VERSES: 2 Samuel 11:1-12:31
MEMORY VERSE: 2 Samuel 12:7 "And Nathan said to David, "Thou art the man..."
BOOK TO REMEMBER: Joshua. Write "Joshua" on small slips of paper and hand out at the end of class.
PRAYER: Pray that we may always choose God's way. When we are tempted, we should run away like Joseph did.
SPECIAL SONG: Be Careful Little Eyes (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog)
VISUAL AID: Large Activity (see below)
LESSON POINTS:
- There has only been one perfect man who ever lived on the earth and that was God's Son, Jesus. He never sinned one time. He was perfect. The Bible says, while God's people work toward and strive for perfection, they are never perfect. All men sin. Romans 3:23 says that all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. King David was not perfect either. Sometimes, we think of David as a perfect man because the Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart, but David was not perfect. David sinned.
- During the time that all the kings went to battle, David did not go. He sent Joab instead. David should have gone because he was the king of Israel and he would have saved himself a whole lot of trouble and sin. While King David's men were fighting in battles with the Ammonites, David stayed in Jerusalem.
- One evening, David got out of bed and walked up on top of his roof. Perhaps it was hot. Maybe he was looking at his kingdom. We really don't know. Why don't we know why David walked on his roof? Because the Bible does not say why. All we know is that David walked on top of his roof in the evening. While he was there, he looked down and saw a beautiful woman. David sent for messengers and asked who the woman was. The messengers told David that she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
- At this time David already had seven wives, but David wanted one more wife. He wanted Bathsheba for his own wife. He knew that Uriah was fighting a battle far away. King David did something wrong. He treated Bathsheba just like he treated his other seven wives. Just like husbands and wives have families, Bathsheba and David were going to have a baby. David knew he had sinned, so he hurriedly ordered Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, to fight in the fiercest part of the battle, so he would die and Uriah did die in the battle. King David had indirectly killed Uriah. Now, Bathsheba was free to marry King David, so David married Bathsheba and they had a baby boy. The Bible says that everything that David had done displeased the LORD.
- The LORD sent the prophet, Nathan, to talk to David. Nathan told David a story. Nathan said that there were two men who lived in a city. One man was very, very rich and had many flocks and herds. But the other man was very poor and only had one little lamb that had grown up with him and his children. He fed the lamb and it drank from the poor man's cup and he treated it like a child. A traveler came to visit the rich man and the rich man did not take a sheep from his own herd, but he took the little lamb from the poor man and prepared it for the traveler. David grew very angry as Nathan told him this story. David said that the rich man should die and should give the poor man four sheep because he did this. Nathan told King David, "You are the man." The LORD God told David through Nathan that King David was just like the rich man. God had made David king and David had many wives, but David wanted Uriah's wife. David had killed Uriah with the Ammonites' sword and had married his wife. David had sinned.
- Because David sinned, the consequence of his sin was that the sword would never leave his house. David immediately realized and admitted that he had sinned against the LORD. Nathan said that the LORD had put away David's sin and David would not die. But there's another very sad part of this story. The baby got very sick. David prayed to God continually, he fasted, and slept on the dirt. David's servants saw what was going on and when the baby died, they were afraid to tell David. But David saw his servants whispering and asked them if the baby had died. When they he had, David got up, washed his face, and ate some food. He changed his clothes and went in and worshiped the LORD. The servants asked David, "While the baby was sick, you fasted and cried, but when the baby died, you got up and ate bread?" David answered them and said, "While the baby was sick, I prayed to God because I did not know if, perhaps, God would change his mind and let the baby live, but now that the baby died, I will go where he has gone because he cannot return to me."
- David comforted his wife Bathsheba and they had another baby boy and named him Solomon. The Bible says that the LORD loved Solomon.
- So, David sinned, but David was truly sorry for what he had done and asked for the LORD to forgive him. David sinned, but David had to live with the consequences.
ACTIVITY: David And Bathsheba
Materials needed: 12" x 18" yellow construction paper, stapler, staples, scissors, crayons, markers.
- Hand out yellow construction paper.
- Fold yellow paper in half.
- Cut fold off.
- Fold both yellow papers in half again.
- Staple at top of folded papers, forming a book.
- Number each page in order.
- On page 1, write "David and Bathsheba." Write "2 Samuel 10, 11."
- On page 2, draw David on the rooftop, labeling David, Bathsheba, and rooftop. Put moon in sky.
- On page 3, draw Uriah with a sword in his hand, fighting the Ammonites. Write "Uriah in Battle" and "He died."
- On page 4, draw two men, one talking, one listening with an angry look on his face. Write "Nathan" on the man talking. Write "David" on the angry one. Write the word "angry" and draw an arrow pointing to David.
- On page 5, Write "THOU ART THE MAN!".
- On page 6, draw King David with his head bowed down. Write "I have sinned against the LORD."
- On page 7, draw a sword. Write "The sword shall never leave your house."
- Color.
