David and Bathsheba
CONTENT: What is this passage about?
(11:1) In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…but David remained in Jerusalem. David was not where he was supposed to be doing what he was supposed to do. He wound up on the palace roof and saw Bathsheba and had an adulterous relationship with her. She became pregnant and so David tries to cover his sin. He has Bathsheba’s husband Uriah brought back from fighting the war so that he would sleep with his wife and think that the baby would be his – but Uriah did not go to his house because his men were still in battle. He stayed at the kings gate. (11:13) David invited Uriah in to eat and drink with him and David made Uriah drunk. Probably trying to get Uriah to forget his men and go home and sleep with his wife – but Uriah did not go home. David then sent Uriah back to the fighting with an order to Joab to put Uriah in the front of the fightning and pull back and let him get killed. Uriah as well as several other men were killed. When David heard this he said “don’t let this upset you”. The thing David had done displeased the Lord.
LESSON: What do I learn from it?
1. David wasn’t doing what he was supposed to be doing and was not in the place he was supposed to be in therefore, he wound up sinning. Had he been off “at war” like kings do he would not have been in this situation.
2. Rather than tell the truth and pay the consequences for the one sin David started scheming and plotting to get himself out of trouble. The scheme was yet another disgrace and sin to cover his tracks.
3. When his scheme did not work he devised another plan to kill an innocent man to cover his sin.
4. When other men were killed while trying to kill Uriah – David was cold-hearted “don’t let this upset you”. He didn’t care about the cost he just wanted to get his life back to normal.
Created over 3 years ago
