The Crown, Season 2, Episode 5, David and Bathsheba

Last week David was at his best:

David keeps his promise. David shows he is a man of his word as he recalls the promise he made to his best friend Jonathan to remember his family when David became king.

David thinks of other people. He seeks out Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth and transforms him from a victim to a prince living in the king’s palace and eating at the king’s table.

David uses his power and, success, and wealth to bless others.

Goliath may be considered his greatest moment and it certainly is more glamorous than the story of Mephibosheth, but in my book David is as good as it gets with Mephibosheth. I ended last’s week sermon by saying that David never looked more like God than how he treats Jonathan’s son.

Last week was good David, an example of virtue and godliness. I wish the story would have ended there, “And David dies and went to heaven.” But it doesn’t.

The story of Mephibosheth is David at his best. Today’s story is David at his worst. There are two names that are readily associated with David, Goliath and today’s co-star, Bathsheba, and that is the story for today. Last week was an inspiring story. This week is tragic.

The story of David and Bathsheba is in 2 Samule 11 but it is set up with the story of war in 2 Samule 10. Here is a brief summary. The king of Ammon, a neighboring nation to Israel, has died and David wants to stay on good terms with terms so he sends a delegation of his men to express sympathy to the new king, the son of the recently deceased king.

2 Samuel 10:1–2 (NIV) — 1 In the course of time, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun succeeded him as king. 2 David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

Note that this sounds very similar to how the story of Mephibosheth started out.

2 Samuel 9:1 (NIV) — 1 David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

David wants to show kindness. But things take an interesting turn for the worse.

This action instead of being received as it was intended is met with suspicion. The new king thinks that David is sending spies to attack them. David’s men are humiliated by the new king. Their beards are half-shaven and their clothes are ripped to shreds – not sure the exact meaning if these actions, but it amounts to an act of war. And that’s what happens. War breaks out. So, David’s act of goodwill backfires on him. That’s discouraging, isn’t it?

The war goes well for David and the Israelites, but apparently there is a pause as winter arrives. This seemed to be customary for the time. War would be put on hold as the bad weather made it difficult for travel. It seems odd to us that the weather would pause a war, but that’s how things were. After the winter the battles would resume in the spring and that’s where we pick up in 1 Samuel 11.

2 Samuel 11:1 (NIV) — 1 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.

David is not doing what he should be doing. He’s not acting like a king and there’s an ominous tone about that last sentence. While staying behind temptation strikes.

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.”

Imagine David hearing those words, but he’s an innovative and powerful man not afraid to take cation so he hatches a plot to cover up his sin. The story then takes us to his first plan and it sounds foolproof. Get Uriah back home and everyone will assume the baby is his.

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.

Uriah, a Hittite no less, a man who is a convert to Judaism, proves to be the man of virtue. Plan A has failed, but David has another idea. Plan B:

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.”

Plan A was devious enough but Plan B is outright evil! We are left thinking about David, “Who is this guy?” We also wonder at this point if Joab will go through with the plan.

16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. 18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’ ” 22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.” 25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”

Joab carries out the plan. What else do you say to a king? David has all the power and he’s wielding it indiscriminately. David’s power is certainly a contributing factor to all that has happened. He wants Bathsheba, he sends for her. He wants Uriah back from battle, he gets him back. He wants Joab to carry out this plan, he does it. Power is a dangerous possession and can be so easily abused and David proves to be exceptional at it.

This part of the story wraps up:

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

David may even seem to be the hero taking in the widow as his wife. Maybe he has pulled it off. Maybe no one knows, or at least he’s been able to control who has the information. But look at the last sentence of the chapter:

But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

How can this be the same man who slew Goliath? How can this be the same man who resisted killing his rival Saul? How can this be the same man who dance before the Lord? How can this be the same man who has consistently honored God with his virtue and faithfulness? How did he sink to such depths?

We aren’t prepared for such a David. What begins as a lustful whim develops into an enormous sex-and-murder crime. How does such a sin happen? As with most sins, gradually and unobtrusively.

Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall

We need to talk about sin. We all have followed this same path as David. Maybe not the same sin. Maybe not as consequential as his sin, but we all sin and we need to learn from this story. We need to know how we do the same thing and hopefully learn something form this story that keeps us from falling as hard as David did.

In the Christian life our ordinary task isn’t to avoid sin, which is impossible anyway, but to recognize sin.

Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall

Let’s look at some ways to recognize sin and how it works:

(1) No one is immune

You may say, “This could never happen to me.” That’s what we are saying about David. The good king. The psalm writer. The giant slayer. If David is not immune, neither are you.

There have been more than a few spiritual leaders in our day who have fallen and my response is always the same, “How did that happen to him or her?”

David in every case has been exemplary as the ideal king. But the shocking events narrated here reveal that David is capable of shameful actions that threaten his kingdom, his family, and his life. We would rather not read further. Yet the inspired text invites us to consider that we are all capable of such dark behavior.

Arnold, B. T. (2003). 1 & 2 Samuel.

And we learn that no matter how close we live to God, no matter how much responsibility we are given in God’s kingdom, no matter how much power we hold, we too can fall. We must learn from David to guard our relationships carefully and to use power in ways that are never tyrannical and despotic.

Arnold, B. T. (2003). 1 & 2 Samuel.

In waring the Christians in Corinth Paul writes these words:

1 Corinthians 10:11–12 (NIV) — 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

(2) A root of sin is selfishness.

David wants what he wants. He sees something “good” and takes it for himself.

2 Samuel 11:2 (NIV) — 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.

The word beautiful is the Hebrew word for “good.” That word “good” is that same word used in Genesis 3 as it retells the first sin.

Genesis 3:6 (NIV) — 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

This is the pattern of sin. We see something good and are blinded to God’s direction and blinded to the consequences:

James 1:14–15 (ESV) — 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Thus, David’s actions in 11:2–5 illustrate and complement the origin and progression of temptation and sin (from perception and deception to covetousness, transgression, and death) as we learn them from Genesis 3:1–7 and James 1:14–15.

Arnold, B. T. (2003). 1 & 2 Samuel.

Somewhere along the line he had withdrawn from the life of worship: adoration of God had receded, and obsession with self had moved in.

Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall

Selfishness will turn people into objects that are seen as a means to meet your desires. When it’s all about you, you will do anything to get what you want.

(3) A root of sin is rejection from others.

I want to tie David’s sin to what happened in the chapter before. He tries to something good to the new king of Ammon and his kindness is interpreted as evil. David is hurt and he is susceptible to finding something to make him feel better. Anything will do and there is Bathsheba who can provide an instant relief to rejection.

We all do this. Maybe in smaller ways, but we all do this. My boss was unfair or rejected a proposal so I’m justified in falsifying time records or slaking on the job. That’ll make things better. The waitress messed up my order so I can be rude to them. That’ll make things better. A church member hurt my feelings so I can spread little gossip around. That’ll make things better. My wife is not meeting all my “needs” so I can find a woman who will or at least find a virtual woman that is all too eager to please me. That’ll make things better.

The king of Ammon rejected my gestures of kindness so I’ll find something that will make things better. Be careful when you face any form of rejection. We may be susceptible to easing that pain in sinful acts.

(4) Sin has many victims.

We might say to ourselves, “This isn’t hurting anyone else.” But, believe me, sin is more than an individual act, it’s painful affects reach far beyond the sinner. Innocent people are affected.

2 Samuel 11:3 (NIV) — 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.”

Whoever this someone is may be trying to let David know that whatever he is thinking (and I think he sees right through David’s interest in Bathsheba) there are other people involved. This woman has a father. This woman has a husband. Other people are going to be hurt.

This is the author pointing out to us—even if David didn’t catch it—that Bathsheba wasn’t just an object. She was someone’s wife, someone’s daughter. The anonymous person who answered David was trying to say, ever so subtly, “David, I know what you’re thinking. And someone is going to get hurt.”

Greear, J. D., & Thomas, H. A. Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel.

Sin has the capacity to make you callous to the feelings of others. Let’s look again at David’s response to Joab when he tells him that Uriah was a causality:

2 Samuel 11:25 (NIV) — 25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another.”

How cold is that? That is what sin can do to you.

David had shown the capacity to grieve deeply over the deaths of men who were his adversaries (Saul and Abner in 1:11–27 and 3:31–39 respectively). In this case, Uriah is no adversary but a faithful warrior who has apparently been with David many years. Yet David does not mourn. His flippant response to the news of Uriah’s death (11:25) is a shocking illustration of how far David has gone.

Arnold, B. T. (2003). 1 & 2 Samuel.

David doesn’t even seem to care that Uriah has died! You will hurt other people and not even care so long as it covers up your sin. And that is so painful to the people who truly love you. So many others get hurt. It’s not just about you.

You know it. The sins of people we love can be almost as devastating to us as it is to the one who actually commits the sin. And that works both ways. When you sin, others pay a steep price.

(5) Sin breeds is isolation and idleness.

This is how the story begins. While David’s soldiers are killing the enemy David is killing time.

The way to successfully resist the enticements of this world isn’t merely to have a strong will to say no. It’s to be busy with a higher purpose.

Greear, J. D., & Thomas, H. A. Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel.

One strategy to recognize and avoid sin is to stay busy doing good. “Idleness is the devil’s workshop” is not from the Bible but it certainly rings true here. You might add “Isolation is the devil’s workshop.”

(6) Unrepented sin breeds more sin.

What an incredible progression if sin we have here. Lusting turns to adultery. Adultery turns to deceit. Deceit turns to murder. Sin will just pile itself up on itself if left unconfessed and unrepented of.

Everything in the text reminds us of the tragic consequences of sin in our lives. Sin, once it has been committed, if suppressed and concealed, will only lead to more sinning and, if left uncontested, will result in hardened, uncaring sinners. The escalation of sinful actions—illustrated also by Genesis 3–11—is known to all of us as ubiquitous and universal in human experience.

Arnold, B. T. (2003). 1 & 2 Samuel.

(7) Sin is hard to conceal from others; impossible to hide from God.

I guess David thought he had pulled off the perfect crime. I tend to think there were plenty of people, those close to the situation, that knew exactly what was going on. But even if he was able to conceal the sin, the story ends with those powerful words:

2 Samuel 11:27 (NIV) — But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

Sin has been concealed from human view, but there is much more to reality than only the human view. The little clause that ends the chapter injects a different element, a divine element, that reverberates throughout chapter 12: “But the thing David had done displeased the LORD” (lit., “was evil in the eyes of the LORD”). In David’s eyes, sin has been concealed and the matter is over. But in Yahweh’s eyes, evil must be confronted.

Arnold, B. T. (2003). 1 & 2 Samuel.

I want you to know there is grace and forgiveness and come back next week to hear the conclusion of this episode, but the fact is that this is a sad, sad story, and we have to learn from it. We have to learn how sin works and how devastating it can be.

But we have to warn people. Why? Because while sin starts off with the excitement of endless possibility, it always leads to the same place: brokenness, agony, disappointment, and despair. And what is true of sin generally is especially true of sexual sin. Sexual sin is so powerful, so destructive—and yet so easy to access—that it can bring the strongest believer to utter ruin. After all, it did so for David, a man after God’s own heart.

Greear, J. D., & Thomas, H. A. Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Samuel.