#453 AWOL

And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.

3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.

5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.

8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.

9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?

11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.

12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.

13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.

16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.

17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.

18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;

19 And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,

20 And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?

21 Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

22 So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.

23 And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.

24 And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

25 Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.

26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.

27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. 2 Samuel 11 KJV

They follow up on the previous campaigns to rid the land of their enemies, but rather than leading, David stays behind at the palace. Maybe he feels too old to go out, or maybe he has spent too much time sitting down, at meat and all the other dainties of the king. That would not bother me, but and if you do you must do this, lift up your arms to heaven, be on your knees before God and study the law of God on my behalf. I will go fight your battles in the field, but you must fight yourself at home. You must protect and defend the kingdom, honor the God Who has put you there, Who we ask to go before us into battle. If you can't do this then you are much better off in the field with your men, cross back over the Jordan, stay busy assessing the battle, encouraging the troops. Sin starts here for so many, idleness, boredom when there is actually much good to be doing, playing at the edge of the drop, at first holding on and then later hoping that the ground will fall out from under you. Then it can hardly be your fault, right? I mean it's not like you were warned, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not murder? 

So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work. 22Flee from youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23But reject foolish and ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling.…2 Timothy 2:22

Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I shall not sin against Thee. Could this even be the same king that wrote those words? Yes, it is the same king who put aside the law of God to kings regarding wives, and followed his lust. Sin starts in the heart, out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and those that would act as if Christ brought on some new God in the new covenant, David learns that it is the heart even back then. Create in me a clean heart oh God and renew a right spirit within me. The heart is wicked and deceitful above all things. Christ echoes this when He says, if you look upon a woman to lust after her, you have already committed adultery in your heart. What? That is absurd I would say, for who doesn't do this? It starts in your heart, in your thoughts that you do not try to reign in, and there are often a thousand steps between the palace and Bathsheba, and a thousand more back to the palace, and moments in between to repent of how far you have already come. There are a hundred fools that would read this and come up with a thousand buts, but there are a hundred more fools for everyone of them that would hear the buts and think, that makes sense, that is my religion, I like that, I am justified in this. David was a man after God's own heart after all. Sadly, this is the best of us, and if I would have written it to make God's people the heroes, I would have left so much of David's story out. This is his Achilles' heal, lust, which turns to envy, adultery and murder, for the wages of sin is always death for someone, someone has to pay the price. Lust reduces the creature, envy creates hostility and is ungrateful for what it already has. How many wives and concubines does David have? Does he need more, can he not be satisfied with his own harem? He asked who she was. It is Uriah's wife. Oh, that would make her unavailable, but maybe the law is somehow different for me, I have power, bring her here. Maybe he thought to just talk and flirt or told himself that at first, but somehow she ends up pregnant from the encounter. Why would she allow this to happen? Did she think that who David was would make it different as well? Now she must appeal to him after, to protect her name and her person. Once he knows, he has to act, because this will be a serious charge, and this he knows as the upholder of the law. This he knows from reading the law, and now a woman may die for what he has invited her into, for it does not say he raped her. David is a clever man, and rather than repent and go to God for forgiveness, then to Uriah for forgiveness, to the prophets for advice, he devises another way. He brings Uriah home, easy enough, he'll sleep with his wife and it will be like it never happened. Damn that Uriah though, he is so bent on his duty he is not willing to leave it for special favor, and some think this is because he suspects what has taken place, but I think this is revealing the hardness of David's heart. There is a better man before me, and I should see that, he is more righteous than I, but I would rather despise him for this, for not coming down to my level, for not being so predictable in this way. Ah, but the righteous are predictable in another way, he will follow orders, he will be eager to return to his station. Now David writes a letter, not one of his poems this time, no, this will now invite yet another person into his sin, Joab. Does Joab know what this is about? I don't think completely because David says later not to let it displease him. David justifies it by saying, the sword devours one as well as another, like his hands are clean, though he is asking you to pull away from him. It is disturbing that Joab is willing to do this without question, that it falls under the security of government. Who will question the king? They will all know when they get back, it will be obvious, and you may think right now in your heart that the law was the issue, that it was too harsh. If God would have allowed more then there would be less offense, but it is not the law that creates sin, sin is the result of the fall. The law merely points out the offense that sin is to righteousness. It does not change the ability to stand before a Holy God, only gives the ability to perceive the offense. Whom the Lord loveth, He chaseneth. What we think we do in secret and in the dark, in denial of God, is always and ever before the eyes of and against the Creator. David, in this one chapter could have crushed one of the tablets that Moses brought down from the mount, once you start a lie, it grows and grows. 

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.




2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.




3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.




4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.




5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,




6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.




7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.




8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;




9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.




10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.




11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Matthew 4: 1-11