Lessons from the life of David
King of Israel
Part 5 - David's Tragedy
2 Samuel 11 & 12 [New Century Version]
2 Samuel 11 & 12 [New Century Version]
The Look
In the spring, when the kings normally went out to war, David sent out [the army commander] Joab, his servants, and all the Israelites.
The army went to war. But David stayed home.
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. While he was on the roof, he saw a woman bathing.
Here David is faced with an immediate decision: What will he do with his eyes? What will he do with his mind? Another look... what harm is there in that?
She was very beautiful. So David sent his servants to find out who she was. A servant answered, "That woman is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam. She is the wife of Uriah the Hittite."
Uriah was one of David's most loyal army officers, and part of an elite squad of officers who earned a high reputation for their daring and their success (2 Samuel 23:24-39). What was especially significant about this, was that Uriah wasn't even Jewish! He was a Hittite, a group of people who had their origins in central Turkey in an ancient empire at the time of Abraham, 1000 years earlier. Yet this "foreigner," like so many, recognized the God of Israel as the only true God, "the God of Heaven," the creator of all life, and the One to whom we must all give account. Uriah worshiped Israel's God and was loyal to Israel's king. It happened that he was a neighbor to Kind David, and it was Uriah's wife whom David saw bathing. Because Uriah was one of David's top army officers, David knew that Uriah was away fulfilling his duties in military service.
The Touch
The Touch
So David sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him. When she came to him, he had sexual relations with her. (Now Bathsheba had purified herself from her monthly period.)
It appears that Bathsheba was a willing partner in this adulterous relationship. We can only speculate whether or not her prior bathing exposure was deliberate.
The information that "Bathsheba had purified herself from her monthly period" relates to Jewish rules about hygiene (Leviticus 18:19), and it is significant on for two reasons.
(1) It tells us that, because she recently had her period, she was not pregnant when she visited David.
(2) It tells us that she was near her time of fertility. And it happened.
The information that "Bathsheba had purified herself from her monthly period" relates to Jewish rules about hygiene (Leviticus 18:19), and it is significant on for two reasons.
(1) It tells us that, because she recently had her period, she was not pregnant when she visited David.
(2) It tells us that she was near her time of fertility. And it happened.
Then she went back to her house. But Bathsheba became pregnant and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."
And, David, you are the father of this baby! Now David had a serious problem. How does he try to deal with it? Perhaps, he thought, he could hide his offense if he got Uriah home and in bed with his wife. Then when Uriah would discover his wife pregnancy, he would believe that he was the father, and there would be no suspicion of adultery.
The Deceit
The Deceit
So David sent a message to Joab: "Send Uriah the Hittite to me." And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, "Go home and rest." So Uriah left the palace, and the king sent a gift to him.
So far the plan is working... or is it?
But Uriah did not go home. Instead, he slept outside the door of the palace as all the king’s officers did.
The officers told David, "Uriah did not go home."
Then David said to Uriah, "You came from a long trip. Why didn’t you go home?"
Uriah said to him, "The Ark of the Covenant and the soldiers of Israel and Judah are staying in tents. My master Joab and his officers are camping out in the fields. It isn’t right for me to go home to eat and drink and have sexual relations with my wife!"
David said to Uriah, "Stay here today. Tomorrow I’ll send you back to the battle." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
David stalled for time, trying to come up with "Plan B."
Then David called Uriah to come to see him, so Uriah ate and drank with David. David made Uriah drunk, but he still did not go home. That evening Uriah again slept with the king’s officers.
David is getting desperate. It's time for "Plan C."
The Murder
The Murder
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. In the letter David wrote, "Put Uriah on the front lines where the fighting is worst and leave him there alone. Let him be killed in battle."
Joab was an obedient army officer, loyal to his king, just as Uriah was.
Joab watched the city and saw where its strongest defenders were and put Uriah there. When the men of the city came out to fight against Joab, some of David’s men were killed. And Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
Then Joab sent David a complete account of the war... The messenger told David, "The men of Ammon were winning. They came out and attacked us in the field, but we fought them back to the city gate. The archers on the city wall shot at your servants, and some of your men were killed. Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died."
David said to the messenger, "Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t be upset about this. The sword kills everyone the same. Make a stronger attack against the city and capture it.’ Encourage Joab with these words."
When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she cried for him. After she finished her time of sadness, David sent servants to bring her to his house. She became David’s wife and gave birth to his son, but the Lord did not like what David had done.
Oh... the Lord. Was He watching?
The Truth
God confronts David about what he did. But He does it effectively, by getting David's attention with a story.
The Truth
God confronts David about what he did. But He does it effectively, by getting David's attention with a story.
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, he said, "There were two men in a city. One was rich, but the other was poor. The rich man had many sheep and cattle. But the poor man had nothing except one little female lamb he had bought. The poor man fed the lamb, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and drank from his cup and slept in his arms. The lamb was like a daughter to him.
"Then a traveler stopped to visit the rich man. The rich man wanted to feed the traveler, but he didn’t want to take one of his own sheep or cattle. Instead, he took the lamb from the poor man and cooked it for his visitor."
David became very angry at the rich man. He said to Nathan, "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this should die! He must pay for the lamb four times for doing such a thing. He had no mercy!"
Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I appointed you king of Israel and saved you from Saul. I gave you his kingdom and his wives. And I made you king of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you even more. So why did you ignore the Lord’s command? Why did you do what he says is wrong? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and took his wife to be your wife!"
After listing David's offenses, Nathan lists the consequences.
"Now there will always be people in your family who will die by a sword, because you did not respect me; you took the wife of Uriah the Hittite for yourself!’
"This is what the Lord says: ‘I am bringing trouble to you from your own family. While you watch, I will take your wives from you and give them to someone who is very close to you. He will have sexual relations with your wives, and everyone will know it. You had sexual relations with Bathsheba in secret, but I will do this so all the people of Israel can see it.’ "
The Confession
When David's predecessor, King Saul, was caught disobeying God's direct instructions, he made excuses, and try to justify his actions. How did David respond?
When David's predecessor, King Saul, was caught disobeying God's direct instructions, he made excuses, and try to justify his actions. How did David respond?
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."
Indeed he did! Notice that David confessed without an explanation, without excuses, without blaming others, as we often do. Not only had David disobeyed God and violated the Ten Commandments, he violated the very holiness of God by what he did. That was the point of his humble and honest confession, "I have sinned against the Lord." Even though David was a sinner, he still knew God's heart.
The Forgiveness
Can God forgive him?
The Forgiveness
Can God forgive him?
Nathan answered, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You will not die."
Yes. And no matter how great is your sin, God forgives you, too.
God's Reputation
However, the Lord still has a serious problem. The problem is the great damage that David did to God's reputation. David believed that the whole affair was a safe secret. But the truth was, everyone was gossiping about it. "Did you hear what David did?!" It is no different that what happens today when a highly respected Christian leader falls into immorality. And the unbelievers find the news most delicious. Nathan continued,
However, the Lord still has a serious problem. The problem is the great damage that David did to God's reputation. David believed that the whole affair was a safe secret. But the truth was, everyone was gossiping about it. "Did you hear what David did?!" It is no different that what happens today when a highly respected Christian leader falls into immorality. And the unbelievers find the news most delicious. Nathan continued,
"But what you did caused the Lord’s enemies to lose all respect for him. For this reason the son who was born to you will die."
If I may take the liberty to paraphrase, God's message to David was, "You think that what you did, you did it secret. But the fact is, the whole world knows about it! And the unbelieving nations - those who have heard that the God of Israel is a holy God, a righteous God, a mighty God, quite unlike their gods - they are waiting to see how I deal with you. They want to know if I am really the God that you've told them about. They see how seriously you harmed my reputation, and they want to know if I am big enough to do anything about it. So the baby will die. Not as a punishment for the child. But simply as a public statement from Me, a statement that says I know what you did, and what you did is very, very wrong."
Then Nathan went home. And the Lord caused the son of David and Bathsheba, Uriah’s widow, to be very sick. David prayed to God for the baby. David refused to eat or drink. He went into his house and stayed there, lying on the ground all night. The older leaders of David’s family came to him and tried to pull him up from the ground, but he refused to get up or to eat food with them.
During that time of grieving over his sin, and the consequences that sin brought to his son, David wrote Psalm 51, a power prayer of confession. David also prayed to God to spare the baby's life. How did God choose to answer David's prayer?
On the seventh day the baby died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the baby was dead. They said, "Look, we tried to talk to David while the baby was alive, but he refused to listen to us. If we tell him the baby is dead, he may do something awful."
When David saw his servants whispering, he knew that the baby was dead. So he asked them, "Is the baby dead?"
They answered, "Yes, he is dead."
Then David got up from the floor, washed himself, put lotions on, and changed his clothes. Then he went into the Lord’s house to worship. After that, he went home and asked for something to eat. His servants gave him some food, and he ate.
David’s servants said to him, "Why are you doing this? When the baby was still alive, you refused to eat and you cried. Now that the baby is dead, you get up and eat food."
David said, "While the baby was still alive, I refused to eat, and I cried. I thought, ‘Who knows? Maybe the Lord will feel sorry for me and let the baby live.’ But now that the baby is dead, why should I go without food? I can’t bring him back to life. Some day I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me."
Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife. He slept with her and had sexual relations with her. She became pregnant again and had another son, whom David named Solomon. The Lord loved Solomon. The Lord sent word through Nathan the prophet to name the baby Jedidiah, because the Lord loved the child.
End of Story? No. There is more... for next time.
Principles for us
(1) Dealing with temptation
David's downfall started "innocently," with only a look. Who could have thought that look would lead to murder? The place David lost the moral battle was in the first temptation.
How should we deal with temptation? The Bible has a simple, clear instruction, in one word: FLEE! Run away from it.
And if you know in advance what you moral weakness are, and where those traps are waiting for you, don't go there! Alcoholics Anonymous counsels its members, "If it has been your habit to stop at the bar on the way home from work, don't even try to pass the bar without going in. You'll fail. Find another way home, so you don't even go near the bar."
We used to be able to counsel men who have moral battles of the mind, over lust, to get rid of the pornography in their homes, and to do their shopping only at stores which don't sell porn. But now we can get as much visual garbage as we can endure delivered fresh each day, through our cable TV movie channels and our Internet browser.
And in our conduct with other people and organizations, there is an old but true wisdom in this proverb:
David's downfall started "innocently," with only a look. Who could have thought that look would lead to murder? The place David lost the moral battle was in the first temptation.
How should we deal with temptation? The Bible has a simple, clear instruction, in one word: FLEE! Run away from it.
And if you know in advance what you moral weakness are, and where those traps are waiting for you, don't go there! Alcoholics Anonymous counsels its members, "If it has been your habit to stop at the bar on the way home from work, don't even try to pass the bar without going in. You'll fail. Find another way home, so you don't even go near the bar."
We used to be able to counsel men who have moral battles of the mind, over lust, to get rid of the pornography in their homes, and to do their shopping only at stores which don't sell porn. But now we can get as much visual garbage as we can endure delivered fresh each day, through our cable TV movie channels and our Internet browser.
And in our conduct with other people and organizations, there is an old but true wisdom in this proverb:
If you avoid any appearance of wrong-doing,
then you go a long way in avoiding
the opportunity to do wrong.
then you go a long way in avoiding
the opportunity to do wrong.
But there are times when we face temptations quite unexpectedly. What should we do?
(a) What did Jesus do what He was tempted? (Matthew 4:1-11) Jesus answered each of the devil's temptations by quoting Scripture - a Bible verse that speaks God's truth against the devil's lie.
Remember what the Bible says specifically about that sin. Which of the 10 Commandments apply to that temptation? How did Jesus apply that Commandment to our thoughts, words, and attitudes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)?
In Texas we have lots of billboards along our highways. And often the billboards try to grab attention with immodestly dressed women (and men). Whenever such a billboard was in my line of sight, I would remember the prayer of Job: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." (Job 31:1)
(b) Recognized the temptation is a hook bated with a lie. The temptation says, "Do this, and you will feel good." Wrong. It's a lie. Just remember how lousy you felt the last time you yielded to temptation.
(c) Remember the price you pay afterward. Not only the price you pay in guilt, lost peace and lost integrity, but damage that comes to those who are under your authority, or those whom you serve. (Our next lesson about David will get into great damage that came to his family as a result of his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah.)
(d) Visualize Christ suffering on the cross for that sin. Do we really despise our Savior so much that we would deliberately add to the horrors of hell that He suffered for us on the cross?
(c) Cry out to God to show you his way of escape. [An example is in the closing story of this lesson.]
(a) What did Jesus do what He was tempted? (Matthew 4:1-11) Jesus answered each of the devil's temptations by quoting Scripture - a Bible verse that speaks God's truth against the devil's lie.
Remember what the Bible says specifically about that sin. Which of the 10 Commandments apply to that temptation? How did Jesus apply that Commandment to our thoughts, words, and attitudes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7)?
In Texas we have lots of billboards along our highways. And often the billboards try to grab attention with immodestly dressed women (and men). Whenever such a billboard was in my line of sight, I would remember the prayer of Job: "I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl." (Job 31:1)
(b) Recognized the temptation is a hook bated with a lie. The temptation says, "Do this, and you will feel good." Wrong. It's a lie. Just remember how lousy you felt the last time you yielded to temptation.
(c) Remember the price you pay afterward. Not only the price you pay in guilt, lost peace and lost integrity, but damage that comes to those who are under your authority, or those whom you serve. (Our next lesson about David will get into great damage that came to his family as a result of his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah.)
(d) Visualize Christ suffering on the cross for that sin. Do we really despise our Savior so much that we would deliberately add to the horrors of hell that He suffered for us on the cross?
(c) Cry out to God to show you his way of escape. [An example is in the closing story of this lesson.]
"The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it." 1 Corinthians 10:13
(2) God forgives.
No matter how great your offense, God still loves you, He forgives you, and He still can use you in His service. This is precisely the reason Jesus went to the cross for you, so He could take eternal punishment for our sin and we wouldn't. Let Jesus have it. Let it go.
No matter how great your offense, God still loves you, He forgives you, and He still can use you in His service. This is precisely the reason Jesus went to the cross for you, so He could take eternal punishment for our sin and we wouldn't. Let Jesus have it. Let it go.
I close with a story from the autobiography of the late Senator Harold Hughes, The Man From Ida Grove.
Before becoming a Senator, Hughes was Governor of Iowa. Before that, he was a cussing, drinking truck driver, known to his friends as "Pack." This story is from those truck driving days, a short time after he became a Christian.
Before becoming a Senator, Hughes was Governor of Iowa. Before that, he was a cussing, drinking truck driver, known to his friends as "Pack." This story is from those truck driving days, a short time after he became a Christian.
As it takes a flame and wick to set off a powder charge, so do alcoholics suffer syndromes which start them drinking. They find themselves in a situation where a combination of elements sets up a deadly desire.
With me it was usually a lonely hotel room after a hard day's work. No one would see me, and my family wouldn't know.
Such a chain of elements was created when I checked in at the Savery Hotel in downtown Des Moines one night after a series of hectic business meetings. Before leaving my room to go to a restaurant for dinner, I thought I'd relax for a moment.
I had picked up a copy of the evening newspaper and was scanning the pages when I suddenly felt the urge. By that time, I had not touched alcohol for over a year, and though there had been many urges I had been able to overcome them. However, my longtime habit of an evening drink coupled with being alone in a hotel room generated a powerful force deep within me. I wanted a drink. .I needed it. I had to have it.
Desperately I battled. I turned back to the paper and tried to read. Drumming incessantly within me, however, was the demand for a drink.
I stood up, the paper falling to the floor. Suddenly, I felt like two different people, the new and the old Harold Hughes. The urge became overpowering. I knew that in a very few moments I would be going to dinner at a downtown restaurant. To reach it I would pass an old drinking spot. And I knew as well as I stood in that hotel room that I would go into my old haunt for a drink. I could already savor its delicious burning strength. I felt lost, defeated…
I grabbed my coat from the back of the chair. This is it, I figured. Nobody's going to know about my getting drunk. I'll just get it out of my system.
In the exhilaration of decision, I pushed out the door and into the corridor of the hotel, heading for the elevators. But as I stood waiting for the elevator, something came over me. What was I doing?
I leaned against the wall and prayed. "Oh, God, please don't let me do this." The chime of the "down" elevator broke the spell and I headed for the open door. The lust for a drink was in charge again.
I strode through the hotel lobby out into a warm Iowa evening. The traffic hubbub did not distract me from the neon lights of the bar down the street.
One last spark of resistance flickered within and like a drowning man clawing, at a reed, I clutched a parking meter.
"Pack!" Above the rumble of traffic I heard my name being called.
I looked up and coming, toward me down the sidewalk was an old friend I hadn't seen in years.
"Imagine that!" he exclaimed, pumping, my hand. "I step out of a cab and there you are. What are you doing for dinner?" he asked.
"I was on my way," I managed to say.
"Well, come join me."
As we walked together into a restaurant, I sensed a malevolent power leaving me.
We had a good dinner, chatting over old times, and as we paid our bills, I realized the desire was completely gone.
"Say," said my friend, looking up at me, a toothpick in his mouth. "Wasn't that a coincidence, our meeting like this?"
I thought of my feeble prayer at the elevator, and clapped him on the shoulder. "No, Sam, no… I don't believe it was a coincidence at all!"
[Harold E. Hughes (with Dick Schneider), The Man from Ida Grove. (Chosen Books, 1979), pp. 114-116