The Life of David: 2 Samuel 11
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Whether we are in the greatest season of life or in the darkest valley, Satan has one goal for God’s people: destruction. He does not want people to get closer to God.
Why does Satan tempt us?
Whether we are in the greatest season of life or in the darkest valley, Satan has one goal for God’s people: destruction. He does not want people to get closer to God.
Therefore, if someone is in a difficult time of life, he tempts them so he can keep them down. If someone is drawing closer to God, he tries to get them into a state of compromise, making them vulnerable to temptation.
Is temptation a sin?
Why does Satan tempt us?
As people of God, we have to stay alert to compromise. When we become lethargic in developing our spiritual life, we open the door for strategic temptation from the enemy.
In today’s story, we will see how David’s compromise led to temptation, which led to sin.
Background
Background
After showing kindness to Mephibosheth, David seemed to have everything going for him. He strived to do the right thing to those who helped him get to where he was.
David sent word to the new king of Ammon. The previous king of Ammon was kind to David and he wanted to return the favor. Instead of accepting David’s servants and their gifts, the king of Ammon humiliated them.
He shaved half of their hair, beard, and cut half of their garments. David received word and told them to remain at Jericho until their hair grew back.
The Ammonites knew they offended David and worked with the Syrians to fight with Israel. Eventually they lost the battle and David experienced a great victory.
David established himself as a strong political and military leader.
Dr. Mark Rutland wrote, “The favor of God rested on David… The problem, of course, is no one is unbreakable, not even David… David was never broken in battle, but in the irony of ironies, what finally broke him was not going into battle.”
Story
Story
1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. 2 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. 3 So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
David, the mighty warrior, enjoyed success in his battles. The next spring, when it was time to go to war, David made a foolish decision: he stayed home.
This was the first time in his career that he did not lead the army into battle. It could be his military leaders dissuaded him from going. Whatever the reason, he made a choice.
How was David’s decision to stay home a form of compromise?
While at home, when all the men of Israel went to battle, David looked out his window and saw a lady bathing herself. He asked his servant her name.
The servant’s answer showed even they knew David needed to think carefully. She was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah. In other words, she is married!
Various authors title this season of David’s compromise as:
The Case of an Open Window
The Case of an Open Window
Success, the Great Seducer
The Girl with a Curl
after a poem: “There was a little girl, and she had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid.
What could David have done to avoid this temptation?
David thought this downtime would be good for him. He needed a rest from his hard work. But his decision to compromise his position on the battlefield have terrible consequences.
4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” 6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him.
4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. 5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
Instead of fleeing temptation, he sent his servants to invite her to the palace. David finally gave into temptation and slept with her. The great warrior and worshipper gave into temptation.
What consequences follow giving into temptation?
What should David do?
5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.” 6 Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of food from the king followed him.
His compromise led him to temptation. While in temptation, David gave into sin. Instead of confessing his sin, he devised a plan. He decided to call Uriah home.
Uriah was no stranger to David. He was one of his might men. David trained Uriah and helped him become a man of honor. However, David was blinded by his sin.
He spoke to Uriah under the pretense of curiosity about the battlefield. After a conversation, David sent Uriah home for a night or rest and relaxation with Bathsheba.
David assumed one night with Bathsheba would erase any hint of impropriety on the king’s part. The only problem? Uriah did not sleep inside, he slept on his porch. David’s became frustrated with Uriah and he questioned him.
Do you think Uriah was suspicious with all of David’s questions?
By trying to hide his sin, David almost made it obvious. Then Uriah pointed out why he didn’t go home for the night. The Ark of the Covenant is in a tent/booth and the men of Israel are camping in an open field, is it fair for me to go home?
Referencing the Ark had to strike a chord with David. He knew what the Ark symbolized and the power it held. David could have taken this opportunity to speak to Uriah and confess.
Why didn’t David confess his sin?
David is falling deeper into sin. He’s committed adultery, now he is causing someone else to get drunk. Notice, even in Uriah’s drunken state, he showed more integrity than David who was sober.
13 Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. 14 In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.”
Instead of coming clean, David devised a second plan. He invited Uriah over for dinner and got him drunk. Even in a drunken stupor, Uriah still refused to go home, instead he went to sleep on the couch in his servant’s house.
David is falling deeper into sin. He’s committed adultery, now he is causing someone else to get drunk. Notice, even in Uriah’s drunken state, he showed more integrity than David who was sober.
When his plan failed, David resorted to more deception. He sent Uriah back to Joab with a letter with instructions to place Uriah on the front of the battle. Notice, Uriah held his death sentence in his hand.
David did not worry about Uriah reading the letter, for he knew Uriah was a man of integrity, because David trained him that way.
It is almost as though Joab read the note, neatly folded it and placed it in his pocket and sent Uriah to a place where he would die. Joab was not naive, nor was he nice.
Joab was not naive, nor was he nice
Why was it foolish to give this note to Joab?
Now, David is guilty of adultery, murder, and he will soon become a victim of blackmail. Joab was the last person to trust with any sensitive information.
He ignored David’s instructions a few years before to spare Abner, but Joab killed him instead (). Now, Joab had something he could hold over David.
What caused David to act so recklessly?
Even if Uriah had lived and came home, how would he know David was the father of Bathsheba’s child? Because David fell so deep into sin, he acted irrationally.
Chuck Swindoll explained, “When you act in a panic, you don’t think logically. In fact, you usually don’t think. You react. You overlook and cover up and smear over and cloud over and deny and scheme until you find yourself in the midst of such a maze of lies that you can never escape or get the mess untangled.”
David did not have the peace of God to make wise decisions, because his sin separated him from God. Sadly, his problems were just getting started.
26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 And when her mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
Upon hearing her husband is dead, Bathsheba goes to David. He decided to marry her. By marrying her, everyone could put the pieces together. Bathsheba is pregnant, her husband is dead, and David married her, something doesn’t quite make sense.
Application
Application
God could have easily expunged this story from David’s record. Had He not allowed it in scripture, we would never know of David’s infidelity, murderous acts, and foolish decisions.
Thankfully God included it in the Bible. For we have an example of what happens when begin to compromise in our walk with God. He desires that we seek Him, pray, and stay close to Him. When we stop, failure is inevitable.
David’s future was forever changed because of his folly. Dr. Ron Cottle contends, “Everything you do strengthens or weakens everything else you do.”
David’s problem did not begin when he invited Bathsheba to the palace. It started when he was not in his place on the battlefield.
The same principles apply to us. When we are not where God wants us to be, we become susceptible to temptation.
God wanted David on the battlefield, what does God want from us?
How can we get out of place with God?
We can either closer to God or farther from God, how do we get farther from God?
How do we get closer to God?
How do we overcome temptation?
How do we overcome temptation?
What do we do if we give into temptation?
Challenge
Challenge
Ask for God’s help to overcome temptation.
Look for areas of compromise in our spiritual walk.
Repent on a daily basis.
Ask the Holy Spirit to direct us.
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