King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 10 notes
1And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
2And 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.
3And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
What message did the messengers of King 👑 David convey that could lure and convince Bathsheba to give up on her marital vow, dishonor her marital bed 🛏 in a culture where adulterers are stoned to death ☠?
The Shunammite woman faced an even stronger temptation from an even more powerful, rich and attractive king, King Solomon.
Yet Solomon in all his allure could neither captivate nor convince the Shulamite woman to abandon her betrothal to follow him,
A betrothal to a man she was barely married to 👰, yet Solomon could not draw her away.
But Bathsheba could be lured with sweet words and promises, so she succumbed.
Hmm 🤔.
She was ceremonially clean; that was important to her and David.
She had to be ceremonially clean in order to break the law of God.
Such confusion and mockery of God.
Probably she was cleansing herself from her menstrual flow when David spied her.
5And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
6And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
8And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
11And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
This was what David should have considered.
Uriah was more righteous and honorable by miles than David.
He considered that his own brothers' lives were in jeopardy and great discomfort.
How could he then, with this knowledge, be at ease?
But David considered none of these.
Not only was he at ease in his palace, he ate and slept, not with his wives, but polluted himself with another.
12And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
13And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
The man's righteousness cost him his life but got him a name before the Lord.
Even in his drunken state, his subconscious held high the morals of a warrior and the respect for God, his ark and his people.
14And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
16And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
How and when did David get to this place?
Such a low point, he was now a murderer.
17And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
He not only killed Uriah the Hittite but also others needlessly... Families lost their breadwinners, not in service of the nation, but in cover-up for someone else's sins.
18Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
19And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,
20And if so be that the king’s wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
David knew people died in war, as well as Joab, but careless mistakes that cost lives needlessly would definitely attract the anger of the king 👑.
Unlike in some armies where suicide missions were a strategy, it seems here that David did all he could to save his people from such needless deaths.
21Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
22So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.
I can imagine these servants who delivered this message: after delivering the message and seeing the anger of the king subside upon hearing about the death of Uriah, they would be left wondering why the king seemed pleased about the death of one of his most faithful generals.
But being trained messengers, they will keep silent and secret the conversation.
Fast forward a few weeks later, they see the king has taken the man's wife. They can't believe it — is that why he killed his friend, for his wife?
Then next thing, they see the woman already pregnant.
They now understand.
But they stay hushed — they focus on their job and move on — wiser now.
It is such wisdom of the workings of the corridors of power that made the servant of Joab refuse to strike down Absalom when Joab tried compelling him to with a gift.
He plainly told him the king commanded otherwise, and it would have been he, Joab, who would at the end of the day expose him, though now he speaks comfortably to him.
23And 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.
24And 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.
It was not just Uriah who died; many more did, all to cover for the sins of the king 👑.
25Then 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.
26And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
She mourned and just moved on. Just like that.
Her character is revealed by the fact that she did not refuse the king but chose to be entered into. No report is made of her resisting or objecting.
And now she mourns, as ought to be the case, and moves on to be the wife of the great King David.
Or maybe she had little power or choice to object — I doubt, though.
27And 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.