Gtcotr/ws101426
2 Samuel 11 NKJV
1 ¶ It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
In Part 1 we covered the first 5 verses of this account. We learned:
2 Then it happened one evening that David arose
from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he
saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.
3 So David sent and inquired about the woman.
And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam,
the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4 Then David sent messengers, and took her; and
she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity;
and she returned to her house.
5 And the woman conceived; so she sent and told
David, and said, “I am with child.”
·
Satan is looking
for an opportune time to tempt you.
·
Nothing good
happens after midnight.
· Sin can claim more of your life than you first imagined.
Let’s look
back at verse 3 for a parenthetical pause for just a moment and identify the
people in this story – some who are mentioned and one in particular who is not.
·
Bathsheba – Daughter of seven or Daughter of an
oath.
·
Eliam – Bathsheba’s father, one of David’s
mighty men (2 Samuel 23:34)
o
This
identifies Eliam as the son of Ahithophel, David’s most trusted counselor.
o
Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s grandfather.
· Uriah – The husband of Bathsheba and also a member of the Elite Squad of 30 men called David’s Mighty Men (v.39).
We can easily imagine the close connection between Eliam, Bathsheba’s father, and Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband. As well, Ahithophel most likely felt the personal dishonor brought upon his family with his granddaughter being seduced by King David, and the subsequent conspiracy and murder of his grandson-in-law and close friend and companion of his son Eliam.
How does
this figure into David’s life?
·
Ahithophel
was David’s top advisor.
·
After
David seduced Bathsheba and murdered Uriah and married Bathsheba, and continued
as if nothing was wrong, Ahithophel played a big part in trying to destroy
David’s reign and reputation.
·
When
Absalom, David’s son, killed his brother and staged a coup and David had to
escape Jerusalem barefoot across the Judean desert, Ahithophel remained behind
to become Absalom’s chief advisor.
o
The rooftop comes up
a second time …
o
Ahithophel
advised Absalom to take 10 of David’s wives up on the rooftop and have sex with
them in the sight of all Israel. This was in accordance with the Prophet
Nathan’s prophecy to David – basically, you reap what you sow … what you’ve
done in secret will be repaid in public (2 Samuel 12:12;16:20ff).
o
Ahithophel
further advised Absalom to allow him to personally lead 12,000 soldiers against
David immediately, catch him on the open plains and kill him (2 Samuel 17).
o
When
Absalom did not take Ahithophel’s advice, Ahithophel went to his home, put his
affairs in order, and hung himself.
· Ahithophel, Bathsheba’s grandfather, committed suicide as a result of his despondency over this whole affair.
Ahithophel only saw David as he saw David and not as God saw David. As well, Ahithophel only saw his own life as he saw it and not through God’s eyes. Blessed is the person who sees themselves and others as God sees them.
As we said earlier: Sin can claim more of your life than you first imagined.
Sin divides and destroys families.
Unfortunately, we are going to leave David and Bathsheba in their sin for another week. It may not seem fair but remember, they left themselves in this sin without repentance for perhaps 2 or 3 years – we know it was at least 9 months plus. God did not leave David or Bathsheba in their sin.
How long will you remain in your sin before repenting?
6 ¶ Then David sent to Joab, saying, “Send
me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 When Uriah had come to him, David asked how
Joab was doing, and how the people were doing, and how the war prospered.
8 And David said to Uriah, “Go down to your
house and wash your feet.” So Uriah departed from the king’s house, and a gift of
food from the king followed him.
9 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.
10 So when they told David, saying, “Uriah did
not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a
journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11 And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel
and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord
are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink,
and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I
will not do this thing.”
12 Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today
also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that
day and the next.
13 Now when David called him, he ate and drank
before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed
with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
14 ¶ In the morning it happened that David wrote a
letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set
Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may
be struck down and die.”
16 So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that
he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men.
17 Then the men of the city came out and fought
with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and
Uriah the Hittite died also.
26 When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her
husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27 And when her 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.
Years later, David wrote a song about this situation. We
will read it from Psalms 51 before we finish this full account of David’s life.
