2 Samuel 22:21-25

[New_Found_Faith]

Here, David basically says that he has been blameless all of his life and has been a righteous man and therefore God has granted him many earthly rewards.

The issue that I have with this is the obvious fact that David was not, in fact, blameless. Not by a long shot. In 1st and 2nd Samuel he sinned a number of times, which often resulted in the death of the parties he transgressed against.

I'm reminded of 1 Samuel 21-22, where David lied in order to get help from Ahimelech and as a result, King Saul executed Ahimelech (who was completely innocent) and his family for helping David get away.

In 2nd Samuel, David slept with another man's wife and impregnanted her, then sent the woman's husband on a suicide mission.

Also in 2nd Samuel Chapter 21 he handed over seven of Saul's (innocent) descendents to be murdered by the Gibeonites.

Considering all of these things, I have to conclude that David wasn't as righteous as he is claiming to be in 2 Samuel 22:21-25. In fact, he could be considered a pretty bad guy because of some of the things he did.

Thoughts?

 

[paulnoel]

I don’t think that David was denying he had not ever sinned, in Psalm 51 David pleaded with God for mercy and forgiveness for his adultery with Bathsheba and for having her husband killed to cover it up. However David did understand God’s faithfulness and was probably writing this hymn from God’s perception, David repented of his sins and he knew that God would mercifully forgive him. In Isaiah 43 v 25 from the NIV Bible God says “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more”. We also have to see from this that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we too are made clean from sin, God replaces our sin with his purity, and he no longer remembers our past sins.
On a closing note, although David was forgiven by God for his sins, the consequences remained, David experienced trouble and distress, both with his family and with the nation-God will always forgive us if we repent with a true heart, but we have to live with the consequences of our actions.
God bless you
Paul