11:1
This chapter tells the grim story of David’s greatest sins. The story begins with David staying home while Israel went to fight the Ammonites. Remember that chapter 10 told the story of the Ammonites dishonoring David’s messengers. In response, David sent Joab and the army to fight them. David did not go. The events of chapter 11 may have occurred at this time.
1 Corinthians 10:13 says: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.”
Let’s read this story with this verse in mind.
So, the first thing we see in this episode is that David was not doing what he was supposed to do and what he normally did. He did not lead his troops into battle. He stayed home in Jerusalem.
Temptation often arises when we step outside of our normal routines and neglect our duties. When we stop going to church or stop reading our Bibles, for example, we can experience temptations we would not normally experience, and which we may not be strong enough to handle.
1 Peter 5:8 warns us: “Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”
Up On The Roof
11:2-5
David had been lying on his couch in the late afternoon. He was taking a nap. Notice the contrast: his soldiers are in battle; he is napping. They are suffering; he is luxuriating. Having excused himself from what he should be doing, he is the picture of a man with nothing worthwhile to do.
From the couch, David went to the roof of his house. he started looking around. He is the picture of boredom. The modern day equivalent is endless scrolling on social media. Or, many people watch porn when they are bored.
David could have occupied himself with kingdom matters. He had a nation to manage even if he did not go to war. Instead, he is prowling around on his roof.
David saw a woman bathing. She was beautiful. He inquired about her. He found out she was married. That should have stopped David (way of escape). But, undeterred, he had her brought to him and had sex with her.
She got pregnant. The reason the writer tells us she had been purifying herself is that it shows Bathsheba could not have been pregnant with her husbands’s baby. The law required a woman to purify herself after her period.
David had access to many women. He first wife was Saul’s daughter, Michal, though they evidently were not getting along. While in Hebron, to took several wives: Ahinoam, Abigail, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Eglah. (2 Samuel 3:2-5; 1 Chronicles 3:1-3). He also had concubines.
Then, at Jerusalem, he took more wives and more concubines. (2 Samuel 5:13) He had more sons and daughters, so he was having sex with them. Yet, he was not satisfied with them and sought another man’s wife.
David thus broke two commandments. First, he coveted another man’s wife. (Exodus 20:17) Second, he committed adultery. (Exodus 20:14)
David also betrayed a loyal subject, Uriah. Uriah was one of David’s “Mighty Men”. He was one of the “30”, a group of the top warriors. (2 Samuel 23:39)
In addition, Bathsheba’s father, Eliam, was also one of David’s mighty men. (2 Samuel 23:34) Eliam was also the son of Ahithophel, a respected advisor who later became hostile to David.
David Attempts A Cover Up
11:6-13
David decided to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so that it might look like Bathsheba’s child was Uriah’s and not David’s.
For the first attempt, David had Uriah brought from the battlefield to give him news on the progress of the war. He then told him to go home, expecting him to sleep with his wife. “Wash your feet” seems to have this connotation. However, Uriah slept at the door to David’s house with the servants.
When David found out, he questioned Uriah. Uriah told him that as long as his fellow soldiers camped out in the fields, he would not go home and sleep with his wife. (11) He was very emphatic, swearing on David’s life. For him to respond vehemently to the king shows how strongly he felt about the matter.
There is an additional element to this for Uriah. Sexual intercourse resulted in ceremonial uncleanness, so soldiers fighting for Israel avoided it, since they were serving the Lord. (Leviticus 15) We see this when David told the high priest, Ahimelech, that his men had kept themselves from women so that Ahimelech would give him the Bread of the Presence (“holy bread”) to feed them. (1 Samuel 22:4)
Next David invited Uriah to dinner and got him drunk, thinking that would make him amenable to going home to his wife. But, again, Uriah slept with David’s servants and did not go home. (13)
The contrast here shows Uriah as principled and David as unprincipled and conniving.
David Resorts To Murder
11:14-25
David sent Uriah back to the battle with a letter to Joab, instructing Joab to place Uriah where the fighting was the most intense. Then, he was to withdraw the other fighters and allow Uriah to be overcome and killed.
Joab obeyed David. When Uriah was killed, Joab sent a messenger to David with the news. David then sent a message back to encourage Joab in this setback. But the real message was: thanks for doing this for me.
Now David has broken another commandment: you shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13)
David Marries Bathsheba
11:26-27
Once Bathsheba completed the mourning period for her husband, David married her. She had the baby, a son. Notice that the author does not name her, but calls her “the wife of Uriah”.
But, God was displeased.
Takeaways
David had many opportunities to avoid these sins as 1 Corinthians 10:13 says will occur. But he did not take them.
James 1:14-15 says: “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death.”
David should have confessed and repented for his sin with Bathsheba. If he had, God would have forgiven him. (1 John 1:9, Numbers 14:18) Instead, he tried to cover it up.
We do not know Bathsheba’s mindset in all of this. But, the point of this story is David’s fall into sin. Attempts to blame Bathsheba to make David look better are inappropriate.
Matthew recognized this. In his genealogy of Jesus, he states that: “David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah”. (Matthew 1:6)
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