Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 11
Okay, you can turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 11. 2 Samuel chapter 11. Remember, the larger context that we find ourselves in begins in chapter 9. Chapters 9 to 20 highlight the consequence of David's sin. In chapter 9, we see David show kindness to Mephibosheth, In chapter 10, we see David show kindness to Hanun, the son of Nahash, king of the Ammonites.
And here in chapter 11, David shows the opposite of kindness. He shows ruthlessness in the account of Bathsheba and Uriah. So I'll begin reading in chapter 11 at verse 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. 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.
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? 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. And the woman conceived. So she sent and told David and said, I am with child. Then David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite.
And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered. 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.
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. So when they told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? And Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields.
Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing. Then David said to Uriah, Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.
Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. And that evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 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.
So it was while Joab besieged the city that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell, and Uriah the Hittite died also. then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war and charged the messenger saying, when you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, if it happens that the king's wrath rises and he says to you, why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
Who struck Abimelech, the son of Jerubasheth? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebes? Why did you go near the wall? Then you shall say, Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent by him. And the messenger said to David, surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field. Then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate. The archers shot from the wall at your servants, and some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant, Uriah the Hittite, is dead also.
Then David said to the messenger, thus you shall say to Joab, do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it. So encourage him. When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
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.
Introduction
Well, as I said, this section marks the consequences of David's sin. Chapter 11 obviously records specifically David's sin. And chapter 10, remember we saw the battle against the Ammonites and the Syrians, and essentially that serves as the backdrop for David's sin. Basically what we find in chapter 11, it picks up where chapter 10, verse 14 left off.
Davis says, it, chapter 10, sets the stage for chapters 11 and 12. The Ammonite War serves as the historical background for the David-Bathsheba-Uriah fiasco. And chapter 12, 26 to 31, the end of chapter 12, brings closure to the Ammonite problem left hanging in 1014. So the Ammonites will be returned to, but now the author wants to give us this account of David's fall into grievous sin, the sin of adultery and then the sin of murder.
And certainly it is a horrific account. John Calvin says concerning this particular account, he says, now here is a story which should make our hair stand straight up on end whenever we think of it. that a servant of God as excellent as David should fall into such serious and enormous sin that he could be judged as the most morally lax and promiscuous person in the world. So that is an apt description of what we find here in chapter 11. think is, well, we ought to be thankful that our sin isn't recorded for everybody to read in all of its grim detail. I mean, there is a sense where God is giving us this bird's eye view upon David's life that we ought to be thankful not everybody else has concerning our own lives.
But I think we ought to take heed to this particular chapter because it does teach us many things about sin and about temptation and about the difficulties and the problems therein.
David's Sin with Bathsheba
So we'll look at three things this evening. First, the sin of David with Bathsheba in verses 1 to 5. Second, the attempt to cover up the sin, excuse me, in verses 6 to 26, and then the divine response in verse 27. But note in the first place his sin with Bathsheba.
Idleness and Opportunity for Sin
Again, it's the Ammonite war that is in process. In 1014, we leave Joab and the Ammonites, or Joab returns from Ammon back to Jerusalem. And now here in 11.1, it happened in the spring of the year. This makes good sense.
Once the inclement weather is over, it is now time to return to battle. It was the time when kings go out to battle. David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel. and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. Now, it was the case that David had dispatched Joab on previous occasions.
We see that in chapter 10 when David sends Joab to these Ammonites, but we see it back in chapter 2 as well. So it was not unheard of for David to send Joab in his place, but the fact that the text indicates it was the time when kings go out to battle David is the king of Israel, but David stays back in Jerusalem. This does give us a glimmer that things are not right here. John Gill says, it would have been well for David if he had gone forth with the army himself then the sin he fell into would have been prevented.
Now, of course, we're speaking as a man when we make this observation. This is the sovereignty of God, the decree of God. David was going to do these things. But from a human perspective, according to the preceptive will of God, idleness oftentimes precedes great sin.
David was in Jerusalem. David should have been on the field of battle. If David was on the field of battle, he would not have been up on his roof looking down at Bathsheba while she was bathing. Calvin says, hence this circumstance was put here in order to show that David did not carry out his duty.
By thus sparing himself and staying in his house in order to be at his ease, he threw himself into the net of Satan and one evil fed on another. So there is at least a good observation here for those of us who may have time on our hands. If we have time on our hands, there is likelihood that temptation to sin will present itself. The best thing to do is to try to fill up that time that is on your hands, because idleness certainly is a precursor very often to episodes of sin and wickedness.
So we see that this is what's going on here. And it is interesting because a lot of space is covered, say, in chapter 8. Chapter 8 gives us this sort of overarching view of David's wars or the wars during David's life. Chapter 10, again, very broad strokes.
We notice it lacked the sorts of details that we oftentimes want to read in military history. It just gives us this overarching theme. We've got Ammonites, we've got Syrians, we've got problems. But here in chapter 11, the narrative slows way down.
It is very descriptive. It is very detailed. It is, in many respects, a literary masterpiece, what the author does here in chapter 11. The one thing that is absent from chapter 11, in all of its slowness, and in all of its detail, and in all of its descriptiveness, there's not, what do the people think?
We don't get any, what's David thinking when he does these particulars? What's Bathsheba thinking when she does these particulars? What's in the mind of Uriah? The author doesn't give us that.
It's ambiguous in some sense, but very clear throughout. And the emphasis is upon the fall of David in this particular instance. He shows hesed, or this kindness to Mephibosheth. He shows it to Hanun, the son of Nahash.
And now in his own country with people that he is responsible for and to, he engages in absolute ruthlessness with Bathsheba and then toward her husband.
The King Sees, Inquires, and Takes
Now note specifically under the sin of David with Bathsheba, the sin. Verse 2. The king saw her. 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. Now she certainly should have been more discreet, but the emphasis in the passage lay upon David's guilt. She should have been more discreet and certainly there is a doctrine of feminine modesty that I hope all you dear sisters practice and observe, but in this instance the emphasis falls upon David and the things that he is doing wrong. Notice he then inquires about her in verse 3.
So David sent and inquired about the woman, most likely thinking that if she is not married he will take her as a wife. We've already seen this up to this point. David has violated Deuteronomy 17. The laws concerning the kings in Israel is that they were not to multiply wealth, weapons, or women.
They were not to have harems like the pagan kings around them. They were to be one woman men. with reference to their sexual fidelity. David's already compromised, so it's become more easy for him to compromise. And remember, this wasn't always sexual, though the fact is that it was here.
But oftentimes these wives, or these additional wives, was to form political alliances. This was the way that you sort of made good with other kings. You would marry them. daughter or whatnot, and you would enter into these political alliances. So David's already compromised, and here he sends and he inquires about her, again, most likely to determine if she's unmarried, he will take her as his wife.
Would have been better for her, or him, never to do this to begin with. And then note that she's identified as Bathsheba, and I think this is one of the only places in scripture where both father and husband are mentioned. She is the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. So it is told who her father is and who her husband is.
And there's a particular reason for that. Later in 2 Samuel 23, in verses 34 and 39, it will indicate or describe David's mighty men. And two of those mighty men are Eliam and Uriah. You mustn't ever forget that.
The one whom David sends to his own death is one of David's mighty men. He was a trustworthy, valiant, noble soldier. The soldiers in Israel served their king, and these mighty men served him preeminently. So Uriah was a faithful, diligent servant of David the king.
Now notice, he sends his messengers, according to verse 4, and he took her. Now, I don't think it was by force, because the next statement says she came to him. So he didn't take her by force. It wasn't something that was rape.
It was consensual as we move through the passage. But nevertheless, David is the initiator. David sees this woman bathing. David acts upon, not Chesed here, but he acts upon his own lust.
He hears that she's married, so he sends his messengers to take her. David should have stopped a long time ago. He should have been out at war at Rabbah, but then he certainly should have, if he was on his roof and he saw this woman, he should have went the other way. He should have never engaged in these particular issues.
So the woman comes to him, the king lays with her, and then notice what verse 4 indicates. It says, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity, and she returned to her house.
Irony of Ritual Purity and Moral Transgression
Now, Kyle and Dalich say this was a cleansing from the impurity after intercourse with David. It's probably best understood as having been cleansed from her menstrual impurity previous to that, which that then indicates for us two things. One, that the baby that is conceived can in no way be Uriah's. Just in case we have any doubt when she conceives, there's no question whatsoever, is David the father or could it be from Uriah?
No, she was cleansed from her menstrual impurity. She was not pregnant when she lied with David. As well, this is something that the author laces throughout this narrative is irony. Appreciate the irony in this particular statement.
Here is Bathsheba, cleansed from her ritual impurity according to the ceremonial law of Moses, violating the seventh commandment of the moral law of Moses. So on the one hand, she's fastidious when it comes to the ceremonial, but on the other hand, she is a gross transgressor of God's moral law with reference to the seventh commandment. She was not forced into this, she was compliant into this, and when we get to this particular section, we need to appreciate that. There is an irony here.
She's cleansed ritually, but she is violated morally. And then notice, the woman departs, she goes back to her house, and then the very next thing. And the woman conceived, so she sent and told David and said, I am with child. The only words recorded by Bathsheba in this entire chapter.
Listen to what one man says concerning verses 4 and 5. Brueggemann says, the action is quick. The verbs rush as the passion of David rushed. Again, you've got to appreciate the narrative as it's constructed.
David sent, David took, she comes to him, he lay with her, and then she returns, she conceives, she tells him, I'm with child. Very brief report, isn't it? I mean, this isn't some, you know, National Enquirer tabloid, you know, full-page ad about David's fall into sin. This is short, compact, and full of information in a very concise manner.
So this man says, the action is quick, the verbs rush as the passion of David rushed. He sent, he took, he lay. The royal deed of self-indulgence does not take very long. There is no adornment to the action.
The woman then gets some verbs. She returned. She conceived. The action is so stark.
There is nothing but action. There is no conversation. There is no hint of caring, of affection, of love. Only lust.
Isn't that what sin is? Isn't that what the author is presenting to us, especially when it comes to sexual sin? There's no love, there's no feeling, there's no affection, there's no desire for the good of the other person. It's lust that's driving David.
It's lust that drives men or women who engage in this particular action. He says, David does not call her by name. He does not even speak to her. Now, whether he did or not, we don't know, but this is what is recorded for us.
In terms of the report, there is no conversation. It's just the brazen presentation of an act of lust-filled sin is what the author is doing. It says, at the end of the encounter, she is only the woman. It doesn't even refer to her by name.
And the woman conceived. Not Bathsheba, not the wife of Uriah, but it's the woman. He goes on to say, at the end of the encounter, she is only the woman. The verb that finally counts is conceived, but the telling verb is he took her.
Robert Vanoy says, suddenly David began to function like the kings of all the other nations. I've already mentioned that. Deuteronomy 17 is very clear. These are the laws governing the king over Israel.
Do not multiply money, do not multiply weapons, and do not multiply women. David, you're not supposed to do this. You've already got a harem, you've already got several wives, now you're taking this other man's wife. And so he goes on to say, he began to function like the kings of all the other nations who took from their people in order to satisfy their own desires.
Suddenly he saw himself as above the law and became a law unto himself rather than being a king who is submissive to the law of the Lord and the words of the prophets. Suddenly David acted in ways inconsistent with the behavior of a true covenantal king. I think Van Hoy brings out something very important in this particular situation. Something that will come out later in the statement by Nathan.
Look at 2 Samuel 12, 9. Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in His sight? This is something we ought to get in our heads, in our minds, in our hearts, in the very fiber of our being. Brethren, we are governed by the law of God.
We are not to violate the seventh commandment. We are not to go outside that covenantal context to satisfy or gratify our lusts. We are supposed to be faithful. We are supposed to be men and women of our words.
When we say, I do, we are to mean it until we die. There is not to be any hedging of our bets or any compromise or any sorts of things that would compromise our profession of faith and our subordination to the law of God Most High. David is acting in a lawless fashion. David, who will write Psalm 119 that celebrates the very law of God, is functioning now like a pagan. like a heathen, like somebody that is completely contrary to the will, the word, and the mind of God Most High.
He is not functioning as a true covenantal king.
The Attempt to Cover Up the Sin
Now note, secondly, the attempt to cover up the sin. We can look at the narrative under two considerations, David and Uriah, verses 6 to 13, and then David and Joab, verses 14 to 25. Note first, David and Uriah.
David and Uriah: The Cover-Up Plan
David has to go into damage control at this particular point. She's conceived. She's pregnant. People will find out.
Now, this didn't happen in absolute secrecy. Messengers knew what happened, didn't they? Because they went and fetched Bathsheba and brought her to to David. David knows that this has the potential of at least sullying his royal name, and so he's got to go into damage to control to try and cover this sin.
Does covering sin apart from the blood of Christ ever work? Hopefully you all say no, and Proverbs 28.13 suggests itself to you. We just looked at that text several weeks ago. Whoever covers his transgression will not prosper, but who confesses it and forsakes it will find mercy.
David should have stopped. He should have repented. He should have forsaken. He should have coughed it up.
He should have said, I went into this woman. She is pregnant by me. Instead, he wants to cover his sin. Isn't this symptomatic and typical of sin?
Is it usually the case that you just do one sin? It's like Oreos. Do you just eat one Oreo? Do you just eat one potato chip?
Do you just take one sip of coffee? Do you just look at the sunshine or a beautiful day, just one glimpse? No, you want to glut yourself with it. And sin is very much like that.
You cannot play games with it. You cannot entertain it. You cannot take it into your bosom and not expect to get burned. This is what David is doing.
So notice, he instructs Joab to bring to him Uriah the Hittite. David's plan is diabolically ingenious. will bring Uriah back from the front. He can spend the night with his wife. He will do what every red-blooded Israelite will do when they're home on leave.
He'll copulate with his wife, and when it's found out that she's pregnant, he will be accredited as the daddy. Seems like an ingenious plan, doesn't it? What could possibly go wrong? Well, what could possibly go wrong is that the true faithful Israelite in 2 Samuel 11 is Uriah the Hittite.
The foreigner is the good Israelite in 2 Samuel 11. See, the only hitch in David's step here is Uriah's integrity. So he brings Uriah to David. Now notice in verse 7, when Uriah had come to him, David asked how Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered.
Do you think Uriah saw through this? I think he did. Why would David need to call Uriah from the front to get a battle report? Joab would be perfectly sufficient to give that battle report.
Uriah is probably curious as to the nature of these particular questions. Gil says, these questions were so mean and trivial that it might justly give Uriah some suspicion that it could never be on this account that he was sent for. You see, there's a line of thought that Uriah knew what was going on. Did David know that Uriah knew?
Did Uriah know that David knew? There's several possible ways that you could approach this particular section. We don't know that Uriah knew, but we can suspect by virtue of the fact of some of the things that are going on here. Did he know everything?
Did he know something? Did he have a suspicion? Well, Gil seems to indicate that these questions would have alerted him that something wasn't right. I mean, why would David the king call me back and ask me for this battle report in such a situation?
Now notice David's instruction, verse 8. David says, 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. Now this whole idea of go wash your feet, this was normal, this was typical, this was commonplace behavior after a journey, which this was probably about 64 miles from the site of Rabbah.
He'd come back home, he'd wash his feet, the idea being that he would relax and he would have this gift of food that David sends to accompany him. You see this? You know, men and women, they go out for dinner and then they go home and they have amorous relations. That's what's going on.
David sends this gift of food so that Uriah and Bathsheba will eat the gift of food and Uriah and Bathsheba will have relations. You say, well, that's not what David says. That's how Uriah understands it. Look at verse 11.
When Uriah says why he doesn't go home, he says, shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? Uriah knew what David wanted him to do. And that is what David's plan was all about. Go, engage, have this gift of food.
But note what Uriah does. I'm sorry, another piece of irony in this particular instance at verse 9. I'm sorry, at verse 8. David said, go down to your house, wash your feet.
So Uriah departed from the king's house and a gift of food from the king followed him. Robert Alter says there is an obvious irony in the fact that the man of foreign origins is the perfect good soldier of Israel, whereas the Israelite king betrays and murders him. When you read your Bible, brethren, you ought to look for this kind of stuff. You ought to go, wow, that is bizarre.
David, the reigning king of Israel, is functioning like a Hittite, and the Hittite is functioning like the king of Israel should. Covenantally faithful. has respect to the Ark of the Covenant, has respect for the people of God. You see, the author wants to throw in sharp contrast the integrity of Uriah and the absolute abomination of David in this particular chapter. Now notice that Uriah disobeys.
Some Jewish commentators, trying to get David off the hook, argue that David was just in killing Uriah because Uriah disobeyed a direct order from the king. Notice in verse 9, Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. David says, go down to your house. And Uriah doesn't go down to his house.
He joins the bodyguard and he sleeps right there to make sure that David's protected. So some Jewish commentators said that was an act of disobedience and insubordination to the king, so he had it coming. Well, that's not what the text indicates at all. I mean, when we get to verse 11 and Uriah's response or defense as to why he doesn't go down to visit with his wife, it's obvious what's going on.
So he then does this in order to stay faithful and a man of integrity.
Uriah's Integrity Exposes David's Guilt
Now notice verses 10 and 11. So when they told David saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? Now verse 11 is one of those jump out at you passages that ought to humble David.
See, one of the things I'm going to end up with tonight is the hardening deceitfulness of sin. You see, if Uriah had suspicion, and if Uriah thought for a moment that David was up to no good, what Uriah says in verse 11 should have smitten David. I mean, look at what he says. This should have been the mindset of David, not Uriah.
Well, it should have been Uriah's too. Uriah said to David, the ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my Lord Joab and the servants of my Lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.
I mean, I would hope under God most high, if I was David, that would have pierced my soul and I would have collapsed in tears and said, please forgive me. You see, it's like step after step after step after step, the hardening deceitfulness of sin has latched itself upon David's heart. He doesn't see things properly. This is the effect of sin.
It doesn't cause you to be a good interpreter of reality. This is the effect of sin. It doesn't cause you to have a moral assessment of things that are accurate. No, it causes you to start fighting for it. to start engaging in all sorts of subterfuge to try and accommodate your sinfulness and your wickedness.
And that's what's happening here. Uriah is concerned for the covenant, the ark of the covenant, and for the covenant people. Now note David's contingency plan. Instead of saying, you know what, Uriah, I called you here under a ruse.
I need to get straight with you. I had relations with your wife. No, he doesn't do that. No, he's going to get him drunk.
I mean, David, do you read this chapter and just go, come on, David, don't? Every time I read it, I feel like I'm doing that, don't, David, and it never changes. You know, every time I've said to David, don't do what you're going to do, David. Don't go up on your roof.
Actually, go to battle, David. Don't go up on the roof, David. Don't inquire about her, David. Don't send for her, David.
Don't call Uriah back, David. Don't get him drunk, David. You just, your heart jumps out. It's the way the narrative is woven.
It's so that we will produce or yield some sort of effect over it. So he has this contingency plan. Note, David gets Uriah drunk so that Uriah will lie with his wife. David has a sin to cover.
David has a secret to protect. David has to make sure that the kingdom believes that Bathsheba's new baby boy is Uriah's and not David's. But note, With reference to Uriah, the alcohol did not destroy his integrity. He was drunk and he was faithful.
He was drunk and he maintained integrity. What's this say about Uriah? He's a champ. It's a good man.
He is a mighty man. Again, when you get to chapter 23, after you've read 2 Samuel 11, and you see this list of the mighty men of David, and you see Uriah the Hittite, you think back to chapter 11, and you say, man, David, this was a mighty man that would have died for you, and you murdered him because you wanted to cover up the adultery that you committed with his wife. This scene is hair-raising, as Calvin says.
Application: The Hardening Deceitfulness of Sin
Now remember, brethren, God the Lord calls David a man after his own heart. That's why this passage is hair-raising, because if godly, holy, righteous, faithful, consistent David can be reduced to this sort of wickedness, we need to take heed lest we fall. We need to understand that though we stand, we need to be on guard lest we fall into sin. Persons who say, well, it would never happen to me.
I would never engage in such a thing. You know, I would hope that we would have that sort of a resolution, but we would be dependent upon God. By the grace of God, I won't. By the grace of God, I will stand fast.
Donning that full armor of God, I will stand in the day of battle. But it's not our strength, it's not our willpower, it's not our ability, it's not because we're better than anyone else, but it's solely and alone by the grace of God Most High. We need to learn from this passage and may the Lord God use it to cause our hair to stand up on end when we consider the fall of such a righteous and a godly and a holy man.
David and Joab: The Murder Plot
So David calls him, gets him drunk, and at evening, at the end of verse 13, he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. Faithful Uriah. We should be reading about faithful David. We should be reading about further exploits.
We should be reading how he's killing the king of Ammon. We should be reading how he's leading his troops into battle, but that's not what we're reading. All of these Ammonite wars as the background and as the foil, the author shifts and he moves and he focuses on David's bedroom, this place of gross immorality and sin. Notice now David and Joab in verses 14 to 25, the plan.
David can't blame the pregnancy on Uriah because Uriah's got integrity and won't lie with his wife. So what's the next best thing? Let's kill Uriah. Just get him out of the picture, then David can marry Bathsheba.
And when she's found out to be pregnant, well then that will be legit because David's married to her. So we've got to liquidate Uriah.
The Blood of Uriah and the Collateral Dead
So he wants to get him set up in the place of battle. Notice in verse 15. Well, verse 14, in the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. Again, imagine that man walking in his integrity, doing what his king and master told him, and he hands it to Joab.
Verse 15, 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. That's grievous, isn't it? I mean, that he goes into Bathsheba and now he's doing this? You see, brethren, sin doesn't stop.
You can't just sin and say, well, you know, I've just had my taste for today. I've had my one Oreo. Now I'm going to move on. It doesn't work that way.
You've got to be careful. You've got, I've got to be careful. We have to be watchful and we have to be prayerful. We've got to take that full armor of God and we've got to put it on.
So notice. He tells Joab, set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, retreat from him that he may be struck down and die. So it was while Joab besieged the city that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Now, Joab knows the score, doesn't he?
Joab may not know all the ins and outs. Joab might not know about Bathsheba and the bun in the oven. He may not have all that information, but he knows that his king wants a mighty man dead. Joab is savvy enough to realize that if he just sends Uriah out to the front, that will draw suspicion.
I mean, Joab's a good military commander. He would never send a mighty man all out on his own. So Joab engages in a good bit of subterfuge himself in order to protect this scene. See what he does, he sends Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men.
Now note verse 17, then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab and some of the people of the servants of David fell. You see it wasn't Uriah alone, it was some of the people of the servants of David. Joab didn't send Uriah by himself. Joab sent Uriah with other servants of Israel.
So not only is the blood of Uriah on the hands of David, but the blood of these men also. Right? Because they wouldn't have been forfeited by Joab in a losing battle unless David had ordered the hit on Uriah. Gil sees it this way.
He says, "...which made David's sin the more heinous, that several lives were lost through the stratagem he devised to procure the death of Uriah, who could not be placed in a dangerous post alone, and therefore others must be sacrificed with him." You see, Joab's not a fool. He knows that if he sends Uriah out there all by himself, people are going to say, Joab, what are you, nuts? You've never done that. It would be transparent that there was a ruse going on.
So Joab sends these several out there, and all of them get slaughtered. So the blood, not only of Uriah, but the blood of these men are on the hands of David as a result of this stratagem, as John Gill calls it.
Joab's Message and David's Response
Now notice the instruction given by Joab to this messenger in verses 18 to 21. Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, and charged the messenger, saying, When you have finished telling the matters of the war to the king, if it happens that the king's wrath rises... Okay? Think about this.
Joab knew experientially what happened when David got news that David didn't like. Okay, Joab knows David has an aversion to losing troops. I mean, who would want to lose troops? David is the king of Israel.
It grieves him and bothers him as the shepherd of Israel to lose troops. It grieves him and bothers him as a king to lose two Ammonites. Right? All of us are on board here.
So in this particular instance, Joab understands that this news may not make David happy that these troops were lost. Remember back in chapter 1 in 2 Samuel when that man came and told what had happened to Saul? And David didn't like what the man had said, and David ordered a summary execution. Joab knows this.
That's why he says, and if the king's wrath arises, then you tell him, or he says to you, why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? In other words, David might reprove you, messenger, because we lost these several troops in battle. He might reprove you because we got too close to the city wall. David might say something like this, did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
Who struck Abimelech, the son of Jerusalem? Was it not a woman who cast a piece of millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebes? Why did you go near the wall? You see, Joab is anticipating the possible wrathful response of David upon this messenger.
And so Joab says, make sure you say to him, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. This will assuage the king's wrath. This will calm the king, because that's his endgame. That's what he wants, the death of Uriah.
He may be bugged and bothered by this collateral damage, but when he gets what he wants, his wrath will be appeased. So note, the messenger goes to David, verses 22 to 24, and he basically says everything that Joab said. The messenger said to David, surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us in the field. Then we drove them back as far as the entrance of the gate.
The archers shot from the wall at your servants, and some of the king's servants are dead." Now notice, the messenger doesn't give him time to let his wrath arise. He heads him off at the pass. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. He doesn't wait.
He just tells him that in one package deal. Joab says, if he gets mad, then tell him this. Well, the servant says, here's what happened. your Raya is dead. Now note, David's response.
We ought to appreciate the literal translation in verse 25. If you have the New King James, you have a marginal note that says, be evil in your sight. Verse 24, do not let this be evil in your sight. In other words, it's