David’s Fall from Grace—Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 10B (2 Samuel 11)

2 Samuel 11:1-15 New Revised Standard Version UpdatedEdition

11 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

² It happened, late one afternoon when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. ³ David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” ⁴ So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. ⁵ The woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

⁶ So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” ¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” ¹² Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, ¹³ David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk, and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵ In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”

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                David is the beloved king, who was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts13:22). David is the one to whom God promised to make David God’s son and establish his house and make his name great (2 Sam. 7:11-17). For Christians, Jesus is the one who restores David’s realm (or so it is believed). So, what could go wrong for David? How might he fall from grace? The answer to that question came during the season when the kings of the region went out to do battle. While David sent out his troops under the command of his general, Joab, David stayed behind and relaxed. Yes, while members of David’s army were putting their lives on the line for the glory of the realm, David stayed behind at his palace and relaxed. What could go wrong here? 

As for Joab and the army, they did their part for the kingdom's glory. They “ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Ramah” (2 Sam. 11:1), but David didn’t participate in these victories. Instead, he laid about on his couch on the palace's roof. Then, late one afternoon he went walking about on the roof of his palace, which offered him a good view of the surrounding area. That included the house of one of his officers who was away fighting on behalf of the kingdom.  So, while he was out on the roof looking out over the city, he spotted a beautiful woman bathing (most likely, she was bathing as part of her purification after menstruation—Lev.15:19-24). He was entranced by her beauty. He wanted to know who this woman was. Then, David, being the king of all Israel, which as Mel Brooks reminds us, “It’s good to be the king,”  decided he wanted to meet this beautiful woman. Who can say no to the king?  

He sent his aides out to get information on this woman whom David wanted to meet. The staff reported to the king that the woman was named Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, who may have been one of David’s mighty men (2 Sam. 23:34), and the wife of one of his top officers, a man named Uriah the Hittite. When David heard that, you would think he would stop short of pursuing Bathsheba. For one thing, she was married. Besides that, she was married to one of his officers who was out fighting on David’s behalf. Yes, this woman’s husband was out on the battlefield; where David ought to be, along with all the other kings. Even though he might be a man after God’s heart, at that moment lust got the better of him. David sent for Bathsheba, and when the king calls you obey. She went to David’s palace and the narrator tells us that David “lay with her.” That’s putting it gently.

Not only did David commit adultery—something forbidden by the Commandments of God (you know those commandments that they are putting up in schools in Louisiana)—but at the very least he took advantage of her. He was the king, so how could she say no?  Was it rape? The text doesn’t say so, but as Ashley Wilcox points out, even if it was consensual, “Whatever her feelings about the matter, it is unlikely that Bathsheba would be able to refuse him” [TheWomen’s Lectionary, p. 15]. 

It's important to note that at the time that David summoned her and “lay with her,” she was completing her rite of purification after menstruation. This means that any pregnancy that emerged from this union could not be from her husband. So, when she “tested positive” for pregnancy, David was put in a bind. How would he cover up his lustful encounter with Uriah’s wife? One would assume that David was hoping for a one-night stand with no future encumbrances, but pregnancy changed everything. So, David hatches a plan to cover his sins. He sent for Uriah to return to Jerusalem. He summoned Uriah and asked about Joab and the army. He wanted Uriah to think that he was being summoned to report on the progress of the battles, which David should have been engaged in himself. Then, David told Uriah, since you’re home for a few days before returning to the war zone, why don’t you take a moment to relax? Why don’t you go spend a night or two with your wife? David told him to wash his feet, but David had other things in mind.

Here's the thing, unlike David, Uriah was a man of honor. While David stayed back in Jerusalem and “enjoyed himself,” Uriah remained committed to sharing life with his troops. So, instead of going in and spending a night with his wife, as David hoped, he chose to sleep on the doorstep of the palace rather than his own house. When David heard that Uriah didn’t go home to his wife, David summoned Uriah and asked why he didn’t go home. Uriah, who was an honorable man, committed to his soldiers, told David “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing” (2 Sam. 11:11). All of Israel and the Ark of the Covenant were out on the battlefield, which is where Uriah believed he should be, though David was back home in Jerusalem, sleeping Uriah’s wife, because he could since he was the king. You don’t say no to the king, though Uriah did so. David tried again, hoping to get Uriah to go for a conjugal visit with his wife. David even invited him for dinner and tried to get him drunk so he would be more compliant and head home to his wife, and have sex, providing an alibi for David. If he could accomplish this then David’s problem would be solved. However, for Uriah to share his wife’s bed would lead to ritual impurity, which was to avoid will on a military campaign (Lev.15:18). For whatever reason, Uriah didn’t go home to his wife’s bed. Instead, he slept on a couch along with the other servants of the palace.

David was perturbed (to put it nicely). Uriah made him look bad by his commitment to his post. He didn’t solve David’s problem, which was that Bathsheba was pregnant with David’s child. So David compounded the sins he had already committed and sent word to Joab, a message that Uriah himself carried, directing Joab to send Uriah out to the front line to where the battle was the thickest, and then withdraw so that Uriah might be killed in battle. If you’re the king, you can do things like that. Or, so David thought. In his mind, he had been granted absolute immunity. He didn’t want to look bad, but he also didn’t think he should be held accountable. Since Joab was a loyal officer, willing to do as the king requested, David would get his vengeance for Uriah’s honorable actions. We will have to read on beyond the assigned text to learn of Uriah’s true fate and David’s response (2 Sam. 11:16-25).

Now there’s more to the story, which will be revealed.  After Uriah died in battle, betrayed by his king and general, David took Bathsheba as his wife, providing cover for taking Bathsheba to bed. David may have thought he had done okay, but according to the narrator what David had done was evil in God’s sight (2 Sam. 11:27). The child that Bathsheba conceived would die in childbirth, but David would have a second child with her, producing Solomon, who would later become his heir. While the focus is on David and his dealings with Uriah, which leaves Bathsheba in the background, making her just another pawn in games of power, we should honor her memory by lifting her name. In the end, she will turn the tables and make sure her son gets the throne.  Of course, David won’t get away with his evil acts. As we’ll soon discover as the narrative continues, the true nature of his acts will be revealed by a prophet of God named Nathan.