Question
David and Bathsheba
2 Samuel 11:1-27
Key Verse 27b
“But the thing David had done displeased the LORD”
Read verses 1-5. What does David do instead of going off to battle against the Ammonites? (1) When David gets up in the evening and walk around on the roof of the palace, what does he see? (2) Who is the beautiful woman David saw from the roof of the palace? (3) What happens after David sends for her and what is the outcome of this event? (4, 5) How might David feel when he hears the news from Bathsheba?
Read verses 6-13. When David learns that Bathsheba is pregnant, what does he do? (6-8)) How does Uriah respond to David telling him to go to his house? (9) What is the reason Uriah gives David for not going home? (11) What do you think we can learn from Uriah? Upon hearing his reasons, what does David do? (12 13a) What does Uriah do after he eats and drinks with David? (13b)
Read verses 14-21. What does David say in his letter to Joab? (14,15) What does Joab do? (16) What happens to Uriah? (17) What does Joab tell his messenger to tell to David? (18-21)
Read verses 22-27. What does the messenger say to David about the battle? (22-24) What does David tell the messenger to relay to Joab? (25) How does Bathsheba respond to her husband’s death? (26) What does David do after she mourns? (27a) How does God respond to what David had done? (27b)
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Message
But David remained in Jerusalem
2 Samuel 11:1-27
Key Verse 11:1
“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.”
David was known as the man after God’s own heart. He killed Goliath. He overcame Saul’s crazy persecution. He won numerous battles against Philistines and all other enemies around his nation. He never lost any battles against his enemies. He took the ark of God to Jerusalem. The Lord loved him so much that he gave him the promise of establishing his eternal dynasty and eternal kinship which was the promise of sending Jesus through him. David was so moved by the Lord’s love and confessed, “’Who am I that you blessed me so much?” But then in today’s passage we see David fell. He failed so miserably. We see the devil from him. How can a man after God’s own heart fail so miserably? How can a man after God’s own heart become a man after devil’s own heart so quickly? What happened? This is what we want to know today. In doing so we want to find out how we do not fall into David’s problem. So the question in today is
‘Why did David fail so miserably?” – Because he did not do what he should do, which is fighting. How can we overcome our lust problem? By doing what we should do, which is fighting in our spiritual battles.
Part I. He slept with her (v.1-5)
In these verses we will see how David compromised little by little and eventually ended up sleeping with Bathsheba.
Look at verse 1. “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.”
1) David’s first compromise, what he should not do, is to remain in Jerusalem instead of going to war.
In the previous chapter, we see that David fought against Arameans and routed them because they were helping Ammonites. Now the spring came and it was time when kings went off to war. In David’s time, one of kings’ main duty is to go out to war. President of United States does not need to go to war in the front line. But in David’s time to go to war was one of major duties of kings. As we see in the first and second Samuel David’s main job was to go out to war and win victories. It is to protect his country and expand his territory.
But in the spring, at the time when kings went off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. It was the time to finish off the remaining Ammonites. Joab and the whole army of David went out and they were successful in destroying Ammonites and besieging Rabbah which was their capital city. But David remained in Jerusalem.
To David “Jerusalem” represents ‘comfortable place.” In Jerusalem David had his palace, and it was well protected. He could be easy in Jerusalem and he could be most comfortably. He could enjoy most delicious food. But in a battle field David had to go through inconvenient situations such as sleeping in mat and risking his own life. He could not enjoy delicious food and he could not sleep long hours.
Why did David remain in Jerusalem? Maybe David became old. Maybe David got so many successes in battles that he wanted to give young generals more opportunities in battles. Maybe David was sick at that time. The bible does not explain the reason or motives. But the bible clearly delivers one message. “He remained in Jerusalem instead of going to war and fight” when he sent all of his troops to battle. It seems that it is not a big deal for David to remain in Jerusalem because it was not the first time David did not go to war. In the previous chapter David also did not go to war when the Ammonites with Arameans rose against him. He sent Joab. David went to war after Joab fought and when he heard that Arameans gathered again to fight against his kingdom.
So nothing happened when David remained in Jerusalem in the previous battles So David realized that it was okay for him to remain in Jerusalem. But it was not okay this time.
When we think about the reason ‘why did David fail so miserably?’ the answer is ‘complacency.’ The word ‘complacency’ means “self-satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies.”
David was self-satisfied with what he had achieved and possessed and remained in his comfort zone without knowing actual dangers and deficiencies. But when he did not go out to war this time he ended up having a huge trouble.
All believers are in spiritual battles. But we may not want to accept this truth because we do not want to go out and fight. Fighting means we have to increase our stress and tensions. We have to deny ourselves. We have to risk of being rejected and persecuted. We need to challenge people or situations and overcome them. But without going out and fighting we cannot expand the kingdom of God in man’s heart.
That is why apostle Paul said to Timothy who was his spiritual successor in 1 Timothy 6:12a “12 Fight the good fight of the faith.”
Complacency comes when we think we are living in a peaceful zone, not knowing invisible bullets are flying around us.
Spiritually speaking, we have a choice; either to go to war or just remain in our Jerusalem. No one can think we make a huge mistake when we decide not to fight a good fight of faith. But it may be the beginning of our huge troubles as it was in the case of David.
For example, remaining in Jerusalem which is our comfort zone does not make us safe. Eventually in the end it will bring us more troubles as we see in the life of David. It is because remaining in our Jerusalem opens a door for other compromise and it can lead us to the big troubles. Maybe several times it would be okay for us not to go to war because nothing would happen to us. But eventually our complacent spirit will bring a disaster.
To whisper false knowledge into our ears is how Satan deceives us. Satan whispers, ‘Hey, if you do not fight you will be comfortable and you can enjoy easy life. Take it easy, man, don’t go out to fight. Stay where you are and be happy. Why do you want to go to campus and go through the pain of being rejected?”
We compromise little and nothing happens. Then we think it is okay to compromise. Is it really okay? No, when we compromise little by little eventually we will fail so miserably.
Little compromise grows and develops into a big trouble. There is a Korean saying, “A man who steals a needle will end up stealing a cow.” So David’s remaining in Jerusalem was the beginning of David’s biggest trouble in his life.
2) David’s second compromise, what he should not do, is to become lazy.
Look at verse 2a. “2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.” When David remained in Jerusalem instead of going out to fight David became lazy. “One evening David got up from his bed.” It shows that he enjoyed long afternoon nap. Evening was not the time to sleep. It was the time to work. Although David was not in a battle he could prayed for his soldiers very hard while he remained in Jerusalem. He could have a lot work to support them. But he did not do so. What did he do? He took long nap in the evening. What’s wrong with him talking a long nap in the evening? He was the king. Didn’t he have such freedom to take a nap when he wanted? Of course he had. We all have freedom to take rest when we think it is necessary. But his sleep shows that he was not busy. He became lazy. When he got out of his bed, he did not go to a prayer room. He walked around on the roof of his palace to kill time or take more rest. If he were in the battle zone he would not take such a long nap and walked around in idleness.
In those days roofs of houses in Jerusalem were probably mostly flat and they were used for place of rest with cool air and broad views. What’s wrong with walking around on the roof of his palace? Nothing seemed to be wrong. It is just another little compromise. It was another expression of David’s complacency.
It is something like internet surfing we have a lot of time and when we do not know what to do. It is like looking for some exiting and interesting things on the websites. We look for something which can make us happy and joyful. So David walked around the roof of the palace. His walking around on the roof of the palace also shows that his mind was wandering around here and there. So David’s little compromise of remaining in Jerusalem opened another little compromise of being lazy and walking around on the roof after long nap.
3) David’s third compromise, what he should not do, is to keep watching Bathsheba’s bathing. Look at verse 2b. “From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful”. Finally David found something exciting. He saw a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful. You know the bible does not exaggerate. So when it says she is ‘very’ beautiful, she is very beautiful. She was probably most attractive and dream girl to David.
David’s two little compromise of ‘remaining in Jerusalem’ and ‘becoming laze’ bore one fruit. He found one woman bathing. How excited David was! He could have felt that he found a hidden treasure. He could enjoy such secret pleasure. Furthermore she even did not know it. In addition she was very beautiful. It was like enjoying secret pornography in our websites.
Finally temptation came for David. Being tempted is not sin because everyone is tempted. Even Jesus was tempted in all our ways of temptation. But how to respond to temptation is important.
At that moment when David saw a very beautiful woman bathing he had a choice. Just to turn away from her and fix his eyes and mind on godly things or just keep watching her. What did he choose? Keep watching her. Why? His mind was already wandering around here and there when he walked around on the roof of the palace.
Do you think it was the first time David was looking for a beautiful woman from the roof? My guess is ‘probably not.’ There is possibility that he could have watched other women in the past. But when he did nothing happened. He could have controlled himself. So he might have done the same thing again and again. But this time was a totally different story. She was very beautiful and David could not turn away from her.
According to Deuteronomy 17:16-17, God commanded kings should not have many horses and many wives and gold and silver. David did not have many horses or gold or silver. But David had many wives. When I say many wives I mean something like 7 wives and 20 concubines.
What I am saying is ‘David’s lust problem started from a long time ago.’ David might have thought that having many wives would solve his lust problem. But it did not solve it. Some unmarried brothers and sisters may think that their lust problem would go away when they marry. But that is not true. David’s lust problem did not go away even though he had many wives. Solomon’s lust problem did not go away even though he had 1,000 wives and concubines. When David kept watching Bathsheba his lustful desire was not quenched but increased.
4) David’s fourth compromise, what he should not do, is to find out about Bathsheba. David could have stopped watching her and stopped there. But he made another move. He sent someone to find out about her. What’s wrong about finding about one woman in his kingdom? Isn’t he the king and doesn’t have the right to know any information if he thinks necessary? Yes, he has. What if she was a virgin? Couldn’t he take her as his another wife? Yes, he could.
Then the man said, “The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” David got her name, Bathsheba. She was the daughter of Eliam. Who is Eliam? According to Samuel 23:34 “34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maakathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite” Eliam was one of David’s mighty thirty seven generals. And she was a grand daughter of Ahithophel. And Ahithophel was one of David’s closest advisers. And Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and “Uriah the Hittite” is also one of David’s mighty thirty seven generals. So two of David’s mighty generals had relationship through marriage. “Hittite” is Gentile people but somehow Uriah must have become a believer of God and served David faithfully. By the time when today’s event happened David must have been at least middle aged and Bathsheba was much younger than David.
So when David found out that Bathsheba was so closely related to two of his most loyal generals and one of the most close advisers he should stop pursuing his desires. But David did not stop. David made one more move. He sent messengers to get her. She came to him and he slept with her.
Now at that moment all of David’s compromise bore of the sin of sleeping with married woman, adultery.
David’s intention was probably just one night stand since she was a married woman. Just to sleep with Bathsheba once and no one would know expect him and her. He just wanted to enjoy her once.
Verse 4b reads, “(Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. David thought everything was fine after she went back home. David must have been happy after enjoying secret love affair.
But not everything was fine. So far Satan allowed David to have many chance of little compromise without any troubles. But finally Satan got a chance to hook up David.
Verse 5 reads, “5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
Finally what David did bore one visible fruit and evidence. David not only broke one of ten commandment ‘Do not commit adultery’ but there was a penalty recorded in Leviticus 20:10
Leviticus 20:1010 “‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.”
Now David was in danger of losing his moral authority and his scandal would be open to the public. All of his compromise and subtle movement finally showed its ugly head.
Part II. Withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die. (v.6-27)
In this part we see David made one more compromise to hide his sin.
David’s another compromise, what he should not do, is to hide his sin by tempting Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba.
Verses 6-9 reads, “6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.”
David wanted to hide his sin by tempting Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba. But he failed because Uriah was a loyal general who would not take advantage of king’s favor.
Verses 10-11 reads, “10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
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 mentioned about ‘ark’ which symbolizes God’s presence. Uriah’s mentioning about the ark and his faithfulness to soldiers in the battle could have waken David spiritually. But he still compromised more. Uriah’s words ‘as surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!’ did not reach David’s ear. David was spiritually dull.
Look at verses 12 and 13.
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
David tried once more to hide his sin. David had him drunk. But Uriah was a man of self control. Even though David had him drunk he still went out to sleep on his mat with other servants and did not go home. He was a loyal general fully committed to the king and his soldiers. That was the last thing David could compromise.
Finally all of David’s compromise bore the sin of murdering of innocent man, Uriah.
Verse 14 reads, “14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
David spelled out murder. It was intentional first degree murder. And he sent the death warrant to Joab through the hands of Uriah himself. What a cruel man David was! And Joab executed the king’s order. Verses 16 and 17 reads, “V16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.”
David murdered Uriah by the hands of Joab and his enemies, Arameans. Together with Uriah many other innocent soldiers must have been murdered too. Many of their mothers and wives lost their sons and husbands all due to David’s evil murdering.
Since so many soldiers died David’s anger might flare up when he got the full account of the battle without knowing the death of Uriah.
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
In verses 16-24, God showed in detail how the murder of Uriah was carried out. Why did he make it so detailed one? It shows the wickedness of David and it is to show how much we can become wicked. Indeed it is true when the bible says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10b)
When the report came to David and after David learned that Uriah died he said to the messenger in verse 25, “25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.” David wanted to comfort the guilty conscience of Joab in this way.
Finally David married Bathsheba. Verses 26-27a reads, 26 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.”
So David’s sin was covered because they married and people would not know that they committed adultery. They probably married after 7 days of morning was over.
What is the final account of today’s event?
But 27b reads, “But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.” What David had done displeased the Lord. It means it was evil in the eyes of the Lord. People did not see but the Lord saw everything David had done. People could not keep justice but the Lord would establish justice.
We see in life so many prominent people fail miserably because of their lust problem. Bill Clinton, Kahn (previous IMF chief), John Edward, House speaker Newt Gingrich, General David Petraeus, Koby Briant, Tiger Woods, you name it.
They all humbly failed. They all failed so miserably at the cost of their family members, and other innocent victims.
Some of us even did not marry. But lust problem is very prominent problem in our days. Internet pornography is most common. Through surfing the internet we can walk around on the roof of the palace to find out lustful pictures and videos of men and women.
So how can we overcome lust problem? How can we avoid David’s mistake? I believe that is the reason why God recorded how David fell in detail.
First, we need to fight against our complacent spirit. Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:13 “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead” Paul overcame complacent spirit by forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. In another word Paul went out to fight in spiritual battles all the time. He never tried to take unnecessary rest and became Satan’s victim. In today’s passage the first move of David was ‘to remain in Jerusalem’ instead of going out to fight.
If we can overcome ‘complacent spirit’ we can overcome our desire to abuse our freedom and authority. In today’s passage, David abused his authority and freedom. It is all because of his complacent spirit.
Second, we can overcome our lust problem by fighting in advance against our lustful problems through the word of God and prayer. We do not need to wait until temptation comes. Rather we should be proactive against our lustful desires. If we wait until lust temptation comes to us we may be late in responding and failing. But if we prepare ourselves proactively we can be victorious against our temptation.
Jesus said to his disciples in Mark 14:38 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Jesus prepared his disciples in advance before temptation came to them through watching and praying. Since flesh is weak we need to watch and pray all the more.
Jesus himself also overcame Satan’s temptation by fasting and meditating the word of God when he was tempted by the devil in the desert. So denying our bodily desires and meditating the word of God is proactive way to win victory against our lust problem. Surely we do not need to wait until lust attacks us because it will attack us anyhow and all the time. So it is better for us to prepare ourselves in advance.
Apostle Paul shared the same idea in Ephesians 6:12-13. “12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
Here the expression, “when the day of evil comes” includes when our lustful desires attacks us. When we put on the full armor of God, we are ready for any attacks from evil forces of evil and we will be able to stand even at the day of the evil.
Thirdly, we can overcome our lust problem by knowing that the consequences of our sin cannot be removed. Through the death of Jesus, we are not punished because of our sin. But that does not remove the consequences of our sin in our lives.
In today’s passage, the death of Uriah and many innocent soldiers’ death would not be restored even if David would be forgiven by God. The shame, fear, and sense of guilt suffered by Uriah and David before they were forgiven would not be taken away.
David’s bad influence upon Joab and his sons would be still there although it was invisible. Some believers misunderstand that the consequences of sin would be removed through Jesus. But the punishment of our sin, which is death penalty, would be removed through Jesus. But we still have the consequences of our sin in our lives. This is solemn truth.
That is why Galatians 6:7-8 reads, “7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.”
“A man reaps what he sows.” This is fundamental truth of God. Just to be forgiven is not all. We bear the consequences of our sins in our lives. Not even God can not take way or restore the consequences of our sins. That is why we should be extremely careful about sinning.
The fourth secret to overcome our lust problem is to fear God. We must remember that God sees everything. What David did was not seen by other men. But the Lord saw it and it was wicked in his eyes and he was displeased.
Fifth secret to overcome our lust problem is to take Jesus’ yoke upon us.
We need to change our idea of taking rest from ‘doing nothing’ to ‘taking Jesus’ yoke upon us.’
Matthew 11:28-30
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Here Jesus’ yoke means his suffering to save all peoples on earth. It is the suffering that comes from teaching the word of God.
When David wanted to take rest without going to war he could not enjoy rest. Instead of fighting against his enemies, Arameans, David ended up fighting against himself, his own sinful desires and he miserably failed.
But when we take Jesus’ yoke upon us and participate in his suffering by teaching the word of God we can find true rest for our souls.
Most of all we have to fight at our first move. The first move in today’s passage was ‘David remained in Jerusalem.” If we are successful in not making our first move we will be successful to overcome our lust problem. The first move includes the first move in our thought.
In conclusion, why did David fail so miserably? Because of his complacency. Because he is complacent he compromised so many little things. Then he ended up committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah and many soldiers.
How can we overcome our lust? A) By fighting against our complacent spirit; B) by knowing the consequences of our sin is not removed; C) By fearing God; D) by taking Jesus’ yoke upon us.
One word: But David remained in Jerusalem.
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