2 Samuel 11 - Fifteen Verses

There's a steep drop off on either side of the narrow road.

Photo: Ankush Minda via Unsplash

Since we last left off... David’s kingdom has been firmly established, marked by justice and righteousness for all his people, and even extending covenant kindness to unlikely recipients like Saul's grandsons. Yet as his rule expands beyond Israel’s borders, conflict intensifies: a diplomatic gesture is rejected and humiliated, triggering a broader war.

Once again, the LORD grants victory, as David’s forces subdue these surrounding nations, demonstrating that his reign is not only just within but also powerfully defended beyond Israel. Things are as good as they will ever be for the Israelites.

2 Samuel 11:1–16 (NIV)

11 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

² One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. 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. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

⁶ So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰ David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”

¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

¹² Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

¹⁶ So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.

Canons of Dordt

Point V, Article 4 - The Danger of True Believers’ Falling into Serious Sins

Although that power of God strengthening and preserving true believers in grace is more than a match for the flesh, yet those converted are not always so activated and motivated by God that in certain specific actions they cannot by their own fault depart from the leading of grace, be led astray by the desires of the flesh, and give in to them.

For this reason they must constantly watch and pray that they may not be led into temptations. When they fail to do this, not only can they be carried away by the flesh, the world, and Satan into sins, even serious and outrageous ones, but also by God’s just permission they sometimes are so carried away—witness the sad cases, described in Scripture, of David, Peter, and other saints falling into sins.

Summary

The opening paragraph of today's chapter perfectly frames the overall problem: David, this young shepherd boy whom the LORD had vaulted into the throne established for all eternity, had become complacent. At the time of the year that kings needed to go out and defend their country, David sat comfortably at home while his men took care of business for him.

Temptation struck David one evening, or as the ESV better renders it, late one afternoon, a time when everyone around the palace would still have been busy with the day's work. Everyone, that is, except David, who was lounging in bed strolling around on the roof (better understood as a patio). As the saying goes, idle hands are the devil's workshop.

But David's downhill descent wasn't over yet. Facing a scandal that would have turned his fiercely loyal army against him, David concocted a failproof plan to let Bathsheba's husband come home and wash his feet (an obvious euphemism). But David's devious plan withered in the presence of Uriah's honor.

And so Uriah was sent back to battle while, once again, the king whom the LORD had anointed to fight Israel's wars stayed at home. But Uriah carried his own death sentence in a sealed envelope. It's in this ugly moment that David finds the bottom.

  Dig Deeper  

Fifteen verses. That's all it takes to describe one of the most spectacular falls in all of history. Chapter ten ended with a description of King David with all the world in his hand. Enemies had been routed, spoils taken home, tribute was being paid, and peace was at hand. Certainly there would be ongoing skirmishes here and there, but David had men like Joab for that. As spring sprung, David's conquest had reached its zenith.

But fifteen verses later, David was on the verge of losing it all. Just like his forefathers who grumbled in the desert because they detested the miserable food, David ceded control of his heart, soul and strength to his appetite. And when his appetite saw a beautiful woman bathing, it shoved everything David knew to be true right off that rooftop and didn't stop shoving until she came to him and he slept with her.

Now remember who we're talking about here: David - the prolific psalmist, whom the Holy Spirit spoke through in some of the most beautiful ways ever... the king chosen by God, who had cut a covenant with him... the man after God's own heart.

The Canons today remind us that even true believers can be carried away into sins, even serious and outrageous ones. So don't think that your faith is secure enough to resist temptation. If David's faith wasn't, yours' isn't. Tomorrow we'll be reminded that not even David's horribly egregious sins are too big for God's grace, but today, heed the Canons' warning: constantly watch and pray that you may not be led into temptations.

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, the God of Angel Armies, who gives victory to His covenant people;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll put on your Spiritual Armor and take your stand;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

---