A Cover-Up gone wrong! David took a wrong path while he was alone and not leading his men. 2 Samuel 11
A brief summary might read something like this;
Saw (Bathsheba bathing)/ Slept with her/ Silenced or Slew Uriah, her husband.
It was Springtime and David sent Joab and the army out to make war; the Ammonites (see yesterday’s blog) were defeated and their capital city, Rabbah, besieged. (Amman in Jordan today)
There are two important ‘Buts’ in the first and last verses of chapter 11.
1 ‘But’ David remained at Jerusalem.
David, for once, didn’t go out with his men. He was alone, out of his routine and environment and he looked at something he shouldn’t have. David’s palace overlooked the houses below and he saw a beautiful woman bathing. So begins the Bible’s account of David and Bathsheba, God didn’t cover the truth about his servant.
From the roof he saw a woman washing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.
However, in the course of time, Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant. David’s infidelity with Bathsheba would now become known and he had to decide what he was going to do. There’s always a ‘Key Moment’ in any situation where we are faced with taking a decision that will determine the course of our future, good or bad! OFTEN WE WILL BE DRAWN TO TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT, OR THE QUICK SOLUTION. THAT MAY NOT BE THE RIGHT WAY FOR US AS BELIEVERS. It wasn’t for David!
David decided to try and arrange the Cover-Up, but he only compounded his guilt. He commanded Bathsheba’s husband to be sent to him, hoping that he would sleep with her and that the child might be passed off as his. Uriah was an honourable man and wouldn’t go to his wife while the troops were on the battlefield. He was also one of David’s Mighty Men, a trusted servant of the King. David got Uriah drunk but he still wouldn’t go to be with his wife. David then wrote a letter to Joab, to arrange for Uriah to die in battle. Uriah carried his own death warrant back to the battlefield.
Joab carried out David’s order and he was killed during the battle, along with some other troops.
24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’
Uriah had been killed as David commanded and his wife, Bathsheba mourned for Him. After the period of mourning was over, David took her as his wife, it seemed all would be well. However, there was a second ‘But’ in the tale, an ominous one.
27 After 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 David had done displeased the Lord.
Even on the human level we believe the Cover-Up has worked, but actually more people may know the facts than we’re aware. The old saying, ‘Truth is the best policy’, is often right today.
God bless and keep you always.