2 Samuel 11:1 – 27 “In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his servants and the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.
One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. So, David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So, Joab sent him to David.
When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing with the war. Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.”
So, Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.
When David was told, “Uriah did not go home,” he questioned Uriah, “Have you not just come from a journey? Why did you not go home?” Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”
“Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So, Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening, he went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”
So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he saw the strongest enemy soldiers. And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.
Joab sent to David a full account of the battle and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king all the details of the battle, if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall? Who was the one to strike Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’
If so, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”
So, the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”
Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”
David Marries Bathsheba
When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.
But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.”
Yesterday, we described one of David’s most successful battles. Today, we must look at the worst crime David ever committed, acts so foul that it is nearly impossible to believe that he could have done something so terrible.
The whole things began very quietly. David should have accompanied his army to the battle against the Ammonites, but for some reason, he remained in Jerusalem. If David had been on the battle field where he belonged, this tragedy would never have happened. One night, David was strolling around the roof of the palace and saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, bathing. Bathsheba was gorgeous and David was bored and lustful. The result was an unmitigated catastrophe. David sent for Bathsheba and had sex with her that night.
When Bathsheba became pregnant, David was desperate to try to manipulate things. David’s first attempt was to get Uriah to return from the battlefield so that he could have sex with Bathsheba. If Uriah would just have sex with Bathsheba, then the pregnancy could be attributed to Uriah. But Uriah refused, even when David got him drunk. Eventually, David became so desperate that he arranged for Joab to place Uriah in the hottest part of the battle so that he would be killed. Once Uriah was out of the way, David married Bathsheba. Several months later, Bathsheba delivered a son.
APPLICATION: This story is one of the saddest stories in the Old Testament. This is David, who wrote in Psalm 17:3– 5 “Though you probe my heart, though you examine me at night and test me, you will find that I have planned no evil; my mouth has not transgressed. Though people tried to bribe me, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent through what your lips have commanded. My steps have held to your paths; my feet have not stumbled.”
This was David, who had sworn that he was honest and that he would not plan evil. But David committed adultery and then tried to cover that up with murder. Whom did David think he was fooling? There were no secrets in the royal palace. Someone knew that David was up on that roof, and someone else had to invite Bathsheba to come to the palace that night. When David eventually ordered Joab to send Uriah to the hottest part of the battle, Joab knew exactly what David was doing.
We often focus on David as the central figure in this tragedy, but what about all those around David? David has a reputation as a righteous man, a man after God’s own heart. Everyone working with David knows that David is squeaky clean and that he will not tolerate any corruption. But what happens when a righteous person falls? What are the consequences for all those around him or her? To quote an earlier psalm of David, Psalm 12:1 “Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.”
David’s horrific mistakes marked everyone in the palace and everyone who worked with him, particularly Joab, the army commander. Once David’s sins were known, how long was it before others began misconducting themselves? And when if someone behaved corruptly, what could David say?
The story of David’s sins with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah finds its equivalent in recent events. Companies more interested in profits than in ethics have left disaster in their wake as they have fallen under the burden of their own evil. Political leaders interested only in expediency encourage those interested in their own schemes and welfare. David’s story must serve as a warning to all who are leaders of any organization. May God keep us from falling and taking our subordinates with us!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to remain humble and to continue to seek Your guidance so that those who work with us will be encouraged to follow You as well. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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