In this captivating episode, we delve into the complex narrative of 2 Samuel chapter 11, offering a nuanced view of David’s actions and their repercussions. Alan J. Huth shares personal insights from his journals at various life stages, pondering on the motivations and moral lapses of King David, alongside Uriah’s integrity. Take a reflective journey with us as we uncover how these ancient stories mirror our own struggles and the timeless lessons they impart about faithfulness, sin, and forgiveness.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 03 :
Today we come to the turning point of 2 Samuel. This is chapter 11. And our guest reader, Vicki Bustos, chaplain of the Ezra Project, will read the 27 verses of chapter 11.
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2 Samuel chapter 11. In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened late one afternoon when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house that he saw from the roof a woman bathing. And the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house, and the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, I am pregnant. So David sent word to Joab, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David, When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and wash your feet. And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. 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. When they told David, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house? Uriah said to David, The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to 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, Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his Lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting and then draw back from him that he may be struck down and die. And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting, and he instructed the messenger, When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Ahimelech, the son of Jerob Besheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebes? Why did you go so 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 him to tell. The messenger said to David, The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. David said to the messenger, Thus shall you say to Joab, Do not let this matter displease you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it and encourage him. When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the 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.
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2 Samuel chapter 11, the turning point of 2 Samuel, and the turning point in David’s life. At 28 years old, in that first journal that I wrote back in 1983, after reading this chapter, I wrote, David and Bathsheba. David commits adultery, then gets Bathsheba’s husband intentionally killed to cover up. God, very displeased with David. At 42 years old, some many years later, I wrote when I read this chapter, Uriah, a man of honor. He was committed to God, his king, his boss, Joab, his colleagues. And what did he get for his loyalty and faithfulness? Death. Because of another man, David’s sin. Life is not always fair. The innocent suffer for the guilty. And 10 years after that, at 52 years old, I wrote, Things got so good for David, he became vulnerable to temptation and sin. He stayed home instead of leading his troops in war. He got bored in his comfort, couldn’t sleep, was not satisfied with his harem of wives, and lusted. He could have stopped at seeing Bathsheba, but he went the next step and brought her to the palace. David was now an adulterer. Uriah was upright, a man of character and loyalty. So King David made him drink so he would sleep with Bathsheba, but no. So David had this good man murdered. Amazing. Other soldiers also died for David’s sin. Sin spirals down. One sin leads to another here. And nobody seems to know. But that last verse says, Well, we’re all human, aren’t we? David had it all. He was the king. He had as many wives as he wanted. He was victorious. He was doing so many things right. And yet, we all have that sin nature that causes us problems. For David, lust. Lust, wanting something someone else has. That sin led to the next sin, lying, cover-up. And who is the honorable one in this chapter? It’s Uriah, a nobody. It’s not David, God’s anointed one. The lying, the cover-up leads to murder. He intentionally has Bathsheba’s husband killed in the battle to cover up his own sin. Most of us have heard of the story of David and Bathsheba. Oh, it disheartens us. It hurts us. But it’s not over as we continue to read in 2 Samuel. The consequences of David’s sin are immense. When I was 52 and I wrote in that last journal I just shared, I wrote my prayer that day, and I’m going to share that with you. I cry out for my own vulnerability to sexual sin. Thank you. You have kept me from falling. But I cry out for those close calls. But by the grace of God, there go me. Scary. Help me, Jesus. Help me, Holy Spirit, to do right. I will close this podcast with that prayer, applicable then, applicable today, in my life and maybe yours. It reminds me of a few verses out of Psalm 119, starting with verse 9. How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you. Let me not wander from your commandments. I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. I was sitting outside an ice cream store with my wife and a pastor and his wife and children in our hometown. A couple walked by and overheard our conversation and asked if I was a pastor. I said no. But the pastor I was with asked them what church they attended. They named their church, and he said, I know he speaks there every first Sunday of the year. They looked me over, and the woman said to her husband, he’s the Bible guy. She turned to me and said, because of your message, he started reading his Bible this year. So to pastors listening, that’s what will happen if you invite us to come and share in your church. More of your people will read the Bible. If you want that, contact us at EzraProject.net. We know only about 10% of your people are daily Bible readers. After an Ezra Project message, about two-thirds commit to daily Bible reading. Reach out to us at EzraProject.net and let’s talk about increasing Bible reading in your church. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. Maybe you wonder if Old Testament prophecy is true, came true already, or is coming true in the future. First, most prophets had a recurring theme. God loves us. Because he loves us so much, he gave us commandments, rules, statutes to live by. If we live by them, we can be blessed beyond what we can think or imagine. But when we choose to disregard, ignore, and set aside his rules, we are subject to his curses. We live under curses until things get so bad we cry out to God. He’s always there, waiting for our cry. Most often, but not always, he responds with grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness. We get back in line, then the cycle repeats. The Old Testament prophets cover this cycle over and over. Sometimes we wonder how the Israelites could have been so foolish. Yet, in our day, we have the same choice. We know God loves us. We generally know the rules, and we’d know them a lot better if we were more consistent in our time in God’s Word. Yet we decide, like those in the Old Testament, to ignore them and live out our lives. Things don’t often go well, so we finally cry out to God. As we see in the Old Testament, prophecy comes true as God restores rebellious, disobedient people like us back into right relationship with Him. But it is not always the case. Sometimes He has enough and does not deliver them. So yes, Old Testament prophecies are true, they came true, and they will come true in the future as we cycle through the same life choices the Israelites made. Thus, the value of reading all the Old Testament prophets Maybe we will learn what they tried to teach. God loves us. Keep his rules, love him back, and enjoy his blessings. I know you’re going to enjoy it. And want to share it with others.
In this captivating episode, we delve into the complex narrative of 2 Samuel chapter 11, offering a nuanced view of David’s actions and their repercussions. Alan J. Huth shares personal insights from his journals at various life stages, pondering on the motivations and moral lapses of King David, alongside Uriah’s integrity. Take a reflective journey with us as we uncover how these ancient stories mirror our own struggles and the timeless lessons they impart about faithfulness, sin, and forgiveness.
