Just as Jesus did with 6th commandment, “You shall not murder,” he did with the 7th commandment, “You shall not commit adultery.” He broadened the power and the applications of each one. He showed us that all the commandments are inside-out, speaking not just to our words and actions but also to our hearts. Jesus showed us the root of adultery in the Sermon on the Mount: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Adultery begins in the heart. It starts with lust. When Jesus said if our right eye or right hand causes us to sin we are to cut it off or to pluck it out, he spoke in a metaphor. Because if lust starts with the heart and we are condemned even by our thoughts, no sharp knife can fix that problem. The sharp two-edged sword of God’s Word is efficient and effective, however, in cutting to the root. Even the king of Israel, the man after God’s own heart, had to learn this lesson and suffer the consequences.
David’s adultery with Bathsheba started with a glance. But it started even before that, didn’t it? The story begins like this: “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…David remained in Jerusalem.” David left himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He sent Joab and his men to go fight the Ammonites, but the king stayed home. Interesting that they won their battle… but David lost his. He saw Bathsheba from his roof and what his eyes saw his flesh wanted. So he sent for her and the sin of adultery he had already committed with his heart was consummated in his bed.
Let me point out that had David not put himself in that place by being in Jerusalem instead of at work, this might never have happened. That was his first mistake, and his first escape missed. When he saw Bathsheba, he also could have looked away and walked away and perhaps gotten on his horse and taken off to battle. Or at least he could have taken a cold shower. His adultery of the heart would not have led to its deadly end. But he didn’t flee his lusts; second mistake, second escape missed. Instead he looked at her and longed for her and made the next wrong move. He called for her to come to him. When she came to his door, did he think about what he had just been told, that she was Uriah’s wife? Uriah! One of David’s most trusted soldiers, one of the mighty men of the king. He had a third opportunity to escape this sin trap. He could have said when she arrived, “Uhh, thanks for coming. And…I just want to thank you, Bathsheba, for your husband’s faithful service to the king. I wish you and him well. Give him my best when he returns from battle.” He could have sent her back home with those words. But he didn’t; third mistake, third escape missed. The rest is ugly history.
Remember, there is a promise in the Bible that takes away all excuses for any of us who pursue our sinful desires to their destructive end and then say, “I just couldn’t help it!” Not true. Paul wrote, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
And there are some who think to themselves, and I have heard some say it: “I am oblivious to that stuff. No woman can turn my head. I can also look at anything online or on the screen and it does not phase me.” Paul had a word for that, too, in the previous verse: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
J. Mark Fox 