2 Samuel 22 · a question people ask
How could David sing, "The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness", after Bathsheba and Uriah?
David sings, "The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands" (22:21), "For I have kept the LORD’s ways, and have not wickedly departed from my God" (22:22), and "I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity" (22:24). The same book has told how David took Uriah's wife and had Uriah killed (11:3-4, 11:14-17), and how he said, "I have sinned against the LORD" (12:13). 22:1 gives the song's occasion, "the day that the LORD delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul", but the chapter doesn't say when in David's life he sang it. Christians read 22:21-25 in two main ways. Both agree on what these books say: David sinned in the matter of Uriah (12:13), 1 Kings 15:5 names that matter as the one exception in his life, and Nathan told him, "The LORD also has put away your sin" (12:13).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
His clean hands toward Saul
Those who read it this way take 22:21-25 with the song's occasion, the day the LORD delivered David "out of the hand of Saul" (22:1). Twice David had Saul in his power and would not harm him: "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him" (1 Samuel 24:6), and "who can stretch out his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?" (1 Samuel 26:9). Then he said to Saul, "The LORD will give to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness" (1 Samuel 26:23). In Hebrew, give there is shuv, the verb of "the LORD has rewarded me" in 22:25, beside the same word for righteousness. On this reading the song's righteousness and "cleanness of my hands" (22:21) are David's dealings with Saul, the matter the song names.
2 Samuel 22:1 · 2 Samuel 22:21 · 2 Samuel 22:25 · 1 Samuel 24:6 · 1 Samuel 26:9 · 1 Samuel 26:23
A whole life turned toward the LORD
Those who read it this way take 22:21-25 as David speaking of the way of his whole life. 1 Kings sums up David's life this way: "David did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, and didn’t turn away from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite" (1 Kings 15:5). In Hebrew, turn away there is sur, the verb of "As for his statutes, I didn’t depart from them" (22:23). On this reading the song speaks as one whose sin has been put away, as Nathan said, "The LORD also has put away your sin" (12:13), and as a psalm titled "By David" says, "Blessed is he whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Psalm 32:1).
1 Kings 15:5 · 2 Samuel 22:23 · 2 Samuel 12:13 · Psalm 32:1
The verses
“The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness. He rewarded me according to the cleanness of my hands. For I have kept the LORD’s ways, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his ordinances were before me. As for his statutes, I didn’t depart from them. I was also perfect toward him. I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in his eyesight.”
“David sent and inquired after the woman. One said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, Uriah the Hittite’s wife?” David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness); and she returned to her house.”
“In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He wrote in the letter, saying, “Send Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck and die.” When Joab kept watch on the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. The men of the city went out and fought with Joab. Some of the people fell, even of David’s servants; and Uriah the Hittite died also.”
“David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin. You will not die.”