Day 125 – 2 Samuel 11:23-27

Scripture Review

2 Samuel 11:23-27

"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."

(2 Samuel 11:23)

The messenger is standing before David with the report from Joab. "Surely the men prevailed against us." The Ammonites came out from the city and pressed hard against Israel. The fight moved "even unto the entering of the gate." meaning the battle came dangerously close to the city's defenses, where the enemy had the advantage. Joab knew David might question why the soldiers went so close to the wall. He knew this report needed to be handled carefully because the whole thing was tangled in David's hidden sin.

"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."

(2 Samuel 11:24)

Again, the city wall exposed the men to archers above them. "The shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants." Then comes the result, "some of the king's servants be dead." I do not want to rush past that. Uriah was David's target, but other men died too. They were not part of David's sin. They were not on the roof. They did not send for Bathsheba. They did not write the letter. Yet they fell because of a plan born out of David's guilt. Then the messenger says the name David has been waiting to hear, "and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also." Uriah is tucked into the report like one more casualty.

"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."

(2 Samuel 11:25)

David's cold response is, "Let not this thing displease thee." He wraps it all in one phrase and tries to smooth it over. Then he says, "for the sword devoureth one as well as another." David is treating the death of Uriah and the other servants like the ordinary cost of war. "These things happen." "Men die in battle." "The sword takes one man like another." But David knows this was not just the sword. This was his sin using the sword.

That phrase "the sword devoureth" provides a picture of war like a hungry beast eating men alive. David is using that truth to hide his own guilt. Yes, the sword devours. But in this case, David fed Uriah to it. Then he says, "make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him." He wants Joab encouraged. Think about that. Uriah is dead. Other servants are dead. Bathsheba is a widow. David is guilty. And the king sends back encouragement to Joab.

I cannot help but remember Proverbs,

"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy."

(Proverbs 28:13)

David is still covering. Still managing. Still speaking like a king while hiding like a guilty man.

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

(2 Samuel 11:26)

The battlefield report has reached David, but now the sorrow reaches Bathsheba. The Bible calls her "the wife of Uriah." Even after Uriah is dead, the Holy Ghost still connects her to the man David wronged. The palace may be ready to move on, but Scripture keeps the marriage in view. She hears that "Uriah her husband was dead." Not just Uriah the soldier. Not just Uriah the Hittite. Her husband. Her home has been broken. Her life has been changed. She mourns for him.

David may be cold, but Bathsheba mourns. There is grief in this verse that David's scheme could not erase. He could arrange Uriah's death, but he could not remove the pain his sin caused. He could control the letter. He could control the messenger. He could control the timing. But he could not keep sorrow from entering that house.

"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 11:27)

David waited until the mourning passed then, "sent and fetched her to his house." That word "sent" has followed this chapter like a dark thread. David sent Joab to battle. He sent and enquired after Bathsheba. He sent messengers and took her. He sent for Uriah. He sent the letter by Uriah's hand. Now he sends and fetches Bathsheba.

The verse says, "But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD." That "But" is heavier than all David's planning. David's cover up may have satisfied men, but it did not satisfy God. David may have silenced questions in Jerusalem, but he did not silence heaven. The marriage did not erase the adultery. The funeral did not erase the murder. The palace did not erase the guilt. The Bible then says "the thing that David had done." David may have used messengers, Joab, the battlefield, and the sword of the Ammonites, but God lays the deed at David's feet. It was David's thing. David's sin. David's doing.

Moses told the children of Israel, "But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out."

(Numbers 32:23)

David's sin has not found him out before the people yet, but it is already found out before the LORD. That is enough. A thing does not have to be public to be "displeased the LORD."