II
S A M U E L
CHAP. XI.
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, ver. 1-5. II. He endeavoured to
father the spurious brood upon Uriah, ver. 6-13. III. When that project
failed, he plotted the death of Uriah by the sword of the children of Ammon,
and effected it, ver. 14-25. IV. He married Bath-sheba, ver. 26, 27. Is this
David? Is this the man after God's own heart? How is his behaviour changed,
worse than it was before Ahimelech! How has this gold become dim! Let him that
readeth understand what the best of men are when God leaves them to
themselves.
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David's Sin with Bath-sheba.
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B. C. 1037.
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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, v.
1. We cannot take that pleasure in viewing this great action which hitherto we
have taken in observing David's achievements, because the beauty of it was
stained and sullied by sin; otherwise we might take notice of David's wisdom
and bravery in following his blow. Having routed the army of the Ammonites in
the field, as soon as ever the season of the year permitted he sent more
forces to waste the country and further to avenge the quarrel of his
ambassadors. Rabbah, their metropolis, made a stand, and held out a great
while. To this city Joab laid close siege, and it was at the time of this
siege that David fell into this sin.
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 (Job xxxi. 11), a sin which takes
away the heart, and gets a man a wound and dishonour, more than any
other, and the reproach of which is not wiped away.
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, v. 1. To the war with the Syrians David went in
person, ch. x. 17. Had he been now at his post at the head of his
forces, he would have been out of the way of this temptation. When we are out
of the way of our duty we are in the way of temptation. (2.) Love of ease, and
the indulgence of a slothful temper: He came off his bed at evening-tide,
v. 2. There he had dozed away the afternoon in idleness, which he
should have spent in some exercise for his own improvement or the good of
others. He used to pray, not only morning and evening, but at noon, in the day
of his trouble: it is to be feared he had, this noon, omitted to do so.
Idleness gives great advantage to the tempter. Standing waters gather filth.
The bed of sloth often proves the bed of lust. (3.) A wandering eye: He saw
a woman washing herself, probably from some ceremonial pollution,
according to the law. The sin came in at the eye, as Eve's did. Perhaps he
sought to see her, at least he did not practise according to his own prayer, Turn
away my eyes from beholding vanity, and his son's caution in a like case, Look
not thou on the wine it is red. Either he had not, like Job, made a
covenant with his eyes, or, at this time, he had forgotten it.
2. The steps of the sin. When he saw her, lust immediately conceived, and,
(1.) He enquired who she was (v. 3), perhaps intending only, if she
were unmarried, to take her to wife, as he had taken several; but, if she were
a wife, having no design upon her. (2.) The corrupt desire growing more
violent, though he was told she was a wife, and whose wife she was, yet he
sent messengers for her, and then, it may be, intended only to please himself
with her company and conversation. But, (3.) When she came he lay with her,
she too easily consenting, because he was a great man, and famed for his
goodness too. Surely (thinks she) that can be no sin which such a man as David
is the mover of. See how the way of sin is down-hill; when men begin to do
evil they cannot soon stop themselves. The beginning of lust, as of
strife, is like the letting forth of water; it is therefore wisdom to
leave it off before it be meddled with. The foolish fly fires her wings, and
fools away her life at last, by playing about the candle.
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, ch. xii. 8. (3.) Uriah,
whom he wronged, was one of his own worthies, a person of honour and virtue,
one that was now abroad in his service, hazarding his life in the high places
of the field for the honour and safety of him and his kingdom, where he
himself should have been. (4.) Bath-sheba, whom he debauched, was a lady of
good reputation, and, till she was drawn by him and his influence into this
wickedness, had no doubt preserved her purity. Little did she think that ever
she could have done so bad a thing as to forsake the guide of her youth,
and forget the covenant of her God; nor perhaps could any one in the world
but David have prevailed against her. The adulterer not only wrongs and ruins
his own soul, but, as much as he can, another's soul too. (5.) David was a
king, whom God had entrusted with the sword of justice and the execution of
the law upon other criminals, particularly upon adulterers, who were, by the
law, to be put to death; for him therefore to be guilty of those crimes
himself was to make himself a pattern, when he should have been a terror, to
evil doers. With what face could he rebuke or punish that in others which he
was conscious to himself of being guilty of? See Rom. ii. 22. Much more might
be said to aggravate the sin; and I can think but of one excuse for it, which
is that it was done but once; it was far from being his practice; it was by
the surprise of a temptation that he was drawn into it. He was not one of
those of whom the prophet complains that they were as fed horses, neighing
every one after his neighbour's wife (Jer. v. 8); but this once God left
him to himself, as he did Hezekiah, that he might know what was in his
heart, 2 Chron. xxxii. 31. Had he been told of it before, he would have
said, as Hazael, What! is thy servant a dog? But by this instance we
are taught what need we have to pray every day, Father, in heaven, lead us
not into temptation, and to watch, that we enter not into it.
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David's Contrivance to Hide His Crime; David's Contrivance
Defeated.
B. C. 1037.
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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, Prov. vi. 34. This
Bath-sheba was apprehensive of when she sent to let David know she was with
child, intimating that he was concerned to protect her, and, it is likely, if
he had not promised her so to do (so wretchedly abusing his royal power), she
would not have consented to him. Hope of impunity is a great encouragement to
iniquity. 2. It might also be expected that since he could not prosecute David
by law for an offence of this nature he would take his revenge another way,
and raise a rebellion against him. There have been instances of kings who by
provocations of this nature, given to some of their powerful subjects, have
lost their crowns. To prevent this double mischief, David endeavours to father
the child which should be born upon Uriah himself, and therefore sends for him
home to stay a night or two with his wife. Observe,
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, v. 7. Thus does he pretend a more than
ordinary concern for his army when that was the least thing in his thoughts;
if he had not had another turn to serve, an express of much less figure than
Uriah might have sufficed to bring him a report of the state of the war.
David, having had as much conference with Uriah as he thought requisite to
cover the design, sent him to his house, and, that he might be the more
pleasant there with the wife of his youth, sent a dish of meat after him for
their supper, v. 8. When that project failed the first night, and Uriah,
being weary of his journey and more desirous of sleep than meat, lay all night
in the guard-chamber, the next night he made him drunk (v. 13),
or made him merry, tempted him to drink more than was fit, that he might
forget his vow (v. 11), and might be disposed to go home to his own
bed, to which perhaps, if David could have made him dead drunk, he would have
ordered him to be carried. It is a very wicked thing, upon any design
whatsoever, to make a person drunk. Woe to him that does so, Hab. ii.
15, 16. God will put a cup of trembling into the hands of those who put into
the hands of others the cup of drunkenness. Robbing a man of his reason is
worse than robbing him of his money, and drawing him into sin worse than
drawing him into any trouble whatsoever. Every good man, especially every
magistrate, should endeavour to prevent this sin, by admonishing, restraining,
and denying the glass to those whom they see falling into excess; but to
further it is to do the devil's work, to officiate as factor for him.
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, v. 9, 12. Now, 1. Some think he suspected what was done, being
informed of his wife's attendance at court, and therefore he would not go near
her. But if he had had any suspicion of that kind, surely he would have opened
the letter that David sent by him to Joab. 2. Whether he suspected any thing
or no, Providence put this resolution into his heart, and kept him to it, for
the discovering of David's sin, and that the baffling of his design to conceal
it might awaken David's conscience to confess it and repent of it. 3. The
reason he gave to David for this strange instance of self-denial and
mortification was very noble, v. 11. While the army was encamped in the
field, he would not lie at ease in his own house. "The ark is in a
tent," whether at home, in the tent David had pitched for it, or abroad,
with Joab in the camp, is not certain. "Joab, and all the mighty men of
Israel, lie hard and uneasy, and much exposed to the weather and to the enemy;
and shall I go and take my ease and pleasure at my own house?" No, he
protests he will not do it. Now, (1.) This was in itself a generous
resolution, and showed Uriah to be a man of a public spirit, bold and hardy,
and mortified to the delights of sense. In times of public difficulty and
danger it does not become us to repose ourselves in security, or roll
ourselves in pleasure, or, with the king and Haman, to sit down to drink when
the city Shushan was perplexed, Esth. iii. 15. We should voluntarily
endure hardness when the church of God is constrained to endure it. (2.) It
might have been of use to awaken David's conscience, and make his heart to
smite him for what he had done. [1.] That he had basely abused so brave a man
as Uriah was, a man so heartily concerned for him and his kingdom, and that
acted for him and it with so much vigour. [2.] That he was himself so unlike
him. The consideration of the public hardships and hazards kept Uriah from
lawful pleasures, yet could not keep David, though more nearly interested,
from unlawful ones. Uriah's severity to himself should have shamed David for
his indulgence of himself. The law was, When the host goeth forth against
the enemy then, in a special manner, keep thyself from every wicked
thing, Deut. xxiii. 9. Uriah outdid that law, but David violated it.
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David Causes Uriah to Be Slain; David Informed of Uriah's Death.
B. C. 1037.
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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, Prov. vi. 32. But, as the eye of the adulterer, so the hand of the
murderer seeks concealment, Job xxiv. 14, 15. Works of darkness hate the
light. When David bravely slew Goliath it was done publicly, and he gloried in
it; but, when he basely slew Uriah, it must be done clandestinely, for he is
ashamed of it, and well he may. Who would do a thing that he dare not own? The
devil, having as a poisonous serpent, put it into David's heart to murder
Uriah, as a subtle serpent he puts it into his head how to do it. Not as
Absalom slew Amnon, by commanding his servants to assassinate him, nor as Ahab
slew Naboth by suborning witnesses to accuse him, but by exposing him to the
enemy, a way of doing it which, perhaps, would not seem so odious to
conscience and the world, because soldiers expose themselves of course. If
Uriah had not been in that dangerous post, another must; he has (as we say) a
chance for his life; if he fight stoutly, he may perhaps come off; and, if he
die, it is in the field of honour, where a soldier would choose to die; and
yet all this will not save it from being a wilful murder, of malice prepense.
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, v. 14, 15. This
was David's project to take off Uriah, and it succeeded, as he designed. Many
were the aggravations of this murder. 1. It was deliberate. He took time to
consider of it; and though he had time to consider of it, for he wrote a
letter about it, and though he had time to have countermanded the order
afterwards before it could be put in execution, yet he persisted in it. 2. He
sent the letter by Uriah himself, than which nothing could be more base and
barbarous, to make him accessory to his own death. And what a paradox was it
that he could bear such a malice against him in whom yet he could repose such
a confidence as that he would carry letters which he must not know the purport
of. 3. Advantage must be taken of Uriah's own courage and zeal for his king
and country, which deserve the greatest praise and recompence, to betray him
the more easily to his fate. If he had not been forward to expose himself,
perhaps he was a man of such importance that Joab could not have exposed him;
and that this noble fire should be designedly turned upon himself was a most
detestable instance of ingratitude. 4. Many must be involved in the guilt.
Joab, the general, to whom the blood of his soldiers, especially the worthies,
ought to be precious, must do it; he, and all that retire from Uriah when they
ought in conscience to support and second him, become guilty of his death. 5.
Uriah cannot thus die alone: the party he commands is in danger of being cut
off with him; and it proved so: some of the people, even the servants of David
(so they are called, to aggravate David's sin in being so prodigal of their
lives), fell with him, v. 17. Nay, this wilful misconduct by which
Uriah must be betrayed might be of fatal consequence to the whole army, and
might oblige them to raise the siege. 6. It will be the triumph and joy of the
Ammonites, the sworn enemies of God and Israel; it will gratify them
exceedingly. David prayed for himself, that he might not fall into the hands
of man, nor flee from his enemies (ch. xxiv. 13, 14); yet he sells his
servant Uriah to the Ammonites, and not for any iniquity in his hand.
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, v. 16, 17. It was strange that
Joab would do such a thing merely upon a letter, without knowing the reason.
But, 1. Perhaps he supposed Uriah had been guilty of some great crime, to
enquire into which David had sent for him, and that, because he would not
punish him openly, he took this course with him to put him to death. 2. Joab
had been guilty of blood, and we may suppose it pleased him very well to see
David himself falling into the same guilt, and he was willing enough to serve
him in it, that he might continue to be favourable to him. It is common for
those who have done ill themselves to desire to be countenanced therein by
others doing ill likewise, especially by the sins of those that are eminent in
the profession of religion. Or, perhaps, David knew that Joab had a pique
against Uriah, and would gladly be avenged on him; otherwise Joab, when he saw
cause, knew how to dispute the king's orders, as ch. xix. 5; xxiv. 3.
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, v. 18. And, to disguise the affair, 1. He supposes that
David would appear to be angry at his bad conduct, would ask why they came so
near the wall (v. 20), did they not know that Abimelech lost his life
by doing do? v. 21. We had the story (Judg. ix. 53), which book, it is
likely, was published as a part of the sacred history in Samuel's time; and
(be it noted to their praise, and for imitation) even the soldiers were
conversant with their bibles, and could readily quote the scripture-story, and
make use of it for admonition to themselves not to run upon the same attempts
which they found had been fatal. 2. He slyly orders the messenger to soothe it
with telling him that Uriah the Hittite was dead also, which gave too broad an
intimation to the messenger, and by him to others, that David would be
secretly pleased to hear that; for murder will out. And, when men do such base
things, they must expect to be bantered and upbraided with them, even by their
inferiors. The messenger delivered his message agreeably to orders, v.
22-24. He makes the besieged to sally out first upon the besiegers (they
came out unto us into the field), represents the besiegers as doing their
part with great bravery (we were upon them even to the entering of the gate--we
forced them to retire into the city with precipitation), and so concludes with
a slight mention of the slaughter made among them by some shot from the wall: Some
of the king's servants are dead, and particularly Uriah the Hittite,
an officer of note, stood first in the list of the slain.
IV. David receives the account with a secret satisfaction, v. 25. Let
not Joab be displeased, for David is not. He blames not his conduct, nor
thinks they did wrong in approaching so near the wall; all is well now that
Uriah is put out of the way. This point being gained, he can make light of the
loss, and turn it off easily with an excuse: The sword devours one as well
as another; it was a chance of war, nothing more common. He orders Joab to
make the battle more strong next time, while he, by his sin, was weakening it,
and provoking God to blast the undertaking.
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 (v. 26),
and then David took her to his house as his wife, and she bore him a son.
Uriah's revenge was prevented by his death, but the birth of the child so soon
after the marriage published the crime. Sin will have shame. Yet that was not
the worst of it: The thing that David had done displeased the Lord. The
whole matter of Uriah (as it is called, 1 Kings xv. 5), the adultery,
falsehood, murder, and this marriage at last, it was all displeasing to the
Lord. He had pleased himself, but displeased God. Note, God sees and hates sin
in his own people. Nay, the nearer any are to God in profession the more
displeasing to him their sins are; for in them there is more ingratitude,
treachery, and reproach, than in the sins of others. Let none therefore
encourage themselves in sin by the example of David; for those that sin as he
did will fall under the displeasure of God as he did. Let us therefore stand
in awe and sin not, not sin after the similitude of his transgression.
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