To Will the Good

Prayer

David Goes Astray - Seriously Astray

As we kick off 2025 we’re picking back up where we left off in our journey through the story of the Old Testament back in November. We had just begun our way into 2 Samuel, which is the story of David’s reign as king over Israel.

And as we saw, it was a reign that began wonderfully. The kingdom was in disarray when King Saul and his son, Jonathan were killed. The Israelites’ great enemy, the Philistines, had the upper hand. Then we had the divided factions - most of the tribes continued to support the house of Saul, following his son, Ish-Bosheth. But in spite of that support, Ish-Bosheth grew weaker while David grew stronger until Ish-Bosheth’s own men killed him and David was crowned king over the entire nation of Israel.

The Lord continued to give David victory over his enemies, enabling David to defeat the Jebusites and conquer the city of Jerusalem in order to establish a new capital for Israel. He brought the ark of the covenant to the capital, built himself a palace - then decided he should build a house for the Lord as well, a temple to house the ark - that it, until God told him “no”, declaring to David that instead he, the Lord, would build a house for David, establishing an everlasting kingdom through one of his descendants. That promised became the basis for the hope of the Messiah, the Anointed One - fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ, as we looked at through the season of Advent.

This morning, as we make our way through 2 Samuel 8-11 (focusing primarily on chapter 11), things pick up right where we left them - with peace in the land, with the Lord giving David victory after victory over his enemies. If you read through chapter 8, you’ll read how the Lord gave David victory over the Philistines, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Ammonites, the Arameans - the list goes on. These nations ended up becoming subject to David, bringing tribute to him.

2 Samuel 9 tells the story of David seeking out any remaining relatives of Saul in order that he might show kindness to them for the sake of Jonathan. He learns from one of the servants of Saul’s household, Ziba, that Jonathan has a son who is still alive, Mephibosheth, who is lame in both feet. So David sends for him, restores to him land that used to belong to his grandfather Saul, and gives him a permanent place at the royal table.

So David seems to be doing everything right - but in chapter 10 it backfires. The king of the Ammonites, Nahash dies, and David sends a delegation to the new king, the son, Hanun, to express sympathy. But Hanun’s commanders suspect that David is sending the delegation in order to spy out the land, so they do this, vs. 4: So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away.

These acts are meant to thoroughly humiliate the men of the delegation - which they do. The Ammonites realize they have made a huge mistake, so they hire Aramean soldiers in anticipation of war with Israel. Which comes - so David sends his commander Joab to fight the Ammonites and the Arameans.

The chapter ends with the Arameans thoroughly defeated and Ammonites forced to retreat back into their fortified cities. Now the exact timeline of how these wars and battles actually play out is a little confusing between this chapter and the next two, but honestly, that’s not really the important part.

The critical part is what happens in chapter 11, which is what we’re going to look at in greater detail now. This is the infamous story of David and Bathsheba, but that’s honestly a bit of a misnomer, as we’ll see. But here’s what we read at the very beginning of 2 Samuel 11 -

vv. 1-5, 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. 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.”

There it is. Now, to be clear, kings didn’t always go off to war with their armies - they had other duties to fulfill as well. But the way the story is written, it suggests that something is amiss, that perhaps David should have been with his army fighting against the Ammonites. But David remained in Jerusalem.

We don’t know if David is bored (life’s gotten too easy), complacent - whatever it is, he gets out of bed, starts wandering on his rooftop and spots a gorgeous woman - bathing. In other words, he can see how beautiful she is. Now, as I’ll explain later, it’s most likely David knows who Bathsheba is - an alternate translation suggests that it’s David who says, “Is this not Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”

Either way, whether he knows her already or not, he sends for her, she comes, they sleep together. And some time later she sends a message David does not want to hear, “I’m pregnant.” So what does David do? His act of adultery is about to be exposed - he slept with one of his soldier’s wives while he was away fighting David’s battles. David decides to try to cover it up. So he sends word to Joab, his commander, to send Uriah, the husband, to him, presumably to get a report on what’s happening in their fight against the Ammonites.

So Uriah arrives in Jerusalem and David tells Uriah to go home and wash his feet - which is a euphemism for having sex. You’re home, enjoy the pleasures of being with your wife. So Uriah leaves, but he doesn’t go home - this is vs. 9, But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

When David finds this out, he asks him why. Uriah has this powerful response, v. 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!”

Uriah displays this strong sense of conviction - I will not do such a thing! But David isn’t done. He’s got another trick up his sleeve. He invites Uriah to stay one more day and this time he invites Uriah over for dinner - not just dinner, but in order to drink. And drink they do - David gets Uriah drunk. It doesn’t work (vs. 13) “But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.”

David, in desperation, turns to murder, murder by warfare. He sends Uriah back to the front with a note for Joab - the letter instructs Joab to put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest - and then withdraw so Uriah will be exposed, will be stuck down and die. Joab obeys his king, Uriah is killed fighting the Ammonites. There’s a bitter irony in that Uriah carried his own death sentence in that letter.

Joab sends word that the deed is done. Then the chapter ends with this, 2 Samuel 11:26-27 - 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. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

So Bathsheba ends up becoming David’s wife, bearing him a son. And then that sobering summary statement: But the thing David had done displeased the Lord. In other translations, David did evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Deliver Us from Evil

Now I’m assuming that most of us are somewhat familiar with this story, but if you’re hearing it for the first time, reading through all of David’s story in 1 & 2 Samuel, it’s a shocker - what the heck? What happened? How could David do this? He engages in adultery - with the wife of one of his own soldiers who risking his life for him, fighting his battles. He piles lie upon lie. He manipulates, trying to get himself out of the mess he created. Finally, he abuses his royal power, resorting to murder.

It really does seem to come out of nowhere - up until this time everything we’ve see about David is that he was a man after God’s own heart. A man of deep faith, who honored the Lord, lived in obedience to him. It’s why God had blessed him so richly, giving victory after victory.

Before we dig into that, a few things about this story, because its a story that is both well-known - and deeply debated. Before, I referred to it as the story of David and Bathsheba. In large part, that’s the debate - how involved, how complicit, is Bathsheba in all this?

We learn that she’s bathing up on the roof, David sees her, asks about her, sends for her, they sleep together and she conceives. Was she intentionally bathing on rooftop, hoping to be noticed? There is a note in the text that she was bathing as an act of ritual purification. Was she a willing participant? Was she taken advantage of by David - he is the king, after all? Was she in a position to say “no” to him?

As I mentioned before, it’s likely that David already knew who Bathsheba was, that they knew each other. Why do I say that? She is described as the daughter of Eliam - Eliam was one of David’s mighty men, one of thirty elite warriors. As was Uriah, he was one of these mighty men as well. And Eliam, Bathsheba’s father, was the son of Ahithophel, one of David’s most trusted advisors. So, with all these connections, it’s hard to imagine they didn’t know of each other.

Whatever the case of Bathsheba’s involvement, we just have to acknowledge that we really don’t know - because the story doesn’t tell us. And there’s a reason for that. It’s not about her, it’s a story about David - about his sin, his wrongdoing, his evil. His egregious actions are held in contrast - not with Bathsheba, but with Uriah. When you read through the chapter you’ll notice that it’s his name that appears over and over again, not Bathsheba (her name only appears once in this chapter). It’s more of the story of David and Uriah, in particular, David’s sinfulness versus Uriah’s integrity.

What we see consistently is David acting sinfully, without integrity - keeps sinking into that sin, deeper and deeper. All the while Uriah shows steadfast commitment to his convictions.

All of David’s soldiers are enduring the difficulty of warfare - rough conditions, living in tents, poor meals - life in regular danger. David is enjoying the luxuries of the palace - in fact, he almost seems bored by it - wandering the rooftop by night. David is ripe for temptation - it comes in the form of a beautiful woman bathing. And he succumbs.

David decides not to deny himself what he desires, indeed he actively pursues it - even though he knows exactly who this woman is - married, and married to one of his finest warriors. And he piles sin upon sin pursuing the cover up - sending for Uriah, hoping Uriah will give into the normal desire to sleep with his wife from whom he’s been separated for weeks, possibly months. Goes as far as to intentionally get him drunk, hoping that will weaken Uriah’s resolve.

But Uriah won’t do it - he refuses to. There’s some question about his motivation here - may see David’s invitation to go home and sleep with his wife as a test, that because he is engaged in a holy war against the enemies of Israel (suggested by the presence of the ark of the covenant?), men were to keep themselves chaste, refrain from sexual relations (there’s a reference to this in 1 Samuel 21, when David goes to the priest Ahimelek to get supplies) . At the very least, Uriah won’t do it because he refuses to enjoy the pleasures of flesh, of comfort (sleep in his own bed in his own house, good food and drink, sex with his wife) - not while his fellow soldiers are enduring the hardships of war. Instead he stays on duty, guarding the entrance of the palace. It turns out that here, Uriah is a better man drunk that David is sober.

Which is a pretty remarkable thing to say, considering who we’ve seen David to be up until this point in his story. And it reminds us of two important things...

First being, how even the best of us are susceptible to terrible sin. None of us are immune. David was one of the best: faithful, obedient, he loved the Lord - and look at what he ended up doing! How once he got started on that trajectory of sin that he kept going deeper and deeper into the depths.

What opened him up to it? What made him susceptible at this time to temptation? Was it complacency? Distraction? Life had become too easy, too good? The Bible hints at a few things, but we really don’t know. What we do know is that this once faithful man, whom God had blessed tremendously, and fallen into terrible sin, and it happened pretty quickly.

This is why Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father - Lead us not into temptation. Lord, deliver us from evil. Because Jesus wants to remind us that we are so, so susceptible to sin as well. We’d be foolish to think that it could never happen to us - it happens all the time.

Why it’s necessary for us to live with an awareness of how susceptible we are - and to guard against that. Notice that David was alone in his palace - likely when he should have been off to war. Why we want to practice Share Life Together - encouragement and accountability. Why we take seriously Discipline of Confession. Why we pray the Lord’s Prayer - why we want to pray it as mindfully and sincerely as possible (not just mouth the words) Lord, help me! I need you because I can be so weak.

Story reminds us too, how necessary it is to have clear conviction rooted in clear purpose - this is what I am going to be about. Pursue that.

David at one point, had exactly this - remember when Saul was hunting David, the times the Lord had given Saul into his hands - hiding in the cave - yet David refused to lift his hands against the Lord’s Anointed?! But here, David seems aimless, his wandering on the rooftop speaks as a metaphor for his life in that moment.

Staunch contrast is Uriah’s clear sense of conviction - faithful soldier: As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing. He knew what kind of soldier, what kind of man he was determined to be. So even when the opportunity to stray from that came to him - and it was a very attractive opportunity - he readily turned it down. Nope, can’t do it. That goes against who I am.

But that only works if you know who you are, what kind of person you are doing to be, how you are going to live your life. Hopefully that’s as someone who is committed to Jesus Christ first and foremost - living in obedience to him.

I was watching an interview with a Christian who works in Hollywood, and he was talking about how important it was for him to exhibit strong character in his work, to be an example of Jesus. Then he face a dilemma - he was asked by his boss to lie for him. His career could suffer if he didn’t do what his boss wanted. But he was committed to the truth - so that’s what he told his boss, that he was committed to being truthful. And that if he lied for his boss, his boss was giving him permission to lie, including to lie to the boss - so he wasn’t willing to go there. His career did not suffer.

Spiritual Direction

As we enter the new year, our own sense of conviction, who we will be (easy enough to wander off). What is one thing that the Lord might have for you, a firm commitment you would make as we enter into the new year?

Things we will not do! I will not…gossip. Look at pornography. I will not be critical toward others. I will not be so impatient. I will not be so defensive, take myself so seriously.

Things we will absolutely do! I will …put Jesus at the center of my life. I will worship weekly. I will practice forgiveness towards others. I will engage in study (love the Lord with my mind). I will take better care of my body, my health by...., I will live kingdom first. I will move toward becoming a person who helps to lead others into the abundant life of Jesus Christ.

Not in expectation of perfection, but with firm conviction, rooted in grace and gratitude.

Recognizing that we are weak (Our Father, who art in heaven…lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil).

As Jesus says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. But it begins with a willing spirit. I will the good. I will obedience to Jesus. I will follow you faithfully.