2 Samuel 11
Up till now, David seems to have been what could be termed "A nice enough bloke" - he had committed a few acts of excess violence, but usually in response to violence from others, but in this chapter he is immoral all on his own.
The chapter starts "In the spring, at the time kings go to war, David sent Joab and the army...........but David stayed in Jerusalem"
One evening David got up from his bed (had he been lazing all day I wonder?) and went for a walk on the roof of his palace. While there he caught sight of a beautiful woman having a bath.
He made enquiries and found out her identity, she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was a commander in David's army.
David sent for her and she came to him and they slept together.
This might have been a moderately simple indiscretion and yet another royal affair, but Bathsheba got pregnant from the encounter.
David now has to face the music - Uriah could make a complaint to the priests accusing Bathsheba as an adulteress, which would have cost her life, and quite possibly David's life or at least reputation.
The first thing David tried was to get get Uriah to sleep with his wife, then they could claim the child was not David's.
David sent for Uriah on the pretext of asking how the army was getting on and suggesting that Uriah should go home and spend the night with his wife.
Uriah however spent the night sleeping in the gateway of the palace - leaving David frustrated and getting quite worried, His excuse was that the Ark of God, the army of Israel and his men are all sleeping in tents, he would not go home and enjoy being with his wife until the others could do the same.
Quite possibly had David employed a bit of military discipline when the army was deployed on his orders, things may have turned out differently
Next day David got Uriah drunk in the hopes he would go home and sleep with Bathsheba while he was insensible. Again he refused to do this.
Next morning David sent Uriah back to the army with a letter for Joab the commander that was Uriah's own death warrant.
David's letter instructed that Uriah should be placed in the thickest part of the battle, then those with him were to retreat unexpectedly - this would leave Uriah as an obvious and exposed target and his death was more or less inevitable and the result of treachery from his own men and commanders.
David's plan worked, there were other casualties but Uriah was killed in action.
Joab sent David a message with an account of the battle- they came out to face us and we had to take cover in the city gate, archers from the walls opened fire on us.
Joab gave the messenger warning that David might hit the roof at the danger to his army and instructed the messenger to say that Uriah was among the victims.
David sent back to Joab saying basically you win some, you lose some (actually the sword devours one as well as another) and instructs him to capture and destroy the city.
After this David bought Bathsheba to be his wife, once she had a chance to mourn for David.
The chapter finishes with the words "But the thing David had done displeased the Lord"
Adultery, conspiracy to murder, deception and callous treachery - yep, I guess that would do it!
Up till now, David seems to have been what could be termed "A nice enough bloke" - he had committed a few acts of excess violence, but usually in response to violence from others, but in this chapter he is immoral all on his own.
The chapter starts "In the spring, at the time kings go to war, David sent Joab and the army...........but David stayed in Jerusalem"
One evening David got up from his bed (had he been lazing all day I wonder?) and went for a walk on the roof of his palace. While there he caught sight of a beautiful woman having a bath.
He made enquiries and found out her identity, she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was a commander in David's army.
David sent for her and she came to him and they slept together.
This might have been a moderately simple indiscretion and yet another royal affair, but Bathsheba got pregnant from the encounter.
David now has to face the music - Uriah could make a complaint to the priests accusing Bathsheba as an adulteress, which would have cost her life, and quite possibly David's life or at least reputation.
The first thing David tried was to get get Uriah to sleep with his wife, then they could claim the child was not David's.
David sent for Uriah on the pretext of asking how the army was getting on and suggesting that Uriah should go home and spend the night with his wife.
Uriah however spent the night sleeping in the gateway of the palace - leaving David frustrated and getting quite worried, His excuse was that the Ark of God, the army of Israel and his men are all sleeping in tents, he would not go home and enjoy being with his wife until the others could do the same.
Quite possibly had David employed a bit of military discipline when the army was deployed on his orders, things may have turned out differently
Next day David got Uriah drunk in the hopes he would go home and sleep with Bathsheba while he was insensible. Again he refused to do this.
Next morning David sent Uriah back to the army with a letter for Joab the commander that was Uriah's own death warrant.
David's letter instructed that Uriah should be placed in the thickest part of the battle, then those with him were to retreat unexpectedly - this would leave Uriah as an obvious and exposed target and his death was more or less inevitable and the result of treachery from his own men and commanders.
David's plan worked, there were other casualties but Uriah was killed in action.
Joab sent David a message with an account of the battle- they came out to face us and we had to take cover in the city gate, archers from the walls opened fire on us.
Joab gave the messenger warning that David might hit the roof at the danger to his army and instructed the messenger to say that Uriah was among the victims.
David sent back to Joab saying basically you win some, you lose some (actually the sword devours one as well as another) and instructs him to capture and destroy the city.
After this David bought Bathsheba to be his wife, once she had a chance to mourn for David.
The chapter finishes with the words "But the thing David had done displeased the Lord"
Adultery, conspiracy to murder, deception and callous treachery - yep, I guess that would do it!
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