II SAMUEL 11 Lesson # 11
POWER AND DESIRE CAN COMPROMISE THE BEST
I. Introduction:
Q Why do some people cheat on their taxes?
An = They think they need to have that extra money, and they have the means to do it and get away with it.
Q Can some people cheat on their taxes with greater ease than others? Why?
An = Some, because of their business or the extensiveness of their holdings have more opportunities to hide things than the simple laboring man who fills out his W-2.
Q Are tax cheaters always totally immoral in other areas of their lives?
QQ Do we sin sometimes because we have the opportunity?
An = Otherwise, we would not even think about it. Sometimes when opportunity arises we, who normally would not do evil, fall to a certain temptation.
Q Are we excused or absolved from sin because the opportunity presented itself?
An = No, greater opportunity does not excuse but just puts a greater burden on us to obey.
Lets see what the power and opportunity afforded a king, a good king, does to David….
II. The Initial Error: Sexual Sin Between David and Bathsheba. II Samuel 11:1-5.
A. Setting the Scene to the Bathsheba Incident: II Samuel 11:1.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:1.
Note: This is a continuation of the Ammonite War begun in chapter 10.
Q Who went out to battle?
An = The text clearly tells us that Joab and the troops went out but David stayed behind in Jerusalem. Matthew Henry (p. 340) thinks David set himself up for temptation by doing two things: “neglecting his business” as a king, he should have gone out with the men (but see 10:7), and “love of ease”.
Q Are the two things David has: being safe and comfortable in Jerusalem, the two things we all seek?
Q Are these the things we are best served by?
An = America stresses our “need” of comfort and safety. Perhaps, we have a greater need. Perhaps, one of the greatest places of safety is “doing our assigned duty”, especially in combating sexual temptation.
B. The First Episode. David and Bathsheba: The Act of Adultery: II Samuel 11:2-5
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:2-5.
Q Did David know who this woman was?
An = Yes, he did. She had a known family, and he knew she was the wife of a known individual who was “Uriah the Hittite”. He knew she was another man’s wife and he knew who the man was.
>>>> Have everyone turn to II Samuel 23:39 and let someone read this verse.
Q Who was Uriah?
An = He was not only part of David’s army but one of his family men who was a key captain in David’s famous “mighty men”.
Q Do you think it mattered that Uriah was a foreigner?
An = We are not told, but it could very well have encouraged David to not consider the trouble he would get into if he was taking a fellow Israelite’s wife. Uriah had a Jewish name, the iah, of his name comes from the divine name YHWH. His name was “Yahweh’s light”, or the “light of Yahweh”. He was a foreigner, a Hittite, but one who had obviously converted to the belief and practices of an Israelite.
Q Who does the text lay the fault of this adulterous relationship with?
An = Bathsheba’s wishes or thoughts are completely kept silent. All action is ascribed to David. Elsewhere, when David’s motives are in doubt the text will show us David’s positive motives, but here “David’s misconduct is presented bluntly and without explanation, as if any hint of his motivation might mitigate his crime in the mind of the reader.” (Mc Carter, p 289)
Q Is this out of character for David?
An = He was just protecting the rights of the weak in chapter 9, and now he is stealing the honor of a loyal captain fighting for him, while he lounges back in the capital. The Bible is aware of this! Even good men fall.
Q Does the fact of having so much success and power lead us to think we can fulfill our desires, because we have power? Have you seen others do this?
Q Is what David has done common in our society?
An = However, the view of the Lord is so different. It differs from the views of the powerful. The penalty for adultery is death (Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 write on the board). Israelite society had an unusually high regard for the sanctity of marriage.
Q Can power and success corrupt?
Note: David has not had an easy life and we often feel bad when we are righteous and things are still hard for us.
Q Does David now have what every man wants: power and success?
An = He is not constrained by a Saul or in the pinch by being surrounded by superior military forces, but he is “on top of the world”. Maybe when things are rough, they are also helpful to us in other ways.
III. The Attempt At Cover-Up. The Second Episode: David and Uriah. II Samuel 11:6-13.
A. The First Attempt At Cover-Up: An Appeal to Creature Comforts. II Samuel 11:6-11.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:6-8.
Q What is David attempting to do?
An = He is trying to get Uriah to come home to sleep with his wife and then hope that Uriah thinks the child Bathsheba is caring belongs to Uriah.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:9-11.
Q Does it work? Why not?
An = Uriah is a better man than David believed him to be. David assumes Uriah would grab at any chance at “creature comforts” that he could get. After all, David did.
Note: Uriah knew the ark was in the field and so were his fellow soldiers and the entire Israelite army. He was loyal to his fellow soldiers. There was a rule that Israelite soldiers were not to have sex during a military campaign. Uriah was keeping the law, the vows he took as an Israelite soldier. Uriah is a team player, who plays by the rules, and he vows on David’s life.
Note: David encountered a man who kept God’s laws. Uriah was in the presence of a man who did not.
Q Though David was the most powerful man in his region, could he control a moral man?
An = Kings have always found this to be true. That is why dictators hate the true Christian faith so much.
B. The Second Attempt At Cover-Up: Drunkenness. II Samuel 11:12-13.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:12-13
Q What is David’s second attempt to get Uriah to go home to Bathsheba?
An = He tries to get Uriah drunk and then hopes he will weaken his resolve. Ackroyd’s wry comment is all-too-true: “Uriah drunk is more pious than David sober” (see Gordon, p. 254).
C. The Matter of David’s House: It’s True Danger.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 7:11.
Q What does God promise David?
An = An enduring “house”, in Hebrew a bayit. No threat against David’s kingship has succeeded. God is behind David.
Q How many times is the word “house” being used in 11:6-13?
An = It is used 8 times: in 11:8,8,9,9,10,10,11,13.
Q What is the author subtly doing?
An = Maybe the author is saying that after all the play on the word “house” and the promises made in chapter 7 that David has forgotten the source of his own house’s security and blessing. David had asked the Lord: “Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight….”
Q Has David imperiled his own house by the reckless disregard for the “house” of another man?
An = David will ask God to “bless his house”, but he has forgotten to whom he was praying: the God of all Justice. The best way to harm your own house is to harm the house of another.
Note: David twice attempted to cover-up his despicable deed, and his attempts have failed. Now he tries another way.
Q Does sin not confessed, but covered up, lead to more sin?
IV. The Murder of Uriah: The Ultimate Cover-Up. II Samuel 11:14-25.
A. The Death of Uriah: II Samuel 11:14-17.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:14-17
Q What is David doing?
An = He is committing murder! He committed adultery, then attempted to be deceitful, and now sin has spread: he does the unthinkable. With cold hearted irony David has the man carry his own death warrant back to the battle lines.
Note: Uriah only wanted to be a good and godly soldier but he had something David coveted and it cost him his life.
Q Who gladly does David’s dirty work?
An = Joab. >> Have someone read II Samuel 3:38. David complains about the harshness of Joab and his brother, and now his complaint is a hollow one.
Q Does David find this “harsh” and “brutal” man quite helpful in eliminating the “Uriah problem”?
An = Joab never bats an eye as he has the innocent Uriah killed. However, such a convenient and brutal personality will later backfire on David.
B. The Report of Uriah’s Death: “Meaningless News Coverage”. II Samuel 11:18-25.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:18-25.
Q How many people take turns speaking of the death of Uriah?
An = Three: Joab, the Messenger, and David. All three speak of the “Battle News”. All three report facts but never mention or face motives.
Q Is news always true?
An = It can be true and yet be totally false to what really matters. This man was murdered, his death plotted by two men in cold blood. Now they all get fancy about reporting facts but ignore the real “news” and the real “facts”.
Q What does David tell Joab?
An = “Don’t let this upset you….” in Hebrew David actually says: “Do not let this be “evil in your eyes”. REMEMBER THIS STATEMENT
Q Does it anger you that highly placed men can ruin others lives and then speak in official communications and ignore the tragedy they have caused?
Q Have you ever seen this yourself?
Note: It is so hard to bear such things and we begin to wonder about the wisdom of giving mankind free will.
C. The Immediate Aftermath of Uriah’s Death. II Samuel 11:26-27.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 11:26-27.
Q In these two verses, we have three person’s reactions to the death of Uriah, who are they?
An = Bathsheba, David and God.
Q What are the reactions of David and Bathsheba?
An = Bathsheba is presented without emotional reaction. We learn nothing of her feelings, thoughts, or wishes. She heard, she mourned.
David waited the appropriate amount of time and then married her, and she bore his child. Again, nothing is said of David’s thoughts, and nothing is said about David’s crime. Note: Uriah once had a beautiful wife, but a more powerful man desired her, and so he took her. Power rules! Even among the people of God, among the Israelites who have the beautiful gift of God’s holy Law.
Q Does God agree with official policy?
An = No! In Hebrew, it says the thing was “evil in the eyes of the Lord”. It does not matter what officials in the secular world or the church say, they do not necessarily speak for God. David said: “let not this thing be evil in your eyes”. God said otherwise.
WE WILL SEE IF IT MATTERS WHAT GOD SAYS….