He Took the Poor Man’s Lamb
The parable of the rich man and the poor man’s lamb is most
touching. Most parables (short stories with deep inner, moral
meaning) are found in the New Testament of God’s word, the
Bible. The parable on which we shall focus today is found in the
Old Testament, II Samuel, Chapter 12.
God had appointed a
prophet, Nathan, to deliver His messages to David, the King of
Israel. Nathan was Godly and dedicated to giving God’s message
exactly as God has given it to him. God directed Nathan to tell
the following parable to David: A rich man and a poor man lived
in a given city. The rich man has many, many sheep and cattle.
At this time, one’s wealth was largely determined by the number
of animals one owned; therefore, it is clear that the rich man
was very rich. However, the poor man had only one little ewe
lamb, which he had bought, fed, and watered. The family,
including the children, loved the ewe lamb and made it a part of
their family. The family would feed the lamb their food and let
it drink their water. The family members would pet and hold the
lamb close to their chests to the point that the poor man
considered this ewe lamb his daughter. Oh, how the family of the
poor man loved the pet lamb.
The rich man was going to host
an out-of-town guest, and he wanted to provide a tasty meal for
the friend. Although the rich man had many animals, because of
greed, he did not want to kill even one of his lambs. Therefore,
the rich man took the poor man’s pet lamb, slaughtered it, and
used it as the main dish of the dinner honoring the guest.
When Nathan finished telling the story to King David, David
was furious and said that the rich man should die for his greed
and lack of caring for others.
Without hesitation, brave
Nathan did what God instructed him to do, and told King David
that he was the rich man. David had just pronounced his own
sentence. Here is irony of situation, an unexpected turning of
events. Needless to say, David was shocked; he suddenly realized
how selfish, greedy, and uncaring he was.
What had David
done to deserve such a condemnation from God? One evening, David
was walking on the roof of his palace, and nearby on another
roof was Bathsheba, who was bathing. Bathsheba was seductive and
beautiful. He wanted her even though he discovered that she was
married to Uriah, a soldier in the army of Israel.
At
that time, Israel was fighting a war with the Ammonites. David,
wanting to get rid of Uriah, instructed his general to put Uriah
on the front lines where hot fighting was taking place. As David
hoped, Uriah was killed; this left David free to marry
Bathsheba. Therefore, when the prophet told David that he was
the rich man taking advantage of the poor man, David realized
his horrendous sin and was deeply repentant.
Pouring out
his heart to God, he displays true sorrow and pleads for
forgiveness in Psalm 51. First, David acknowledges his terrible
sins and asks for mercy and a thorough spiritual cleansing from
God. The following passage from Psalm 51 gives us the flavor of
his emotional poem:
7 Take away my sin, and I will be
clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Make me
hear sounds of joy and gladness;
let the bones you crushed be
happy again.
9 Turn your face from my sins
and wipe out
all my guilt.
10 Create in me a pure heart, God,
and make
my spirit right again.
11 Do not send me away from you
or
take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me back the joy
of your salvation. (NCV.)
Friend, if you are carrying a
burden because of some foolish act in your life, as did David,
confess your sin to God, show your sincere sorrow by turning
from that sin, and ask God to forgive you, giving you power
through His Holy Spirit, to be victorious over temptation. Upon
doing this, you will find a depth of peace that is beyond human
understanding. You will find forgiveness and eternal life.
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© 2005 Guthrie Memorial
Chapel |
