant son’s sickness, fasting - refusing to eat, and spending a long time in prayer pleading for God to change His mind. Yet, after 7 days of this, God did NOT relent from the judgment handed down.

After 7 days of uninterrupted mourning, fasting, and praying, David’s servants were afraid of how he was going to respond at the tragic news of the newborn’s death.

The baby’s death reminds us of this reality, that…

BIG TRUTH: Forgiven sin restores relationships, but forgiven sin might still leave scars.

David is forgiven, but his sin has brought consequences that will sting for a long time.

David, once super Godly, then super evil, has now been humbled, and after days of fasting and praying, asking God to heal his son - has received God’s judgment for his sin. Rather than pout, rather than get mad at God and once again run FROM God, David cleans up and runs TO God and worshiped. We must RIGHTSIZE our view of God. He is not our buddy, or an old man upstairs. He is the CREATOR of all, the Provider, the One who gives & takes life, the One who will resurrect the people He has forgiven to eternal life! Even in the midst of tough times - when we RIGHTSIZE our view of God - we can worship too. 

• Notice the order here - David went to worship Yahweh BEFORE he concluded his fast. He longed for God’s Presence more than filling his belly.

I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me. Many have used this text as evidence that the baby went to be with God and that’s where David would go one day. There is good Scriptural evidence that all babies who die go to heaven, but it’s not certain this was what David was saying. Instead, David notes that just as the baby has died and won’t come back to him, so too David will die one day. David’s fasting and prayer over his dead son does no more good as God’s decision will not change.

David and Bathsheba have to deal with the reality of mortality. Their newborn is gone. They are forgiven, but the scars remain.

• Solomon means “His Peace”, in the midst of the pain.
• Jedidiah means “beloved of Yahweh”

As many of you know, Solomon is the son that Yahweh said would become a great king and the one whom would build the temple for Yahweh (2 Sam 7:12-13)..

David had been forgiven. Solomon had been born. And David’s kingdom was still intact. 

The hard work had been done for over a year. The most well fortified fortress had been taken, and now the water supply was captured as well. it wouldn’t be long before the people inside the walls would be trying to get out to live. A short besiegement of the city and complete victory was all that was needed to cause this to happen.

It’s doubtful that 75-lb crown was on David’s head for very long! It is likely that this crown normally sat on a statue of a former king or of their god. Much of this plunder was later used to construct the temple in Jerusalem (cf. 2 Sam 8:11–12; 1 Chr 29:2–5).

The people of the city were put to work as prisoners of war. The once proud Ammonites who had fought against God’s people had been soundly defeated.

David had sinned greatly. David had repented thoroughly. David is forgiven fully, and was even given victory by Yahweh, BUT…sin’s price tag is much more expensive than he ever thought it would be. And the consequences of his sin are about to be felt.

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

Remember that David had several wives at this point, and several children with them, hence, there were many half brothers and sisters in this family. From the time of Moses, it was Scripturally forbidden to have sexual relations and marriage with half-siblings, whether they share a father or mother (Lev 18:9; 20:17). With that background, we are introduced to Absalom and his full sister, Tamar (same father - David, and same mother). Their half-brother Ammon (same father - David, different mother), was infatuated with Tamar, and he wanted her as his own.

Jonadab is Amnon’s cousin. In fact, he is cousins with Absalom and Tamar as well. But Jonadab sure sounds like the liar who talked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Jonadab, rather than speaking the truth to his cousin, instead mimics the voice of the ‘father of lies’. And Amnon takes a bite of the forbidden fruit.

Tamar may simply be trying to stop Amnon from doing this terrible act by appealing to any possible solution she can think of in the moment. But he doesn’t stop and does the unthinkable raping her. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Amnon takes a woman who was intended for another man, for a one-night stand. David’s sexual sin is being repeated by his own son. 

• David took another man’s wife. 
• Amnon took another man’s future wife.
• Had David known this was the result of his sin with Bathsheba, do you think he would have hit the brakes before it ever happened? Sin’s price tag was turning out to be far more expensive than what David wanted to pay.

What wickedness! Amnon had previously said he loved her! But now, his hatred was greater than the ‘love’ he had for her. That’s NOT love…that’s LUST! He doesn’t care about her - it was all about him! 

Tamar is now expecting Amnon to treat her as his wife - which is what the Old Testament law demanded for a woman who was not yet engaged yet had sexual relations with a man (Deut 22:28-29).

He was now to keep her in his home and provide for her, but he throws her out. What wickedness! Amnon does what so many of us have done - treating Tamar like she’s the problem instead of dealing with his own sin and shame.

Tamar cannot offer her sexual purity to a future husband because Amnon has taken that from her. Very few men would have married a non-virgin. And Tamar is deeply upset. The only man she has ever slept with doesn’t want her any more.

Absalom might seem like he’s trying to brush it under the rug, but we are about to see that is NOT the case. He cares about his sister and brings her to live in his house.

Even though David was furious, there is NO MENTION of him disciplining Amnon for this wickedness. Did David have trouble disciplining Amnon because HE had done something so similar? Some commentators wonder if David’s consciousness of his own guilt paralyzed him in this moment.

• David’s fury without action seemed to create a vacuum that Absalom would fill with vengeance.

Why did Absalom pick Amnon out of the pack? Amnon was the 1st born of David - the crown prince - who should be next in line for the throne (2 Sam 3:2; 1 Chron 3:1). So, if David can’t come, then maybe Amnon could come in his place. You can almost hear David thinking this one through, but he sent Amnon and his other sons along.

For 2 years - as Tamar lives in his home - as he sees his 1/2 brother Amnon, the rage is boiling inside of him. David didn’t do anything about it, so Absalom WOULD! When the other brothers saw what happened, they fled back to David!

David is distraught! Once again he has been tricked, just as he was used in sending Tamar to Amnon’s house 2 years previous, David thinks he has now sent all his sons to be slaughtered! 

The same Jonadab who was described as “a very shrewd man”, leading Amnon to deceive his Dad (2 Sam 13:3-5), the nephew of David and now one of his advisors, is trying to comfort David.

This weeping probably is due to the killing of Amnon AND the gratefulness that his other sons were not harmed.

Talmai - the king of Geshur was Absalom’s grandfather - the father of his mother (cf. 2 Sam 3:3; 1 Chr 3:2). Now Absalom was on the run for 3 years - afraid for his life because of the king who sat on the throne of Israel - his father - King David. 

• Amnon raped his half-sister, Tamar. Her future hopes were dashed to the ground. Amnon is not disciplined by David. Absalom takes revenge and kills Amnon. Absalom is running from his father, while David is mourning the loss of his firstborn son.

• David was forgiven in eternity, yet the judgment for his sin had spilled over into earthly life.
• Nathan’s prophecy from Yahweh that the sword would not depart from his family (2 Sam 12:9-10) was now coming to fruition.
• David was forgiven. His relationship with Yahweh had been made right, but sin’s price tag was going to leave scars.

Forgiveness & judgment are not mutually exclusive for us either. You may be forgiven for eternity, yet there may be consequences for our sin on earth - SCARS. 

Jesus showed the scars to his 1st disciples (Jn 20:20). They knew in that moment, that their sin cost Jesus His life, but that He had paid for them

- the scars were the receipt of the payment! The same is true for us!

• May we live each day remembering that we have been bought at a price
• and we are to honor Jesus with the time we have left (1 Cor 6:19-20).
• May we reason with ourselves about SIN’S PRICE TAG, before we give in to sin.
• And may we TRUST Jesus for His payment for our sins, even while we struggle with the reality the the consequences of our sin might linger a little while longer, until Jesus makes all things new.