Day 56: 2 Samuel 11:6–17

The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies” (vv. 14–15).

We saw David’s sin begin in his thought life and end up in the conception of an innocent child with another man’s wife. We may see the greatest evidence of his faraway heart in the way he reacted to the news of Bathsheba’s pregnancy.

When David heard the news that Bathsheba was pregnant, he immediately tried to cover up his sin. He sent for her husband, Uriah, so he would have intercourse with her and thus think the baby was his. David’s initial conversation with Uriah was at best disingenuous but, more accurately, was despicable.

Have you ever felt someone was faking an interest in you for an ulterior motive? Most of us know the sting of such behavior. The Scripture gives no hint that Uriah recognized the dishonesty of his king. To the contrary, Uriah’s honor spoiled David’s plan. Uriah refused to go home to his wife when his comrades were in the field. If only his commander in chief had acted with such honor.

Uriah’s honor put David on the spot. The king had an opportunity to confess his sin or to cover it with still more evil. He chose the latter.

We have seen that Joab was a man of flawed character. He trusted God in matters of battle, but he apparently had no compunctions about murder. Note that when Joab murdered Abner, David clearly and publicly disavowed his actions, but now David found Joab’s talents useful. In one of the great betrayals of history, David wrote orders for Joab to have Uriah killed in battle. David even gave the orders to Uriah to deliver to Joab. Thus Bathsheba’s husband trustingly carried his own death warrant to his executioner.

I grieve to think how loyal Uriah must have felt when the troops around him in battle deserted him to die. I wonder if, in the last moments, he guessed that “good” King David and the wife to whom he had pledged his love were complicit in his death. One thing I know and David certainly should have known: the God of righteousness will not allow such behavior to stand.