The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 268

The crooked ways of sin. We ha.ve in vers. 6-13 an account of the devices by. which David sought to escape the human discovery of his guilt. The perhaps sleep- less nights speat in painful thought as to what could be safely done o.re not alluded to---only the product of his thinking. After what was said in ver. 6, it was certain that exposure in the most palpable form would ensue if the woman's husband remained away at the war. To bring him home, and get him in an apparently natural way: to spend a little time with his wife, at once seemed most feasible. The failure of this scheme, either through the patriotism or the awakeued suspicions of Uriah, caused another night of thought and scheming, and, as the case was urgent, he was made. drunk, in hope thereby his patriotism or suspicions would yield to natural propensi- ties. Once more the force of events is against the scheme ; and, as a last resort, seeing• that Uriah could not be made out to be the father of the coming child, he must, with as good an o.ppea.rance as possible, be put out of the way so that the king, in accordance with the rights of Eastern monarchs, might take hie wife, and the expected one thus appear to he prematurely bom in wedlock. Concerning these crooked ways of sin observe- L TEE FIRST STEP OF THE IMPENITENT SINNER IS TO CLING TO me SIN, When such a sin as David's is committed, God is offended, conscience outraged, self-respect dis- regarded, and human condemnation rendered imminent. The whole of this disruption and confusion in the moral sphere is recognized at once as being a consequence of the deed done. Now, it is obvious that these consequences are not only to be dreaded, and, if possible, t.o be avoided, but also that the first act of a sound mind would be to abominate and seek to get dissociated, in every sense of the term, from the sin which entailed them. The sin, and not the consequences, is the evil thing-the most terrible. and hurtful thing. And the first step of a truly penitent mind would be to. shrink from it, to loathe it, to seek to cut it off if possible from self as the BCCursed thing. But note here that David shows no sign of this. The evil nature adopts the deed, identifies itself with it, seeks to live on in association of thought, feeling, and interest with it. God, purity, conscience, self-respect,-all may go; the soul will have its sin, and, by cherishing this sentiment towards it, virtually persists in its repetition. So did Adam, .A.chan, and Ananias; and so do all the poor debased souls that sink into iniquity without the gr::ace of true repentance. lL 'l'BE SECOND STEP IS TO RECOGNIZE THE POBSmILITY OF EXPOSURE BEFORE MEN. The guilty man knows that God is aware of his crime. Hie action in this respect is a very singular phenomenon. There may be secret dread of God's coming judgment; the. certainty of God's knowledge and power to punish may be so strong as even to render life inwardly wretched, and t.o produce the passivity and helplessness proper to an. unavoidable fate. Pouihly this sort of desperation urges to a warding off of such consequences e.s would come did men but know as much of the sin as God. At any rate, what the narrative sets before us is not an endeavour to escape from God aad his anger; it shows ne rather that, e.s soon as the mind cau collect itself after the 'indulgence in sin, it recoJ!Dizes the possibility of men becoming acquainted with the de.ad done. 'l'hat was the thought which lay at the basis of Achan's covering up his spoils; that is the thought which starts in the mind of the thief, the liar, the adulterer, the false professor. The fear of man is a very potent influence. 'l'he fear of God is real, but it carriea with it a hopelessness of effort. This induces gloomy despera- tion, but not thought and action to prevent discovery. Ill. TJlE XEXT STEP 18 TO OOblSIDEB THE POSSIBLE MEANS. 01!' EBOAPE FROM HUMAN EXl'OBUBE, A guilty man pays unconscious homage to holibess in that he begins to think how he can prevent men knowing what he has done. David the hero, who Clll, XI, 1--27,] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 273