DECEMBER 26, 2024
“And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.” (II Samuel 11:2-4)
At this point in II Samuel, we read that it’s the time of year when kings and armies traditionally march to war, but King David remained in Jerusalem. While the rest of the army went out to battle, David stayed behind despite God’s direction to the contrary. He instead sends his commander, Joab, while he falls into this great sin of being conquered and led captive by his lust. If David’s attention had been where God wanted it, he would never have put it where God didn’t want it. Staying home from the battle merely provided an opportunity for his long-standing lack of sexual restraint and indulgence of passion to display itself, as David likely knew it would. Had he been at his post at the head of his forces, he would have been out of the way of this temptation. Perhaps David was not trying to see Bathsheba bathing, and it was a complete accident, but he at least did not practice according to his prayer, “Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity.” Her marital status with Uriah the Hittite didn’t stop David from taking and lying with the woman.
Today, we’ll consider some of the fallout of this action. The most immediate outcome of this sin is the death of Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah. David called Uriah to the palace shortly after lying with his wife. He informed the king of the goings-on of the war and the well-being of Joab before David sent him to his house. Perhaps David was hoping Uriah would sleep with his now-pregnant wife to try to cover everything up, or maybe he just wanted him to clean up and relax before going back out to war. Despite David’s direction, Uriah chose to camp in front of the palace.
David then devises a plan to get Uriah killed. He sends the man back to Joab with a note saying, “Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.”(11:15) David wants Joab to place Uriah on the frontlines of a battle and then pull back from him (abandoning him in the field) in hopes that he would be slain. Maybe Uriah saw this as a promotion at first as if the king was seemingly so taken with him that he wanted him to lead the Israelite army into battle. But then the rest of the troops fell away, and Uriah was killed. Though David didn’t physically destroy the man, this was a murder.
David set everything in motion that would lead to Uriah’s death, intentionally getting him killed. This was the blackest thing David had ever done in a life full of mistakes. As is often the case, murder follows adultery, either by way of revenge for it or to cover it.
After mourning her husband for a time, the king would come and marry Bathsheba. Several months must have passed since the beginning of David’s sinful episode, and strangely, his conscience had not brought him a sense of what he had done. It is to be remembered that during all this time, David was not only the civil ruler of his people but also the head of the theocracy, the great upholder of the worship and the service of God, whose psalms were often used as the vehicle of the people’s devotion. It is to be asked: why was David left so long without being brought to a conviction of his sin? One apparent reason is that this sin might be brought to light by the birth of the child conceived with Bathsheba originally. But besides this, David may have been trying to pass from one crime to another in an effort to conceal his guilt.
David’s plot to kill Uriah was easily one of the worst things he ever did, and it greatly displeased the Lord. In my next article, we will continue investigating the fallout of David’s great sin.
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