II Samuel 11 may be my least favorite chapter of the Bible. It is certainly one of the saddest, describing the most vile and despicable things that David did in life. Our hero plays the part of a villain. Through these sinful events, David tragically sows the seeds of the destruction of his family.
The entire chapter stands as quite an indictment of David, the man supposedly after God's own heart. It begins in the spring, when kings traditionally go out to war. David, however, remained behind in Jerusalem while Joab and the army went out to fight the Ammonites (vs. 1).
One evening as David is walking on the roof of his palace, he spies a beautiful woman taking a bath. Although David already has several wives, he is smitten with the attractive stranger, and - in his lust - he sends messengers to find out about her. As it turns out, her name is Bathsheba and she is married to one of the men in David's army - Uriah the Hittite. Still, David orders her brought to the palace and proceeds to break one of the Big 10 by committing adultery with her. Then he sends her back home.
He would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that kid!
As it turns out, Bathsheba got pregnant. Her life is now in jeopardy, because when her husband returns home to find her with child, he can have her killed, or at least divorce her. Bathsheba sends word to David about her condition.
OK, David figures, I can fix this. I will have Uriah sent home from war, he will see his beautiful wife, nature will take its course, and he will assume that he is the father of Bathsheba's child. David quickly sends the order to Joab to have Uriah return to Jerusalem. The only thing he hadn't counted on is Uriah having more honor than himself! Uriah refuses to go home and make love to his wife, saying "“The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” (vs. 11)
David tries again, and fails again, even after getting Uriah drunk this time. In desperation, the king changes the plan. Uriah is the only one who will know that Bathsheba has been unfaithful, right? So the solution, David reasons, is to eliminate the problem: Uriah! David sends Uriah back to the front, carrying a secret message for Joab's eyes only that orders the general to intentionally put Uriah in the thick of fierce fighting and then desert him. Imagine - Uriah carried this message back with him. Again, he had enough honor to not read the message, even though it was his death certificate!
Joab follows the order of the king, thus destroying the evidence of Bathsheba and David's indiscretion. David is free, at the cost of Uriah and several others of his fighting men. With Uriah out of the picture, the king brings Bathsheba back to the palace and marries her. David believes he is in the clear, having covered his tracks quite well.
God, however, knows precisely what David did, and He is not pleased (vs. 26).
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