THRU THE BIBLE
EXPOSITION
The Books Of
Samuel: God's Shift Of Israel From Apostasy Under The Judges To David's Reign
II. 2 Samuel: The
Reign Of David Over Israel
N. Taking The Upright
Path Regardless Of The Persecution
(2 Samuel 11:5-27)
Introduction: (To show the need . . .)
The Bible teaches us believers in Christ that if we live a godly life, we will suffer persecution for it (2 Timothy 3:12) since an upright life exposes sin in others, and they do not like it. (John 15:18-22)
The question we may then ask is: "Since we will suffer persecution for doing so, is it worth living uprightly?!"
This is a very relevant question in view of what we believers already face (as follows):
(1) The Barna Group, an evangelical research organization, recently found, "If you call yourself a Christian, you are an extremist" such as an Islamist extremist according to 45% of atheistic, agnostic or other groups of Americans with no church affiliation. (Answers, May-June, 2017, p. 45-46) Of those polled, 11% think even silently reading the Bible in public makes one an extremist, and 7% claim attending church weekly makes one an extremist, revealing a recent strong shift in American culture toward secularism, with more negative views of Christians, Ibid.
(2) We believers in Christ face persecution locally even from fellow professing Christians: if we do not hold to the "King-James-Only" view, but use another Bible translation, if we do not adhere to the Calvinist or Arminian view of election or if we believe in freewill offerings instead tithing, we are strongly opposed by various believers.
(Actually, there many other issues of "soft" persecution that believers often face that could be named here!)
Need: So,
we ask, "Is it worthwhile choosing the upright path in life even if it
costs us persecution?!"
I.
When Bathsheba notified David that she had
become pregnant by his adulterous affair with her, he tried to get her husband
Uriah to have a conjugal visit with Bathsheba that Uriah might be considered the
father of her unborn child, thus concealing David's adultery, 2 Samuel 11:5-8:
A.
Bathsheba
became pregnant through David's adulterous affair with her, giving both her and
David panic over being discovered for a sin that called for the death penalty
of them both, 2 Samuel 11:5 with Leviticus 20:10.
B.
David thus
sent a message to Joab at the battlefront to send
Uriah to him that David might arrange for him to "wash thy feet," i. e., "spend some time at home" where he could
have a conjugal visit with his wife and be credited as the father of her unborn child,
2 Sam. 11:6-8 NIV; Ryrie St. Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn.
to 2 Sam. 11:8.
II.
However, Uriah refused to be with his wife due
to his devotion to God's calling, 2 Samuel 11:9-13:
A.
Though a
soldier given leave from war would be expected to want to be with his wife,
Uriah slept at the door of David's palace with David's other servants instead
of going to his home to be with Bathsheba, 2 Sam. 11:9.
B.
When
David heard of it, he asked Uriah why he had not gone home, and Uriah replied
that doing so would have violated his calling, 2 Samuel 11:10-11. Uriah explained that the ark of God, the
soldiers of the northern tribes of Israel and of the southern tribe of Judah
were living in tents, that his commander, Joab and
the servants of David were camped in the open fields at war so that he could
not in good conscience return home to be with his wife when his calling from
God was to be at war.
C.
This
explanation would have greatly critiqued David for his absence as king from the
battlefield (cf. 2 Samuel 11:1a,b), and he tried to get Uriah to change his
mind about going home: David asked him to wait one more day before returning to
the battle front (2 Samuel 11:12), and then invited Uriah to a meal where he
managed to get Uriah drunk in hope that Uriah would lose his inhibitions against
going home and thereby yield to his desire to have a conjugal visit with
Bathsheba so that David's adultery could remain concealed, 2 Sam. 11:13a.
D.
However,
even when drunk, Uriah still had enough self-discipline to sleep on his mat
among David's servants at the door of the palace instead of returning home to
be with his wife, 2 Samuel 11:13b.
III.
Consequently, to keep his adulterous affair
secret, David arranged for Uriah to be slain in combat at the battlefront followed
by David's taking Bathsheba to be his wife, 2 Samuel 11:14-27a:
A.
In a desperate
effort to keep his adultery concealed, David wrote a letter to Joab, telling him to arrange for Uriah to be slain in combat
by the Ammonites, and he sent the letter by the hand of Uriah, the murder
victim himself, directing Uriah to return to Joab with
the message, 2 Samuel 11:14-15.
B.
David knew
Joab would agree to his order that Uriah be slain,
for it would give Joab damaging information on David's
murder of Uriah that Joab might use as leverage to
keep David from ever executing him for murdering Abner
(2 Sam. 3:22-30). Just as David
presumed, Joab arranged for Uriah to die in battle, 2
Samuel 11:16-17.
C.
Joab then sent a messenger
to David, cryptically explaining that the army of Israel had suffered a
temporary setback, but that lest David become upset at the supposedly foolish
way Joab had led his men to be so dangerously exposed
to the Ammonite soldiers on the city wall where its best soldiers could easily
kill them, the messenger was to tell David that Uriah the Hittite was among the
fallen, 2 Samuel 11:18-21.
D.
When the
messenger told David all of Joab's words, including
the news that Uriah was also slain, David told the messenger to encourage Joab, not to be concerned about the loss of life, 2 Samuel
11:22-25.
E.
Bathsheba
then heard of her husband's death, so she grieved over his loss, 2 Samuel
11:26.
F.
When her
mourning was ended, David sent for her and wed her, and she gave birth to his
son, 2 Sam. 11:27a.
IV.
Nevertheless, GOD was NOT PLEASED with David's
adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11:27b):
A.
In the
Hebrew text, there is a strong literary contrast between David's words in 2
Samuel 11:25 of "let not this matter (dabar) be evil (ra'a') in your eyes ('ayin)"
and the comment by the author of 2 Samuel 11:27b when he wrote, "and the matter
(dabar)
which David had done was evil (ra'a') in the eyes ('ayin) of Jahweh." (Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 473; B. D. B., A Heb. &
Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 182-184, 949, 744-745)
B.
The
author of 2 Samuel thus expressed his sharp critique of David, that though David
had wanted his cover-up of adultery by the murder of Uriah not to seem evil, God
judged it to be evil, and God's
verdict mattered!
V.
Thus, David paid a big price for sin while Uriah
ended up being greatly blessed for taking the right path:
A.
We will learn
in 2 Samuel 12:9-10 that the sword would plague David's household due to his
sins re: Uriah.
B.
Conversely,
though Uriah at first seems to be the "loser" for doing what was right,
he ended up a big "winner":
1.
The
instant he was slain in battle while performing God's will, Uriah the Hittite went
to heaven to dwell with God where other deceased Old Testament believers dwell
(2 Corinthians 5:8; Hebrews 12:22-23).
2.
In that
heavenly abode, Uriah has ever since experienced fulness
of joy and pleasures, Psalm 16:11.
3.
Daniel
12:11-13 with 12:2-3 then reveal that at the end of the Great Tribulation,
Uriah will rise from the dead and be blessed of God to shine as bright as the
sun forever for his wisdom and righteousness!
4.
Revelation
20:4-6 reveals that Uriah will also rule with Christ in His Messianic Kingdom.
5.
However,
most of all, Uriah's reward for having made the right decision to focus on
God's calling as his priority opposite David's temptation to the contrary will
be eternally rewarded, Revelation 22:12.
C.
In
contrast, David, though a saint, will suffer loss of eternal reward for his
adultery and his murder of Uriah:
1.
In
summing up David's life, 1 Kings 15:5 KJV claims he did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord all his life "save only in the matter of Uriah the
Hittite," where "matter"
and "eyes" respectively render the same Hebrew words dabar and 'ayin that
are used 2 Samuel 11:25 and 11:27 respectively first by David in his claim that
Uriah's death was no evil matter in the eyes of man and second of
the 2 Samuel author's comment that this matter of Uriah's death was evil in God's eyes (see IV, A above; Ibid., Kittel,
p. 538).
2.
That
blemish on David's record will follow him into eternity, making him the
"loser" in this "matter"!
Lesson: David's cover-up his adultery did a terrible
immediate wrong to Uriah, but God holds all men accountable, so David paid a huge
price in his life and a loss of eternal reward while Uriah enjoyed eternal bliss
and honor.
Application: If we wonder if going the
righteous route in life is worth suffering for it, (1) may we recall that God
is the final Judge, and (2) trust in Christ for eternal life, John 3:16. (3) Then, may we recall the final outcome of
Uriah and heed his example to live uprightly regardless of the current cost in
view of God's eternal accounting!
Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)
Years ago, a certain Christian
teen boy was told by his parents to date a certain Christian girl. The teen boy knew that this girl was immoral,
but he was afraid to tell that to his parents lest they severely punish him for
slander, for the girl's parents were good friends of his parents. The boy viewed the situation as a "no
win" one for him!
The boy chose to flee
immorality while also honoring his parents through simply neglecting to date the
girl, hoping his parents might think him immature and drop the issue. However, in time, his Dad spanked him over it!
Decades later, the
girl's immorality surfaced publicly in the life she lived as an adult. The former teen boy's Mother then asked her adult
son if he had known in his teen years that this girl was immoral, and he said,
"Yes!"
His mother immediately
shot back, "Then why didn't you SAY something?!"
He gently muttered,
"You wouldn't have believed me!"
His Mother froze, realizing the truth of his claim!
However, the price the
boy paid in terms of suffering proved to be small! God led him to marry a great girl, and he
will enter eternity blessed for making the choice not to date the immoral girl though
getting spanked for it!
May we trust in
Christ to be saved. Then, regardless of the
cost, may we choose Uriah's godly path!