He was a good man, an honourable man and yet he was betrayed by the one he loved the most and betrayed by the one he respected most and he never even saw it coming.
He died believing he was fighting for a just cause, believing that his wife loved him and that his King believed in him. And he was wrong, dead wrong.
Louise read us an account of Uriah’s death just a few minutes ago but you need to know the whole story to understand what was happening. And it begins at the beginning of chapter 11.
Here’s what happened, it was the spring of the year. Now you and I know what spring means. It’s time to do yard work, clean up the property, maybe do a little painting, a little raking, half of our parking lot gravel is now on the grass so we probably have a lot of raking to do. Those are spring things. But in a different time and a different place, well it was different. We read in 2 Samuel 11:1 The following spring, the time of year when kings go to war, Ah, spring when the robins come back, the bulbs come up and kings go to war. Why spring? I don’t know, maybe in the winter it was too cold to go to war and in the summer everyone was at the beach.
Anyway here’s the story. It’s the spring of the year and the nation of Israel is at war with a couple of different factions, but the King, that would be David is not there. He’s at home, in Jerusalem. His troops are fighting the Ammonites in Rabbah and David’s in Jerusalem. Now today that might not seem all that strange, after all the heads of states only start the wars and keep them going, they don’t actually fight in them, and in most cases they don’t even send their children to fight in them, but that’s a different story. In David’s day and age Kings went to war, they lead the troops, but not David, not this time. This time he’s home and one afternoon just after he had gotten up, honest that’s what the Bible says: 2 Samuel 11:2 Late one afternoon David got out of bed after taking a nap and went for a stroll on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. So he gets ups from his afternoon nap, must be nice to be a king, and he’s taking a stroll around the flat roof of his palace and he looks over and this lady is out in her back yard taking a bath. And she’s not just any lady the Bible says that she was a woman of unusual beauty.
Now I’m not saying that she ought not to be bathing in the back yard starkers, but I would think that when you neighbour’s house is much taller then yours that the thought might possibly cross your mind, “Hey this might not be such a good idea.” Regardless as the story goes David sends a messenger to fetch Bathsheba, and she arrives at the palace.
Now I don’t know why David invited her up in the first place, it might very well have been an innocent gesture. Maybe he wanted to warn her about the dangers of bathing in her back yard, or maybe he wanted to compliment her on her beauty, maybe he wanted to ask her about her husband because by this time David already knew that she was the wife of one of his troops, or maybe he wanted to show her his etchings. I don’t know. What I do know is that what ended up happening. The NLT says that “He slept with her”, but there must have been more going on then sleeping because in the very next verse she discovers that she’s pregnant and sends news to David of the consequences of their actions.
It was Helen Rowland who said “One man’s folly is often another man’s wife.”
Now I want to diverge here for just a minute. You have to put this into perspective to understand why Bathsheba got pregnant; I mean other then the obvious. The Bible tells us that that reason Bathsheba was bathing was that her religion required it. Huh? I know the ladies in the church all attend a shower together occasionally but that is different. Listen to what the Bible actually says in 2 Samuel 11:4 Then David sent for her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. (She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period.) Then she returned home.
In the book of Leviticus laws are laid down for practically every facet of life in the Jewish community, in chapter 15 there is an entire section concerning women’s menstrual cycle. After a woman’s period ended she was considered unclean for another seven days, during which time she could not enter into sexual relations with her husband, after that seven days she went through a ritual cleaning process which involved ceremonial baths, and then the couple was free to do whatever it is that couples do. Now to us this seems a little strange, and not a just a little restrictive. But there was method to their madness. Unlike this generation that is obsessive about stopping pregnancies Israel was trying to become a great nation and to become a great nation you need people.
You understand what the time frame here does don’t you? When a couple can resume lovemaking the woman would be in her most fertile period. Had either David or Bathsheba logged onto babycentre.com and used the ovulation calculator then he wouldn’t have asked and she wouldn’t have accepted. But what was done was done, the die was cast so to speak, and a baby was on it’s way.
Well David was no dummy, well at least not after the fact. And so he sent for Bathsheba’s husband Uriah, who was fighting David’s battle. The thought being that Uriah having been away from home for a while would be anxious to sleep with his wife, and would think he was the father, maybe they couldn’t count to nine back then.
Anyway Uriah comes home, David the king greets him in person and says “Hey guy you’re doing a great job, why not go home get cleaned up and enjoy yourself, nod, nod wink, wink.” The king then sent a lovely dinner over to Uriah’s house, but Uriah didn’t go home, he slept outside. The King called him in and asked “am I missing something here?” And Uriah responded by saying, “How could I possibly go home to a nice warm meal, a soft bed and a beautiful wife when my troops are still in the field?”
So it was on to plan “B”, which was where David invited Uriah to a meal at the palace, obviously an offer you can’t turn down. While he was there David proceeded to get Uriah drunk, and then sent him home. But instead, Uriah bedded down outside once again, proving that he was a better man drunk then the king was sober.
Well it was on to plan “C” which was where David sent Uriah back to the front with a note for his commander. If Uriah had of peeked at the note this is what he would have read
Which doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us, but if we could read it in English it said 2 Samuel 11:15 “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.”
But Uriah obviously didn’t read it because he was killed in the battle, I’m sure that David must have been thinking “I love it when a plan comes together” And I’m sure that he thought that he had gotten away with it and listen to what the hypocrite had the nerve to tell Joab, who was Uriah’s commander 2 Samuel 11:25 “Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword kills one as well as another! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!”
So what is it that we can learn here?
The Beginning is Usually Innocent. Now understand it did not start with adultery. Regardless of what you’ve read and seen in the movies it doesn’t just happen. But it did start out with the pair of them doing what they ought not to be doing.
She was just having a bath, that was it. Of course she was having a bath in the privacy of her backyard that wasn’t so private. If you want to peel off and sunbathe in the buff or bath in your backyard and you have an eight foot privacy fence and your’s is the highest backyard in the neighbourhood that’s your business and what happens in your backyard stays in your back yard. But if perchance your house is next to a much taller house and your neighbour has the habit of being outside overlooking your backyard you might want to rethink the entire strategy.
And he was just out for a walk what could be wrong with a walk? We’re all told that we should walk more. And I’m sure that his first glance was innocent enough, and maybe even his second, he had to be sure of what he was seeing. But how many glances did he need? And what was with inviting her up? That’s like putting your hand in the fire and wondering why you got burned. A professor of mine at bible college used to tell us “You can’t stop the birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.”
Sounds simple doesn’t it. The fact of the matter is that adultery is one of those things that start innocently enough. A mutual attraction to a neighbour, co-worker, or even someone you go to church with. You both understand each other so well. You have so much in common with one another and you enjoy those quiet moments you have together. They seem more eager to listen to you then your spouse does. Soon there are those special little words that are spoken softly between you. The little pats, a gentle squeeze of your arm, a meaningful glance, a lingering gaze, a quick hug, a short embrace, and eventually you have been led down a path you never intended to walk.
Don’t start up the ladder of affection with anyone other then your spouse, did you hear that, don’t start up the ladder of affection with anyone other then your spouse.
Turn around and turn back. I’m not saying that you can’t be friends with members of the opposite sex, but you know what I’m saying. Sue Johanson who hosts a show on WTN says: “You can’t say, ’I didn’t know what would happen.’ That’s a crock. You knew with the sweaty palms and sweaty pits. You knew with the long gazes. You made the decision not to decide and you let it just happen.” If you are climbing the ladder of affection, then get down, right now, don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are in control. The best time to stop disobedience is today
A Price Will Be Paid There are consequences. God didn’t put these commandments in to be a spoil sport; he put it in for a reason. God isn’t against Sex, you remember he created man and woman, and he created sex.
What would have happened if instead of saying “Oh by the way David I’m pregnant” Bathsheba had of said “Oh by the way David, I’m HIV positive”? Aids is no laughing matter, and regardless of what they tell you about safe sex the only safe sex happens between two people who are completely faithful to one another.
It didn’t take David long to discover the consequences of his acts and there were not simply limited to that particular time frame they had long reaching implications. And he’s pretty lucky he wasn’t married to Loretta Lynn because she said “My attitude toward men who mess around is simple: If you find ’em, kill ’em.” Just looking at the book of 2 Samuel we discover that this covers 33 years of David’s life. The First half is a story of multiple triumphs. Chapters 1 to 5 deal with David’s Political triumphs, 6-7 his spiritual Triumphs and 8 – 10 his Military triumphs. His life comes to this high point in chapter 11 where he is literally on top of the world and it’s here that he has the affair with Bathsheba. What happens from there? You don’t have to read very far to discover the trouble that happened in David’s house. Chapters 12-13 chronicle the trouble that David had with his home.
The son of David and Bathsheba died as an infant, David’s daughter Tamar was raped by her half brother, who was killed by Tamar’s brother. Later David’s son Absalom attempted to overthrow his father and died in the attempt. The last eleven chapters of the book detail the political turmoil that almost tore his kingdom apart.
And we can’t forget the emotional damage done by an affair. If your marriage stays together there will always be an element of suspicion. Will they do it again? Why did they do it the first time? Every time you’re unexpected late or have an unexpected or unexplained absence there will be doubt. You say, “That’s just not right, they ought to get on with life, they need to learn to trust me.” Not! It’s neat how quickly the person who did the victimizing becomes the victim when it serves their purpose. So understand if your spouse no longer trusts you perhaps it’s because you’ve proved yourself untrustworthy.
On the other hand, if the marriage doesn’t survive, if you actually end up with the person you had an affair with do you think they will trust you? I mean after all they’ve already seen first hand how trustworthy you are and it’s because you cheated with them that they’ll never be sure that you won’t cheat on them. After all as Dr. Phil says “If they’ll do it with you they’ll do it to you.” And this doesn’t even get into the guilt that you will carry around concerning what you have done.
Others Will Get Hurt Here the most obvious person was Uriah, poor guy hadn’t done anything wrong other then trusting the wrong people. But it goes deeper then that, if you cheat it will hurt your spouse, your kids and those who look up to you.
David, his family and his kingdom were ever the same again, did his people look at him differently? I told you a little bit about what happened in David’s family after his affair. Do you think you will do any better?
Do you think that Children will trust someone who cheated on their mother or father? Someone who had no qualms about lying to their spouse? About betraying their marriage vows? And not only that, understand that children learn from what they see. Remember more is caught then taught. If than a normal marriage is one where Adultery is the norm then they will perpetuate that model. That’s a no brainer.
Bottom line is summed up in Proverbs 6:27-29, which by the way was written by David and Bathsheba’s second son, Can a man scoop fire into his lap and not be burned? Can he walk on hot coals and not blister his feet? Those are rhetorical questions, no answers are expected. So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife. He who embraces her will not go unpunished.
Words from a man who knew what he was talking about considering that he was the result of the adulterous affair between his father, King David and Bathsheba.
I keep telling you: Sin will always take you further then you want to go, it will always cost you more then you want to pay and it will always keep you longer then you want to stay. You think you will be in control but it will be sin that is in control.
A number of years ago a colleague of mine left the ministry after running off with his piano player. Within a couple of years his son had walked away from God, his teenaged daughter was pregnant and his oldest daughter left her husband after becoming pregnant as the result of an affair. Why? Because their moral compass was gone, and they ran aground on the shoals of their father’s immorality.
There’s Always Forgiveness Have you struggled with moral failure like David? Figure that you’ve blown it and there is no hope for you? Don’t know that you can fall much further than David fell, and yet in Psalm 51 we read David’s prayer of repentance Psalm 51:1-2 Have mercy on me, O God,because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. And? The penalty for adultery was the same as it was for murder, capital punishment, don’t know if it was a deterrent but it sure cut down on repeat offenders.
Well in 2 Samuel 12:13 David is talking to Nathan the Preacher who confronted him with his sin, and this is a part of that conversation: Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin.
So where are you at? I don’t know what might be hidden in your heart but God does.
PowerPoint May be available for this message contact me at denn@powerpoint4preaching.com
