2 Sam. 11 (vv. 1-27)
“David Sent Messengers and Took Her”
Oh, how the might has fallen! David was indeed a mighty
warrior. Even as a young lad he slew the Philistine giant, Goliath. Every
Hebrew was trembling with fear, even Saul the king, but David approached the
giant only with a sling and five pebbles, undaunted. Undaunted he said, “You
come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you
in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of
Since then David had fought countless battles and prevailed against his enemies. But his life was far from being free of afflictions and trials. King Saul became jealous of his success and tried to kill him. David came so close to being caught and be killed many a time. Yet, even when opportunities presented themselves to David to kill Saul, he withdrew his sword and the swords of his men. “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed,” he said. This is how much he honored the Lord: he would not lay his hand on the Lord’s anointed. He did not answer every opportunity that knocked on his door, however tempting. David knew that there was right and wrong and he knew not to extend his hand to every opportunity, even when his own life was in danger. David was indeed a man after God’s own heart and it was evident in what he did and did not do.
Then all of a sudden we see this David, this man after God’s
own heart, this mighty warrior, this new king of Israel, whose throne God
promised to establish through all generations--[this David] suddenly becoming
an adulterer and a murderer! How could this be? Was he lashing out at God
because God treated him harshly and badly? No! Saul who sought his life had been
long gone. David was now the undisputed, ever-popular king of
It all started here: “In the spring of the year, the time
when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and
his servants with him, and all
What happened next because David was not where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be doing what he was supposed to do? We read in v. 2, “It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch [that is, his bed] and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.” It seems that David arose from his sleep in the evening. It is clear that idleness had set in his heart and mind. Isn’t this what happens when we are not where we are supposed to be when we are supposed to be doing what we are supposed to do? Even David was not immune to this danger.
In the idleness of his mind and heart David sees a beautiful woman bathing. Oh how fatal and dangerous is a temptation to the idle mind. When the field of our heart is not watered with the Word of God, when it is not diligently cared for and tended to, how our soul grows dry! And when the torch of temptation is thrown into that field of our heart, oh who fierce is the fire of sin that burns within our soul! When David saw Bathsheba bathing in the idleness of his heart, his heart raged with a fire of lust; its ferocious flames consumed him instantly. As the flames of lust burn uncontrollably in his soul, they began to control him! And he obeyed their every call to sin. Once he yielded himself, what would have been unthinkable moments before became irresistibly attractive. What he would have shuddered at had become an object of his insatiable desire and longing. Now, he had to have her, this beautiful woman, no matter what. He found out that she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. But it did not stop him. He sent messengers and took her. When she came to him, he lay with her. Just like that, he committed adultery--a sin that deserves nothing less than a capital punishment in Israel, a sin that defiles one’s body and destroys the families of all those involved. Just like that he committed this gross sin.
But as bad as the sin of adultery in and of itself, David’s adultery was far worse. For who was Uriah? He was a Hittite, a Gentile. So is the heinousness of David’s adultery mitigated in any way because he sinned against a Gentile? On the contrary! For Uriah was not just any Gentile. As the story unfolds, we realize that Uriah was in David’s army. In fact, while David committed adultery with his wife, Uriah was fighting in the battle that David was supposed to fight! What is more, we later learn that Uriah was numbered among the thirty mighty men of David: he was in one of the inner circles of David!
But David’s sin was not to end there, as horrible as it was. It so happened that Bathsheba became pregnant after the illicit affair. Here was an undeniable evidence of his sin. He must confess his sin and ask for forgiveness, right? No. Because sin loathes the light, lest its ugly deeds should be exposed. So the mind that once marveled at the glory and majesty of God, the mind that once delighted in composing psalms and praises to God, goes into a higher gear. For what? To devise a dark, evil scheme to cover its sin! The scheme it came up with was as simple as it was devious: David would bring Uriah from the battlefield and send him home. It was obvious what the soldier, who had been away from home and his lovely wife for a long time, would do in that case.
But David’s scheme, which seemed almost fail proof, is foiled. Uriah would not go home. David tried many times yet he would not go home to be with his wife. Even when David got him drunk, he would not go, even in his drunkenness. Why? Out of his loyalty to his comrades and to David’s kingdom: “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to 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” (v. 11)! So deep and unswerving was his loyalty. Do you see whom David is trying to murder?
And do you see the utter contrast? Here is David, a Jew, and Uriah, a Gentile. Here is David the king, who was entrusted with the responsibility of protecting the flock of God, stealing the wife of his loyal servant and trying to kill one of his own; and Uriah, a Gentile yet David’s loyal subject, his valiant warrior, forgoing with his rightful pleasures for the kingdom of David and his fellow servants. Here is David, not where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be doing what he was supposed to do, doing what he was not supposed to do, and in fact, doing what he was supposed to punish; and here is Uriah, doing far beyond the call of duty for his king. Oh, how humiliating for David! He should have been ashamed of himself beyond measure. He should have prostrated himself before God and Uriah and asked for forgiveness! But is that what David did? No. He goes on to devise even a more despicable scheme--to kill Uriah on the battlefield. Doesn’t he remember how King Saul used to chase him to kill him? what it felt like to be betrayed by the king he served? So blinding is the deception of sin. So strong is the grip of sin once it sinks its teeth on your soul and locks its jaws. Oh, how terrifying is the power of sin and its grip!
And this time David’s plan succeeds and Uriah
is finally killed. The evil that Saul failed to do, David succeeds. And when
the mourning period is over for Bathsheba, David brings her to his house and
makes her his wife. Now all problems solved? A perfect crime?
No. There is no perfect crime in the court of God. So we read
at the end, “But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD” (v. 27).
It didn’t seem like God was present when all these things transpired. God did not appear nor speak through the narrative. And certainly David did not act like God was present. But when we get to the end, we realize that God had been indeed watching the whole thing and not just watching but intimately involved. Was it an accident that Bathsheba got pregnant? The Bible affirms again and again that it is God who opens and closes a woman’s womb; it is God who brings each and every child into this world. And it was no accident that Bathsheba got pregnant! God was telling David that sin is not something he can enjoy and conveniently get rid of when he is done. There are consequences to sin, terrible ones!
And what about the information that the woman was the wife of Uriah, his faithful servant? What about the faithfulness and loyalty that Uriah showed again and again? What about his evil plans being foiled again and again? God was speaking to him through these circumstances to issue warnings time and again and to call him to stop!
God could have stopped him, yes. Our actions are not as bad as they could be only because God suppresses our sinfulness by His common grace. They why did God allow all these terrible things to happen? Why did He not stop David? To show what was in David’s heart, to bring to David’s consciousness and knowledge who he really was in himself.
Did David just slip this once? Was this just a one-time mistake? He was not that kind of person? Isn’t that what we say when we commit a gross sin? “It was a mistake. I’m not that kind of person. I can’t believe I did that!” But that is not what David said. The message of this incident was loud and clear to him. So he wrote in Ps. 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” And this was not the only time he sinned (the census at the end of his life).
This sin compelled him to recognize the depth of his sinfulness. By allowing David’s sinfulness to run its full course, God brought him a true knowledge about himself and his desperate need of God. God did this to lead him to the gospel, to help him see where his salvation lay--not in his own works and not even in the Levitical sacrificial system: “Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Ps. 51:14-17). This whole incident allowed David to see how truly horrible his sin was before God. How could he ever pay for his sin? What can wash away the bloodstain on his hands, the guilt of his soul? Would the blood of ten bulls do? How about one thousand bulls and ten thousand lambs? Could the blood of animals, no matter how many, ever wash away our sin, our guilt, before the holy God? David came to see the utter insufficiency of the Levitical sacrifices. He needed something better, something much, much better, than the animal sacrifices. And it was obvious that he was not the savior of his people. He himself needed forgiveness. He himself needed salvation. He could not do it himself. God had to save him!
He was a great king, no doubt! But he was not the true King of his people. His hope had to be anchored in a better king, a greater king--Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus Christ came as our King, who never exploits His people. Our King watches over us all the time--He who watches over us neither sleeps nor slumbers. He rules over us with justice and righteousness. Yet He, who upholds justice, pities the helpless widows and orphans. He cares for His people as a shepherd does for his sheep. He makes His people lie down in green pastures; He leads them beside still waters; He restores their soul.
But that was not enough for Him. For His love extends to the heavens and His faithfulness to the clouds (Ps. 36:5). It was not enough that He should look upon us and care for us from the heights of His heavenly throne. From His throne He saw us naked in sin and shame. There was nothing attractive about us that He should be drawn to us. In fact, He should have been appalled by all our sins and iniquities fully exposed. Yet His love was too great to keep Him away from us. For He knew that we had no hope of redemption apart from His sacrifice to pay for our sins. So He came as the true Bridegroom to redeem His sinful bride. He came as the Good Shepherd to lay down His life for His sheep. He came as the true King, not to rape and exploit and take from His people, but to give His life a ransom for them. Oh, what a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus Christ! And He, who died for us, was raised from the dead to give us victory over sin and death, to give us eternal life in His everlasting kingdom!
How, then, should we live in the kingdom of such a wonderful King? Can we continue in sin when it is our sin, which drove our King to the cross? Of course not! Nothing should be more loathsome to us than our sin against our gracious God! We should be all the more watchful against sin. And we know the devastating effects of sin. It is the nature of sin to destroy human relationships and wreak havoc in people’s lives. This reality does not change just because we are Christians. Sin does not become anything less or any nicer because we are in Christ. In fact, sin becomes all the more damaging to Christians. For it constantly seeks to undermine our faith and disrupt our fellowship with God. In this sense, we have so much more to lose.
We have so much to learn from David’s failure. When it comes to sin, we must nip it at the bud. Sin is a voracious monster: we give it an inch and it will try to take a mile. When we flirt with sin, we flirt with fatal attraction. If we think that the sins we commit regularly are not a big deal, we are treading on a dangerous territory. Do we allow complaining and grumbling to take their residence in our heart? Do we feed our jealousy and disrespect of others with gossip and prejudice? Do we use others’ mistakes and failures as an excuse for our sinful attitude and actions? Do we blame God for our misfortune rather than giving thanks to Him for our salvation? Do we allow our anxiety over worldly things to eat away our joy of salvation? Has our heart grown dry and lifeless, prone to doubt and indifference? These are all warning signs that God is placing in our life! Now is the time for us to repent! Let us stop and turn around. Let us not grieve the Holy Spirit by ignoring what we know to be right and true! We are no longer helpless victims when we are in Jesus Christ, our victorious King, our risen Lord! God has blessed us with everything we need to fight against sin, to mortify the deeds of the flesh! For the Spirit of Christ dwells in us to transform us from glory to glory. And as surely as our King Jesus conquered sin and death through His death and resurrection, we too share in His victory. When that appointed day of glory shall arrive, we shall finally be set free not only from the punishment and power of sin but also from the presence of sin forever. And our fellowship with our God will last through all eternity without any interruption or hindrance. Amen.
© Copyright 2007 by Jeong Woo "James" Lee
All Rights Reserved.