Day 119 – 2 Samuel 11:2
Scripture Review
2 Samuel 11:2
"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."
(2 Samuel 11:2)
The verse begins with a beach tone. I see David, "in an eveningtide." The battle is not raging in his ears. Joab is away and soldiers are in tents, dust, sweat, and danger. But David is in Jerusalem, and the sun is leaning down over the city. In this part of the world men often rose early, rested during the hotter part of the day, and then enjoyed the cooler evening on the flat roofs of their houses. This is not painted as some strange midnight hunt for sin. It is ordinary.
David "arose from off his bed." In 2 Samuel 11:1, David was already out of place, "But David tarried still at Jerusalem." Now he rises from rest while other men are carrying responsibility. I heard a preacher say once, then when you are out of the way of duty, you are in the way of temptation.
Then the Bible says he "walked upon the roof of the king's house." That roof was not like a steep modern roof where a man would be climbing around awkwardly. In the ancient East, houses commonly had flat roofs that served almost like an open-air porch or upper room. From the king's house, David would have had a commanding view over portions of Jerusalem. There is nothing sinful in walking on a roof. There is nothing automatically wicked in taking the evening air. The danger is that David is high up, unoccupied, and unguarded. He is not where 2 Samuel 10 left him, crossing Jordan to meet the Syrians. He is not where 2 Samuel 5 showed him, enquiring of the LORD before battle. He is not where 2 Samuel 7 showed him, sitting before the LORD in humble prayer. He is walking in ease, and ease without watchfulness can turn into a trap door under the feet.
The Holy Spirit is careful to say, "and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself." It does not say, at this point, that David went looking for her. It says he saw her. The first look may be sudden. The second look has a will in it. A bird may fly over your head, but you do not have to let it build a nest in your hair. The verse records the moment when temptation enters through the eye gate.
Job said, "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" That is the kind of covenant David needed on that roof. The eye can report something to the mind, but the heart must not invite it in and set a chair for it.
And the Holy Spirit does not dodge the fact, "and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." The Bible is not pretending there was no attraction. It names the danger plainly. Beauty itself is not sin. Bathsheba's beauty was not the evil. One of the cruel tricks of lust is that it takes what God made and tries to drag it outside of God's boundaries.
A beautiful woman is not an invitation to covet. A strong desire is not a command to obey. David had wives. David had power. David had a throne. Lust is a beggar with a king's appetite. It never says, "Enough." It points at what God has not given and whispers, "That one." The Bible doesn't say the woman saw him. David could have turn and went in and no one have known. A heart after God is still a heart that must be guarded.