Monday, July 1, 2013

Reflections on 2 Samuel 11


    2 Samuel 11 (Contemporary English Version)
  1. It was now spring, the time when kings go to war. David sent out the whole Israelite army under the command of Joab and his officers. They destroyed the Ammonite army and surrounded the capital city of Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.
  2. Late one afternoon, David got up from a nap and was walking around on the flat roof of his palace. A beautiful young woman was down below in her courtyard, bathing as her religion required. David happened to see her, and he sent one of his servants to find out who she was. The servant came back and told David, "Her name is Bathsheba. She is the daughter of Eliam, and she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite." David sent some messengers to bring her to his palace. She came to him, and he slept with her. Then she returned home.
  3. (SEE 11:2)
  4. (SEE 11:2)
  5. But later, when she found out that she was going to have a baby, she sent someone to David with this message: "I'm pregnant!"
  6. David sent a message to Joab: "Send Uriah the Hittite to me." Joab sent Uriah
  7. to David's palace, and David asked him, "Is Joab well? How is the army doing? And how about the war?"
  8. Then David told Uriah, "Go home and clean up." Uriah left the king's palace, and David had dinner sent to Uriah's house.
  9. But Uriah didn't go home. Instead, he slept outside the entrance to the royal palace, where the king's guards slept.
  10. Someone told David that Uriah had not gone home. So the next morning David asked him, "Why didn't you go home? Haven't you been away for a long time?"
  11. Uriah answered, "The sacred chest and the armies of Israel and Judah are camping out somewhere in the fields with our commander Joab and his officers and troops. Do you really think I would go home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? I swear by your life that I would not!"
  12. Then David said, "Stay here in Jerusalem today, and I will send you back tomorrow." Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. Then the next day,
  13. David invited him for dinner. Uriah ate with David and drank so much that he got drunk, but he still did not go home. He went out and slept on his mat near the palace guards.
  14. Early the next morning, David wrote a letter and told Uriah to deliver it to Joab.
  15. The letter said: "Put Uriah on the front line where the fighting is the worst. Then pull the troops back from him, so that he will be wounded and die."
  16. Joab had been carefully watching the city of Rabbah, and he put Uriah in a place where he knew there were some of the enemy's best soldiers.
  17. When the men of the city came out, they fought and killed some of David's soldiers--Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
  18. Joab sent a messenger to tell David everything that was happening in the war.
  19. He gave the messenger these orders: When you finish telling the king everything that has happened,
  20. he may get angry and ask, "Why did you go so near the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall?
  21. Don't you know how Abimelech the son of Gideon was killed at Thebez? Didn't a woman kill him by dropping a large rock from the top of the city wall? Why did you go so close to the city walls?" Then you tell him, "One of your soldiers who was killed was Uriah the Hittite."
  22. The messenger went to David and reported everything Joab had told him.
  23. He added, "The enemy chased us from the wall and out into the open fields. But we pushed them back as far as the city gate.
  24. Then they shot arrows at us from the top of the wall. Some of your soldiers were killed, and one of them was Uriah the Hittite."
  25. David replied, "Tell Joab to cheer up and not to be upset about what happened. You never know who will be killed in a war. Tell him to strengthen his attack against the city and break through its walls."
  26. When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
  27. Then after the time for mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to the palace. She became David's wife, and they had a son. The LORD was angry at what David had done,

    Chapter 11 reveals the "chink" in David's armor - his propensity for women. Although God's covenant with Israel had instructed that when a king was appointed over Israel, "He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won't go astray." (Deuteronomy 17:17), David had not observed these instructions. He had instead acquired several wives. The concern of these instructions was that the king's heart would go astray to other gods. This did not happen with David. He remained faithful to God, but his weakness for women led to his most glaring sin.

    2 Samuel 11:1 points out that it was "in the spring when kings march out to war" that this incident occurred, also pointing out that "David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel" but did not go to war himself. This unusual decision on David's part was likely pointed out for a reason. Obviously if he had gone to war with his troops he would not have been in the position to commit the adultery with Bathsheba. But this incident could have happened at any time whether the troops were engaged in war or not. Some have suggested that David was tempted with this relationship with Bathsheba because he had neglected his duty and was therefore idle. His idleness thus leading to the temptation. But the duties of a king should have been sufficient to keep him occupied whether it was war-time or not. If he was idle because he had not gone to war would he not also be idle at anytime there was not a war?

    It would seem rather that David's staying home from war was pointed out not to show his idleness but to show why Bathsheba's husband was not at home but David was. Neither should we consider it unusual that David was on the palace roof or that Bathsheba was bathing on her roof. Should we assume, then, that this whole incident was coincidental? Possibly, but it was no coincidence that Bathsheba ended up in David's bed. Rather than turning away from his observance of her bathing and directing his attention elsewhere, David pursued her. He enquired concerning her identity, and learning who her husband was may have realized he was with the troops. Then he sent for her. Was Bathsheba totally innocent in the whole affair? Maybe not. At the least she consented, though maybe she felt she had no other option at the king's request.

    When David learned that Bathsheba was pregnant due to their affair he took action to cover it up. When his subterfuge failed he gave orders for Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, to be killed in battle. This plan was successful. It is not unusual that one sin leads to others in order to cover up the first sin. And they grow increasingly worse with each succeeding sin. The sin of adultery is a prime example. How many times has it destroyed the lives, not only of those directly involved, but also of many related to them?

    After Bathsheba had mourned the death of her husband, David made her his wife and she bore their son. At this point David may have thought everything was good, but he was soon to learn otherwise.

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