The Irrationality of Adultery!

Train Collision in Poland  4-3-12

Train Collision in Poland
4-3-12

It is irrational for two trains to be driving on the same track headed directly toward each other to think they will not hit, yet this is the exact thoughts of an adulterer!

The affair will come out!  You cannot remain in both relationships for long! 

The famous story of David committing adultery with Bathsheba illustrates the irrationality of adultery (2 Sam. 11).  Here is a brief account of the story in case you don’t know it.  David, who should have been in battle with his army, sees a beautiful woman on a neighboring housetop.  He has her brought to his palace.  He commits adultery with her.  She discovers she is pregnant.  He then sets out to hide his sin.  He has her husband, Uriah the Hittite, brought back from the battle.  Uriah, due to duty will not go into his wife, so David has Uriah put to death by ordering the other troops to withdraw from him when he is at the frontline of the battle.

David was not thinking rationally. Consider David’s irrational thoughts:

  1. David ignores the obvious evidence of time!  Uriah, the wife of Bathsheba, was off in battle.  David commits adultery with her.   It would have taken several weeks for her to realize she was pregnant.  There would have been time in Uriah to travel home from the battle.  Uriah might possibly of noticed that she was pregnant.  Secondly, he certainly would have considered the baby when it was delivered much earlier than when he came home from battle.
  2. David does not consider his prominent leadership position and all he could lose.  He was to be an example to God’s people, yet he is taking one of his servant’s wives.
  3. David foolishly thinks he will not be discovered.  Did David think that all the other townspeople did not notice?  When the baby comes out early and has features like David didn’t he think it would be a problem?
  4. David miscalculates key factors in his plan to cover his sin.  His plan to hide his sin hinged on Uriah going into his wife and then not knowing she was pregnant.  He was basically counting on Bathsheba to lie and raise this child as Uriah’s.  Yet, Uriah is a duty-bond man who will not enjoy the pleasure of home, while the ark of Israel and army of the Lord are in battle.
  5. David thought he was above the rules and not accountable.  He thought he could have his fling and then cover it up.  When his first attempt didn’t work, then he gets dirty and murders Uriah in a deceitful plan.  All of this is a picture of a man who is prideful and believing he is not accountable to the rules.
  6. David inconceivably underestimated the knowledge and holiness of God.  David knew the Lord.  He walked with Him.  He knew he was all-powerful and all-knowing.  Yet, he forgot him during this episode.  Maybe, he thought God wasn’t that interested in who he took to bed.  Or he thought he had done so much good for God, that he was entitled to a few infractions.  Possibly he just forgot about God’s holiness.   Did he really think he could hide the sin from God?

We are thousands of years removed from when David walked Jerusalem, but the same irrational thought patterns listed above describe everyone who is involved in adultery.  It doesn’t make sense!  It is not about love, it is about lust!  It is about selfishness, happiness, and entitlement.  It is irrational and not thinking soberly.

David ended up hearing “you the man” and it all came out and he was punished severely (2 Sam. 12).  So adulterers today here “you the man” and are punished severely.  Don’t go down this path!  We have to be on guard everyday to prevent such irrational thoughts in the moments of lust, pride, and seduction.  

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*Thanks to my wife who gave me the idea for this post as she has been studying the life of David.

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