While most of us are familiar with the commandment “walk” in Ephesians 4:1 (“Therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”), my study of this word in the Old Testament was surprisingly instructive for me, especially about the importance of taking our indwelling sin seriously and going to war against temptations.
A unique use of the word “walk” in the Old Testament is found in Genesis 5:22–24, which contains a rare form of the word “walk” (1.4% of uses in the Old Testament). The Hebrew form of the word for Enoch’s walk (הלך halak) is hiṯpaʿʿēl imperfect form. This is the only time that form is used in Scripture to refer to someone’s walk with God. The hiṯpaʿʿēl form is reflexive, and it is normally used when more than one person acts upon one another. For example, “hug” and “fight” both require two people. This form of walk is unique because walk does not directly involve anyone else. The implication of this usage is to underscore intensity, and the imperfect form also conveys an ongoing action. Thus, the idea of Enoch’s walk with God was intense and long (300 years of walking with God).
Another verse with this form of “walk” that led to many counseling implications for my own life and ministry was 2 Samuel 11:2, which is the passage about how David fell into sin.
Lingering Before Falling into Sin
Verse 1 opens with kings going out to battle—but David remained at Jerusalem. While it is not necessarily wrong for David to stay back, this is an indicator to show David was lingering. One other unique thing is the number of times “sent” is used in the chapter. I found 12 uses of this word. The only other chapter in the Old Testament with this word so frequently used is Exodus 9 (God telling Pharoah, “let My people go” / “send my people out”). It seems the author’s intent is to demonstrate that David sent other men when he should have went.
Verse 2 describes David walking on the roof. The city of Jerusalem is comprised of hills and valleys, which means King David’s home would have been in an elevated position, looking down on the other homes. The Israelites did not have indoor plumbing. Bathing was typically done outdoors. Commonly, it would be behind the home, covered from the sides to avoid someone seeing, and done in the darkness to further conceal the individual who is taking a bath.
The roofs were typically flat, and often used for a patio. The Mosaic Law required the roof to have a short perimeter wall to keep people from falling off (Deuteronomy 22:8). It was evening and David was in bed, so it would have been dark. The hiṯpaʿʿēl imperfect form of walk implies that David didn’t simply step onto the roof but stayed there for a fair period of time walking back and forth. Consider the emphasis placed on David’s lingering walk on the roof before falling into sin, in contrast to Enoch’s righteous walk with God for 300 years.
The perimeter wall suggests that David had to be close to the edge to look over. Due to darkness, it would have been difficult to see. Thus, it seems evident that David was looking over the edge and watching her intently. This was no accident. David made a significant effort!
Both Bathsheba’s father (Eliam) and her husband (Uriah) were part of David’s inner circle of 30 mighty men (2 Samuel 23:24-39). In verse 3, the Hebrew text literally reads, “He said, ‘is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Elaim, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?’ Even after knowing that Bathsheba is the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, David chose to sin against God by taking her for himself (v. 4). This was no accidental stumbling into sin. David knew full well what he was doing. He lingered on the roof, gave into temptations, and chose to sin.
The Domino Effect
The rest of this passage further illustrates the domino effect that occurred after David’s sin with Bathsheba. If he had not lingered on the roof, none of the other sins would have happened. The chain of actions is as follows:
- David coveted his neighbor’s wife (v. 2–3; 10th Commandment in Exodus 20:17).
- David committed adultery (v. 4; 7th Commandment in Exodus 20:14).
- David lied to try and conceal the sin (v. 5–9; 9th Commandment in Exodus 20:16).
- David caused Uriah to get drunk (v. 10–13; cf. Proverbs 23:29–35; Ephesians 5:18).
- David committed pre-meditated murder (v. 14–17; 6th Commandment in Exodus 20:13).
If David never lingered on the roof, Uriah would be alive, the commandments would not be broken, God would not be dishonored, none of the other sins would have happened, and all would be well in Uriah’s household.
This is a helpful warning for the counselee about their feet lingering, their eyes lingering, and their minds lingering where they should not be. As John MacArthur says, “When a man falls, he has already been leaning into that direction of sin for a long time.”https://gracequotes.org/quote/a-ministry-mentor-john-macarthur-has-said-to-me-on-numerous-occasions-that-when-a-man-falls-he-doesnt-fall-far-in-other-words-a-serious-breach-of-leadership-integrity-d/
The next domino to fall is God’s discipline of David (cf. Hebrews 12). Some examples include:
- God puts their son to death (2 Samuel 12:14–19).
- David’s son rapes David’s sister (2 Samuel 13)
- David’s son murders his other son (2 Samuel 13)
- Joab (leader of the military) rebels against David (2 Samuel 14)
- David’s son rebels against him and the kingdom is thrown into chaos (2 Samuel 15)
- David retains this black mark on his record for as long as the earth endures. 1 Kings 15:5 records a summary of David’s rule: “David did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and had not turned aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.”
If David had never lingered on the roof, none of this would have happened. But God has given us this passage for our instruction (Romans 15:4), and we can gather a few biblical principles from it, including:
- A person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. If one gives into the sinful desire, it will give birth to sin, and one will be entangled in a perpetual cycle of sin and its consequences, if he does not repent (James 1:13-15).
- God has a sovereign plan to accomplish His purpose, and He uses sinners to do it. David and Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon, which is the line of the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:6).
- God forgives any sinner if one repents and believes in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross for salvation (cf. Psalm 51).
- God works all things out for His own glory and the good of His children (Ephesians 1:11; Romans 8:28).
Hope for Fighting Against Sin
In addition, we can also gather a few counseling implications from this text. If a counselee remains unruly or hard-hearted in their sin, we can ask them: How much discipline from God do you want? How painful would you like it to be before you repent?
If the counselee responds with, “shall I go on sinning?” The apostle Paul answers in Romans 6:1, “May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” (cf. 1 John 1:6).
Beyond a call to take sin seriously and be on guard against the temptation to sin, 2 Samuel 11 also includes some points of hope:
- Does your counselee think they are unforgivable? David committed vile sins, yet God forgave him, and we will see him in heaven.
- When Satan tempts your counselee to despair over past sins that he has repented of, remind him of the gospel and his identity in Christ. He is already clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Look at how God used David’s sin for His purposes and glory.
- Has your counselee lost a child? God does not punish the child for the parent’s sin (2 Chronicles 25:4). The son who died was not punished—but blessed by going straight to heaven. This is why David stops weeping in 2 Samuel 12:19–23 and concludes in verse 23, “he will not come to me, but I will go to him.”
Although this passage is a descriptive text, as believers, we can take heed of David’s example to consider how we are walking in a manner worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ that has saved us from our sin (Ephesians 4:1). The verb “walk” here is used figuratively of conduct and of our spiritual state. In other words, how is a believer’s manner of life like? Is it characterized by the transforming power of the Gospel that brings forth good fruit or is the person’s life still characterized by the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16)? If we profess to be children of God, may we be faithful to walk in step with the Holy Spirit as children of light, trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord in all areas of lives (Ephesians 5:8-10).
