“For I have kept the ways of Adonai,
I have not done evil by leaving my God;
for all his rulings were before me,
I did not depart from his regulations.
I was pure-hearted toward him
and kept myself from my sin.”
-2 Samuel 22:22-24
Alrighty, starting from verse 20, we’re about to dive into one of the most difficult parts of this Psalm of David.
Why will these verses be so challenging?
Because they call David’s credibility into question.
Things start innocently enough with David recalling how the Lord brought him into an open place.
David’s referring to the many times Saul and his men had David cornered, yet through God’s grace, David miraculously escaped.
The trouble begins right after these verses.
David goes on to talk about how he has…
“Kept the ways of Adonai…”
“Not done evil by leaving his God…”
And…
“Kept himself from sin.”
Sure, outside of his affair with Bathsheba…
And arranging to have her husband killed…
David kept himself from sin, alright!
I hope you’re catching the major sarcasm intended there.
But oh boy, it gets even worse.
David then goes on to say…
“Hence Adonai repaid me for my uprightness,
According to my purity in his view.”
What “uprightness” is David referring to here?
Holy hell, man, I dunno even know where to start.
Now, you know what’s really interesting about all this?
How Hebrew and Gentile Christian scholars differ in their viewpoints on these verses.
Not surprisingly, Judaism completely agrees with the plain reading of these passages that David was utterly without sin.
The Rabbis have to maintain that position to make sure it aligns with their belief in a perfect Messiah.
On the other hand, Christianity’s take on the matter is complete indifference.
Christian scholars simply skip over these verses without any serious examination.
It’s as if these verses don’t even exist to them.
That shouldn’t be surprising given their ridiculously low understanding of Torah and the Hebrew Bible.
I mean, the whole basis of their theology is that “Jesus did away with the Law.”
So why should they even care to study the Scriptures?
Anyway, both Judaism and Christianity seem to be ignoring what the Prophet Nathan told David earlier in 2nd Samuel, which point-by-point refutes what David is saying here.
Here are the verses for your quick reference:
“‘Here is what Adonai, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel. I rescued you from the power of Sha’ul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives to embrace. I gave you the house of Israel and the house of Y’hudah. And if that had been too little, I would have added to you a lot more.
‘So why have you shown such contempt for the word of Adonai and done what I see as evil? You murdered Uriyah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife; you put him to death with the sword of the people of ‘Amon. Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house — because you have shown contempt for me and taken the wife of Uriyah the Hittite as your own wife.’ Here is what Adonai says: ‘I will generate evil against you out of your own household. I will take your wives before your very eyes and give them to your neighbor; he will go to bed with your wives, and everyone will know about it. For you did it secretly, but I will do this before all Israel in broad daylight.’”
David said to Natan, “I have sinned against Adonai.”
Natan said to David, ‘Adonai also has taken away your sin. You will not die. However, because by this act you have so greatly blasphemed Adonai, the child born to you must die.’”-2 Samuel 12:7-14
So we’re gonna stop here, and continue this discussion the next time we meet.
But before closing, I wanna get your opinion.
What do you think is the best way to explain the discrepancy about David claiming to be without sin here, and the obvious wicked sins he committed with Bathsheba, and afterward having her husband murdered?
Lemme know in the comments, and we’ll pick this up the next time we meet.
Stay frosty!
David sinned and he sinned grievously, but he repented and humbled himself, and took God’s punishment without complaining, realizing he was fortunate to have not been executed for his crimes, and acknowledged that his sin was ultimately against God rather than against Uriah and Bathsheba. I think the best way to explain it is that David knew he had been justified by his repentance, and justification gives us right standing with God. God forgives and then forgets our repented sins, but this is hard for us to understand because God does not remove the earthly penalty of sin, we reap what we sow, so how can God forget our sin when He can clearly see us reaping what we have sown? Yet in some mysterious way He does and I won’t try to explain it. God’s justice can be brutal but His mercy ultimately triumphs and rejoices over His justice, but His justice must be satisfied. How do you explain that? It’s a mystery but we are fortunate that God would rather extend mercy than fully execute His justice. David must have understood God’s mercy better than we do, and under God’s mercy David felt that he, for all intents and purposes, was “without sin”.
God says that when he forgives sin, it is not just forgiven, it is forgotten.
Yes, David sinned, as all humans will (whether they want to or not) because we all have, from birth, the Yetzer Hara (Evil Inclination).
David did what we are all supposed to do when faced with our sin- he confessed it, he repented of it, and he asked forgiveness of it.
David was as Torah observant as anyone could be (in my opinion), and so I believe, although it isn’t stated, it is safe to say he also performed the necessary sacrifice to be able to ask God for forgiveness, which (as Natan verified) was given to him.
Therefore, since David understood God’s ways better than most, I believe he was able to claim sinlessness and always following God’s way because he knew that what he had done wrong was already forgiven and forgotten.
Here’s an interesting conundrum that will open a can of worms:
If God’s forgiveness is forever, and once cleansed of sin we are now sinless, is it possible that Yeshua, being human and knowing human temptation, might have sinned sometimes during his life, but always made the proper sacrifice at the temple, in accordnce with the Torah, and as such was forgiven, once again being clean and righteous before Gods eyes?
If he had not sinnned between his last sacrifice and being crucified, then he would still have died the sinless lamb of God.
Hmmm…. interesting thought, isn’t it?
Hi Steven,
I see what you’re saying.
So in other words, David trusted God’s forgiveness so deeply…
And trusted that the Lord truly remembered his sin no more…
That he could speak boldly and even claim “sinlessness,” correct?
That’s what you’re getting at, right?
Stay tuned for more!
The main question I have is, what was David’s motivation for saying he was “without sin”. He surely knew that many would dispute his claim and feel anger and outrage about such a claim. I’ve done many bad things but I’ve never had anyone murdered, and I would never claim to be “without sin”, forgiven or not forgiven. Offhand I think such an idea is best kept to oneself, unless you have a death wish. Why invite anger and outrage? God apparently forgets our sin, but since the fallout of our sins continues it’s hard for humans to forget their sins. Had David forgotten what he did? Hard to imagine. Claiming to be without sin sounds close to boasting if not outright boasting. Humanly I would criticize David for such a claim, but perhaps God inspired him to say that and have it committed to writing, for our benefit, to give us hope, comfort and reassurance of our salvation. That being said I struggle with this one.
Thanks, Cory.
I appreciate your answer, and it’s actually close to the conclusion I’m going to come up with when I start formulating my answer.
Stay tuned for more, brother!
Rich