Bathsheba at her bath Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi Columbus Museum, Ohio
Satan's Subtle Seduction To Sin
Years after his victory over the Philistines, David was at war with the Ammonites and ordered his commander Joab to lead the army out against them in the Spring. David, however, stayed behind in Jerusalem lounging in his palace.
One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said,
“She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” (2 Samuel 11:2-5)
Denial Leads From One Sin To Another
In an attempt to conceal his guilt David invited Bathsheba's husband Uriah to enjoy some R and R with his wife, hoping he would think he had got her pregnant. Uriah, however, was a loyal subject and refused to abandon his post at the palace!
When David said he was due some respite from the fighting and should go home to enjoy some home comforts, including making love to his wife, Uriah once again said he could not do that when the rest of the men were living in tents at battle stations!
With an increasing sense of desperation that Uriah might discover Bathsheba's pregnancy, David invited him to dine at the palace and got him drunk in the hope he would go to his house to sleep it off. But Uriah slept with the servants on a mat at the palace and did not go home.
Finally, David instructed Joab to put Uriah in the front line of battle, where he was more likely to be killed, and withdraw the troops so he would definitely die . And sure enough, word came back from the battlefield that Uriah had been killed. Bathsheba observed a time of mourning for her husband's death. And when the time was over, David took her to the palace to be with him and she eventually gave birth to a son. And there the matter might have ended............
God Sees & Is Not Mocked
God was not deceived by David's deceit and sent the prophet Nathan to confront David with his sin by telling a story of two men in a certain town, one rich, the other poor.
" The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveller who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan,
“As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own."
" This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel." (2 Samuel 12:7-12)
David's Heart After God's Heart
David's immediate response was to confess: " I have sinned against the LORD! " (2 Samuel 12:13)
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
Sure enough, the child became ill and died seven days later. All during these days, David pleaded with God for the child's life in prayer and fasting. But when he was told the child had died, he stopped, saying:
" While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
He returned to Bathsheba and comforted her. In time she gave birth to another child, a son whom they named Solomon.
God's Covenant with David
In 2 Samuel 7 God makes a covenant with David via the prophet Nathan.
"Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies."
“‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation. (2 Samuel 7:8-17)