CHAPTER 11

(1035 B.C.)

DAVIDS SIN WITH BATH-SHEBA

¹And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. (This Chapter portrays one of the saddest accounts concerning failure found in the entirety of the Word of God. The sin could not have been blacker or the crime more heinous. David, the man after Gods Own Heart, would murder one of his choice servants in cold blood and then take his wife; however, out of this horror will come the great attributes of God that will be a signal portrayal of the Grace of God.

This Chapter testifies to the inspiration of the Bible, for only the Holy Spirit would record so faithfully such infamy and horror. It gives us a true insight into mans nature as sinful and fallen, and it teaches the reader the humbling lesson that such is the nature he possesses.

Also, if Divine Restraints are withheld and temptation sufficiently attractive and skillfully proffered, there is no depth of evil, shame, and falsehood into which man will not fall.)

²And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the kings house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. (No blame, at this juncture, must be attached to Bath-sheba. The place where she was bathing was regarded as perfectly secluded, and probably neither she nor her husband Uriah had ever suspected that what went on there could be observed from the roof of the kings palace.)

³And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? (Uriah was one of Davids mighty men, which means that he was an elite warrior [23:39].)

⁴And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness (even though she committed an act of gross immorality, she nevertheless carefully observed the ceremonial enactment commanded in Leviticus 15:18): and she returned unto her house.

⁵And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. (In fact, her crime was one that made her liable to the penalty of death [Lev. 20:10]. Had David immediately repented of his sin, a sin incidentally against God, against Uriah, against Bath-sheba, and against the people of Israel, and then cast himself with anguish of heart upon God, the Lord would have made a way of escape and forgiveness consistent with Himself and morally instructive to David. Instead, David attempts to cover-up his sin.

It should be ever understood that there is no covering of sin except for the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. As well, that cannot be obtained unless one humbly and truly repents before God.)

DAVIDS PLAN TO COVER HIS SIN

⁶And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David (Joab, at this stage, had absolutely no idea as to why David sent for Uriah).

⁷And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered (as well, Uriah had no idea as to why David sent for him).

⁸And David said to Uriah, Go down to your house, and wash your feet (in other words, take a little time off). And Uriah departed out of the kings house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.

⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the kings house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house (no doubt, the Lord had a hand in what Uriah did).

¹⁰And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Came you not from your journey? why then did you not go down unto your house?

¹¹And Uriah said unto David, The Ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. (David had felt sure that Uriah would go to his house and be with his wife, and then the pregnancy would be covered. Everyone would think that the child was Uriahs. But Uriah didnt go along with Davids plans.)

¹²And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.

¹³And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk (David thus adds sin to sin; but, even when intoxicated, Uriah kept to his determination): and at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house (so, everything that David does to cover-up his sin fails, as fail it must!).

DAVID ARRANGES THE DEATH OF URIAH

¹⁴And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. (The warrior didnt know it, but David had written Uriahs death warrant. It will amount to murder in cold blood, and of one of his loyal subjects.)

¹⁵And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set you Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire you from him, that he may be smitten, and die. (How could the man who wrote the 23rd Psalm do this? Sin never betters itself. The slide is always downward. Irrespective of how holy man has been or how educated he might be, sin is a force and power that can only be dealt with by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. Sin is so powerful that even though God could speak worlds into existence, still, due to His Nature, He could not speak sin out of existence. He would have to die on a cruel Cross, offering up Himself as a Perfect Sacrifice in order to pay in full sins demands.

The Holy Spirit intends for us here to see not only Davids terrible sins, but also our sins as well!)

¹⁶And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were (the most dangerous and hottest part of the battle).

¹⁷And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

¹⁸Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;

¹⁹And charged the messenger, saying, When you have made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,

²⁰And if so be that the kings wrath arise, and he say unto you, Wherefore approached you so near unto the city when you did fight? did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

²¹Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth (Gideon)? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went you near the wall? then you say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also (the wording of the Text tells us that Joab now knew at least something about the situation, if not its entirety).

²²So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.

²³And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate (chased after them).

²⁴And the shooters shot from off the wall upon your servants; and some of the kings servants be dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

²⁵Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shall you say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another: make your battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage you him (give Joab a message of encouragement from me).

DAVID MARRIES BATH-SHEBA

²⁶And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband (Uriah died serving his king, never knowing that his king had made his wife pregnant, and had, in fact, ordered his own death, but God knew!).

²⁷And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD (the record reveals that God will show no more favor to His anointed than He will to the most ungodly!).