2 Samuel 11:1-15
In
the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent
Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the
Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
It
happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was
walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof
a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to
inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of
Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get
her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying
herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. 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 and the
people fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go
down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s
house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept
at the entrance 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, “You have just come from a
journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David,
“The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths;[a] 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 such a thing.” Then David said to
Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So
Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him
to eat and drink in his presence and 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. 15 In
the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest
fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and
die.”
Reflection
It's
hard to see bible heroes in this light. In this story David is an
adulterer and a murderer. Even the chosen, beloved leaders in the bible
are prone to act on their sinful natures. It's easy to look at someone,
especially if they look like they have it all together on the outside,
and think that they are perfect. It's like looking at someone's Facebook
page and basing their entire life on what they post. It looks perfect
because people only post the best moments/pictures.
Passages like this remind us that we are all prone to sin. We all need God's grace. We all need forgiveness. Nobody is perfect.
Questions/Prayers
Morning: Confess any sin that's on your heart to God and ask for forgiveness. God's mercy is new every day.
Afternoon:
Have you ever thought that you were better than someone else based on
their sin? David committed horrible sins, yet God still loved him.
Confess to God and ask for forgiveness.
Evening: Think of someone you know who looks like they have it all together. Say a prayer for them because we know that everyone struggles with sin.
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