The unspoken issue of physical and sexual abuse.

<p>The unspoken issue of physical and sexual abuse.</p>

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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

David Wright

Is There an Elephant in the Room

I tell you, Elizabeth and I are still thrilled to be here and to be part of the Hendersonville Church.

Never before have I been in a church that has so emphatically insisted I take all the time I want.

And so for that, I thank each and every 1 of you.

Back in 1991, a show came out called Home Improvement.

And a significant part of that show was centered on a man's tool show.

This tool show was called Tool Time, where typically they would be showcasing some tedious, mundane task, and then the host of the show, Tim, the tool man, Taylor, would ask his flannel-wearing assistant, What do we need to complete this task?

And he'd often look to the audience who would respond in unison, more power!

And after some grunting and some fanfare, They would wheel out some new Benford tool, some 5100 high-powered twin-blade 15-horsepower fuel-injected garbage disposal or something.

But so much of that show was focused on him amping up, souping up, creating something with more power.

We like to think we have the most powerful drill or motorcycle or laundry detergent, yet how do we feel when we switch gears a bit and talk about people in positions of power.

Very quickly we start to think oftentimes of those that abuse power, don't we?

Yes, we're quick to realize that power, like many things, can be very good.

It's like so many other things in life, it depends so much on how we use it.

So this morning I wanna look at a very powerful person in the Bible and see just how they used their power.

So if you brought your Bible this morning, I encourage you to turn with me to the book of 2 Samuel.

2 Samuel, we'll be looking at a portion of the life of David.

2 Samuel, and we begin looking at a few things here in chapter 7, before we move on.

And it's important that we begin here because now David is king, but there's full recognition of who has put him there, and rightfully so.

And so we read in 2 Samuel chapter 7 verse 8.

I took you from the pastor, this is what the Lord Almighty says, I took you from the pastor from following the flock to be ruler over the people of Israel.

I have been with you wherever you have gone and I have cut off your enemies from before you now I will make your name great who will make David's name great The Lord that's right and Verse 22 it's reiterated again How great you are Oh Sovereign Lord Now David is recognizing where the strength comes from.

My Bible reads, in the course of time, David defeated the Philistines.

Verse 2, David also defeated the Moabites.

Verse 3, moreover David fought Hadadazir.

Verse 4, David captured a thousand of his chariots, 7000 charioteers, and 20000 foot soldiers.

And so here we see success after success.

And verse 5, when the Armenians of Damascus came to help that same king of Zobah, David struck down 22, 000 of them.

Verse 6, he put garrisons in the Armenian kingdoms of Damascus and the Armenians became subject to him and brought tribute.

The Lord gave David victory wherever he went.

And in case we missed it in verse 6, it's reiterated in verse 14.

The Lord again gave David victory wherever he went.

However, sadly enough, in chapter 9 and chapter 10 and chapter 11, we see little if even no mention of the Lord except in chapter 10, verse 12, where we read, Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God.

The Lord will do what is good in his sight.

It's as if there's some degeneration perhaps, and maybe I'm reading into it too much, but the Lord is mentioned less and less as there is more and more success.

To where we get to this point, well the Lord, He can just do what is good in His sight.

Don't worry God, I've got this under control.

We've been through this a few times before.

And So we flip over another page or 2 in our Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 11.

And this is the story that we will be focusing on this morning.

And we read, in the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army.

It's spring, It's after the rainy season, the roads were good, there was plenty of food for the troops.

And so this was the time when kings, when kings go off to war.

And so the writer wants us to know this is the time that kings go off to war, yet David sent Joab.

That word for sent in Hebrew is shalach, used 23 times in chapters 10, 11, and 12.

As if there's been this deliberate shift of power before God was sending David, now David is the 1 doing the sending.

I mean, after all, if I am a powerful person, I make the command.

I send them here, I send them there, they follow.

And in fact in chapter 10 we see 2 kings busy sending in this strategic play for power.

Their sending is all about human power struggles and the who and who has access to the most strength in order to dominate the other.

And so here in verse 1 of chapter 11, David sends while he, the king, stays home.

Well the last of verse 1, but David remained in Jerusalem.

Verse 2, 1 evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.

And from the roof he saw a beautiful woman.

Evening, the word is really eventide if you have your King James Bible with you, meaning twilight or sunset.

He's had a rather lazy day, wouldn't you say?

And so David gets up, and he's walking around on the roof and sees this woman bathing.

Now, bathing and cooking all took place in private courtyards, up on the roof, oftentimes protected from the neighbors around, but not protected from above.

And part of the culture which is still in practice today in Israel is that you are not to go on rooftops at that particular time of day because as you peek down you will see all kinds of people.

And even archaeology will tell us that David's palace was up on the ledge and all the rest of Jerusalem was down below.

It tells us that this is a deliberate action on the part of David.

He wakes up late in the day and he goes out when kings are supposed to be off at war, he goes out up on his roof at sunset.

In fact, it mentions twice, in case you missed.

From the roof, he went walking around on the roof of the palace, and from the roof, he saw a woman bathing.

And then we see that word again, after he sees this beautiful woman, David sent someone to find out about her.

The man said, in the end of verse 3, isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Ilium and the wife of Uriah?

There's another detail the writer wants us to pick up.

And Uriah, of all people, is 1 of David's original mighty men.

Someone he would have been friends with, yet he sees her and sins for her.

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Is There an Elephant in the Room

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