Hello, my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
I wonder what time of day you like best? I love rising before daylight and watching the stars and dark of night turn to first light, then dawn, then sunrise. But this time of year, darkness arrives early where I live, and both evenings and nights can be very long. As we all know that can be dangerous, for too many bad things happen in the dark. Come with me, back to Jerusalem, a little less than 3000 years ago. We’ve been tracing the life of King David, and yesterday we watched as David poured out God’s great blessings upon Mephibosheth, a crippled grandson of former King Saul. It was really quite remarkable and another evidence of the tender, compassionate heart of David.
Do you remember that is why God selected David, as a young boy, to be the future king of His people Israel? (1 Samuel 13:14; 15:7,13) But sometimes tender, compassionate hearts can be vulnerable to the schemes of the dark kingdom, have you discovered that?
I’m so glad the Bible gives us great instruction about God, and that’s called Theology, but it also gives us the very real stories of people like you and me in their sometimes-struggling journey with God. We don’t know exactly how long it was after King David’s kindness to Mr. Mephibosheth as recorded in 2 Samuel 9 till we come to the heartbreaking story of King David in 2 Samuel 11, but let’s journey through that experience with David today, as we have with so many other events in David’s life.
The record begins: “In the spring, at the time when kings go out to war, King David send Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army…. but David remained in Jerusalem.” One of the great decisions every key leader must make is when to be out with the employees, the troops, and when to be back in the office doing the planning and visionary work.
We don’t know exactly why David chose to remain in Jerusalem as he sent his General Joab to lead the army, but I think we can assume King David was busy with his ‘Kingly responsibilities’ in Jerusalem, while his army was away protecting Israel. We can also assume one other very important thing: do you remember David had pitched a special tent near his palace and under that tent was the “Ark of the Covenant” which had been fabricated by Moses’ anointed workmen at Mount Sinai centuries before? (1 Chronicles 15 & 16)
Worship took place at that special tent day and night, and I presume David could see that tent from his palace windows and he could probably hear the worship taking place, and I assume David often went to join in that worship, to keep his heart focused on God. You may remember how much David loved to worship God and he had a great love for worship music and played several instruments. (1 Samuel 16:23) David even wrote many songs, several of which are Psalms in our Bible which bear his name.
The record says: “One evening David was walking around on the roof of the palace. From the roof David saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?’ Then David sent messengers to get her.” (2 Samuel 11:2-4a)
We understand warm spring evenings and cool breezes and it should not be difficult for us to imagine this scene and why King David is walking around under the stars, probably listening to the worship from that tent where the Ark was, and maybe looking down on that tent singing along with the worshipers. But as he strolled to the other side of the roof, David saw something that likely happened in the little back courtyard of almost every home in Jerusalem, for they had no indoor plumbing and bathing happened outdoors, under the cover of night, as discreetly as possible.
Every Israelite knew their Almighty, Holy God called His people to be distinctively different from all other peoples in many ways but especially in their holiness. God called them to worship in holiness; to be faithful to their spouses in holiness; to have no inappropriate relationships with another person as a holy people of God. God especially called leaders in Israel to lead by example in their holiness.
Holiness was part of their Covenant with God, and some very harsh punishments were reserved for those who disregarded their Covenant and defiled their holiness, especially with sexual immorality. Deut. 22:22 is one example, and it says: “If a man is found sleeping with another man’s wife, both the man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must purge the evil from Israel.“
When King David inquired as to the identity of the bathing woman, I’m so grateful for the response: “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?” It’s helpful, isn’t it, to think of every woman as someone’s daughter, regardless of her age? There is something that rises up in all of us when we hear of a vile, despicable thing done to little girls.
We have no record of who Eliam was, but I presume he was a man known to King David, which is why Bathsheba was identified by her birth family. Bathsheba was married and while we don’t know for sure if King David knew her husband Uriah, we later find out that Uriah is one of Joab’s faithful warriors in Israel’s army and is away with Joab at this time.
Now friends, I don’t know what David had in mind by sending messengers to invite Bathsheba to the palace but knowing his tender, compassionate heart, I want to believe David invited her to dinner, intending to encourage her in the absence of her husband deployed in military service. But as you probably know, David’s tender heart was tempted, and their evening of innocent dinner and encouragement ended up in a sexual encounter.
The record says it this way: “She came to King David, and he slept with her. Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David saying, ‘I am pregnant.” (2 Samuel 11:4,5) We presume Bathsheba would know of her pregnancy when she did not receive her monthly cycle. Perhaps she sent word right away, perhaps she did as so many newly pregnant women do and waited several weeks just to be sure. By the time word came to King David we can be confident it had been several weeks and King David had been busy with many other leadership responsibilities. But I’ve often wondered about the condition of his heart after that night, especially as he continued to hear the worship at the tent which housed the Ark of God’s Covenant?
We’re going to pause right here friends, and this evening I urge us all to reflect on this deeply disappointing reality of King David’s moral failure. It happens way too often among leaders and even people who claim to be Christians or worshipers of God. Tomorrow we’ll continue the story and look more closely at how this could happen to someone who had the blessings of God upon his life? Here’s a worship song for today, to help us keep our hearts in tune with the heart of God.
Today’s Scripture:2 Samuel 11:1-5.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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