What David said of the mournful report of Saul's
death may more fitly be applied to the sad story of this chapter,
the adultery and murder David was guilty of.—"Tell it not in Gath,
publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon." We wish we could draw a
veil over it, and that it might never be known, might never be
said, that David did such things as are here recorded of him. But
it cannot, it must not, be concealed. The scripture is faithful in
relating the faults even of those whom it most applauds, which is
an instance of the sincerity of the penmen, and an evidence that it
was not written to serve any party: and even such stories as these
"were written for our learning," that "he that thinks he stands may
take heed lest he fall," and that others' harms may be our
warnings. Many, no doubt, have been emboldened to sin, and hardened
in it, by this story, and to them it is a "savour of death unto
death;" but many have by it been awakened to a holy jealousy over
themselves, and constant watchfulness against sin, and to them it
is a "savour of life unto life." Those are very great sins, and
greatly aggravated, which here we find David guilty of. I. He
committed adultery with Bath-sheba, the wife of Uriah,
1 And 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. 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. 3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And 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. 5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
Here is, I. David's glory, in pursuing the
war against the Ammonites,
II. David's shame, in being himself
conquered, and led captive by his own lust. The sin he was guilty
of was adultery, against the letter of the seventh commandment, and
(in the judgment of the patriarchal age) a heinous crime, and an
iniquity to be punished by the judges (
1. Observe the occasions which led to this
sin. (1.) Neglect of his business. When he should have been abroad
with his army in the field, fighting the battles of the Lord, he
devolved the care upon others, and he himself tarried still at
Jerusalem,
2. The steps of the sin. When he saw her,
lust immediately conceived, and, (1.) He enquired who she was
(
3. The aggravations of the sin. (1.) He was
now in years, fifty at least, some think more, when those lusts
which are more properly youthful, one would think, should not have
been violent in him, (2.) He had many wives and concubines of his
own; this is insisted on,
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. 8 And 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. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 10 And 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? 11 And 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. 12 And 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. 13 And 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.
Uriah, we may suppose, had now been absent
from his wife some weeks, making the campaign in the country of the
Ammonites, and not intending to return till the end of it. The
situation of his wife would bring to light the hidden works of
darkness; and when Uriah, at his return, should find how he had
been abused, and by whom, it might well be expected, 1. That he
would prosecute his wife, according to law, and have her stoned to
death; for jealousy is the rage of a man, especially a man
of honour, and he that is thus injured will not spare in the day
of vengeance,
I. How the plot was laid. Uriah must come
home from the army under pretence of bringing David an account
how the war prospered, and how they went on with the siege
of Rabbah,
II. How this plot was defeated by Uriah's
firm resolution not to lie in his own bed. Both nights he slept
with the life-guard, and went not down to his house, though,
it is probable, his wife pressed him to do it as much as David,
14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 And 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. 16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were. 17 And 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. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; 19 And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, 20 And 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? 21 Who 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. 22 So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for. 23 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. 24 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. 25 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. 26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. 27 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.
When David's project of fathering the child
upon Uriah himself failed, so that, in process of time, Uriah would
certainly know the wrong that had been done him, to prevent the
fruits of his revenge, the devil put it into David's heart to take
him off, and then neither he nor Bath-sheba would be in any danger
(what prosecution could there be when there was no prosecutor?),
suggesting further that, when Uriah was out of the way, Bath-sheba
might, if he pleased, be his own for ever. Adulteries have often
occasioned murders, and one wickedness must be covered and secured
with another. The beginnings of sin are therefore to be dreaded;
for who knows where they will end? It is resolved in David's breast
(which one would think could never possibly have harboured so vile
a thought) that Uriah must die. That innocent, valiant, gallant
man, who was ready to die for his prince's honour, must die by his
prince's hand. David has sinned, and Bath-sheba has sinned, and
both against him, and therefore he must die; David determines he
must. Is this the man whose heart smote him because he had cut off
Saul's skirt? Quantum mutatus ab illo!—But ah, how changed!
Is this he that executed judgment and justice to all his people?
How can he now do so unjust a thing? See how fleshly lusts war
against the soul, and what devastations they make in that war; how
they blink the eyes, harden the heart, sear the conscience, and
deprive men of all sense of honour and justice. Whoso committeth
adultery with a woman lacketh understanding and quite loses it;
he that doth it destroys his own soul,
I. Orders are sent to Joab to set Uriah in
the front of the hottest battle, and then to desert him, and
abandon him to the enemy,
II. Joab executes these orders. In the next
assault that is made upon the city Uriah has the most dangerous
post assigned him, is encouraged to hope that if he be repulsed by
the besieged he shall be relieved by Joab, in dependence on which
he marches on with resolution, but, succours not coming on, the
service proves too hot, and he is slain in it,
III. He sends an account of it to David. An
express is despatched away immediately with a report of this last
disgrace and loss which they had sustained,
IV. David receives the account with a
secret satisfaction,
V. He marries the widow in a little time.
She submitted to the ceremony of mourning for her husband as short
a time as custom would admit (