Slippery Slope (Part 3)
This article finds us back in the thick of David’s slippery slope. What started out as a longing gaze after a midday nap has now turned into a complicated plot of adultery, impregnation, and covering up. But when we left the story, the covering up part had failed, and David was in danger of having the whole thing blow up in his face. For whatever reason (probably guilt or concern over public opinion), he wanted to keep things quiet, and thus had to resort to desperate measures to do so.
So, what does David do?
2 Samuel 11:14-27 ESV
(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, that he may be struck down, and die.”
We’ve mentioned the idea of the ’slippery slope’ plenty of times now, and after this verse I don’t think it can be more plain. See, this isn’t just spur-of-the-moment thinking. When you write something down you have to be thinking about it, planning out what you want to do and then verifying it and refining it as you pen it. It’s one thing to slide into sin because you weren’t thinking, but it’s another thing entirely to consciously reject God. What was David thinking? Was he even thinking at all? Was there some kind of internal struggle, or had his desire to cover up sin become so great that it completely blinded him?
Let’s have a reality check here. Read 1 Samuel 24, if you have the time. This is a story from the time when Saul was still the king of Israel, and David was on the run, as the king was trying to kill him. The chapter I mentioned tells a story where King Saul went to relieve himself in a cave where David was hiding. David sneaked up on him and, though he could have killed him and ended his oppressor’s pursuit, chose to only cut off a corner of the king’s robe. However, even this pricked his conscience, and he later apologized to Saul, saying that he would not put out his own hand against the Lord’s anointed. The man who wouldn’t so much as touch his persecutors before he was king is now sentencing a loyal subject to his death?
Now, David has sent an order of murder to his commander and delivered it by the hands of the target. That’s cold.
I believe that what this does indeed prove is how strong our sinful nature, our flesh, really is. David was so hard core for God and got to experience God in ways we’ll only ever dream of, and yet he fell hard. Keep a sharp eye out for sin, because if David can mess up in the height of his life, then anyone is vulnerable.
(16) And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men.
Okay, so now I think that Joab merits some discussion. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? He’s an interesting person to consider. He seems like your typical military leader: strong-willed, tough as nails, smart, cunning, loyal to the king, and so on. However, what I don’t see when I read about him is a sense that he sought after the Lord with all of his heart. This led to a questionable moral compass that caused him to make a few decisions that, while they might make some sense, were contrary to what God would have had him do. So I think that whether you see him as good or bad is dependent on what you value. From a purely militaristic standpoint, he was a great man. However, Christians tend to look down on him because he would do the wrong thing because he was blinded by loyalty or vengeance. Others will provide different interpretations about the character of Joab (See Matthew Henry’s Commentary on this verse), but that’s the one I’m going with.
This story provides a case in point to this interpretation of Joab’s character. Like Bathsheba, Joab was put in an unfair scenario. The sin is David’s, and to defy the king could have resulted in some serious consequences. However, he did have the opportunity to oppose David, but the thought doesn’t seem to cross his mind. His loyalty to David allows him to commit this act. So Joab put Uriah in the area where he knew that the battle was going to be tough.
(17) And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.
And so ends the life of Uriah. It’s tragic to me. I can almost see it as a slow-mo movie moment that would play out like the end of “300.” It was the senseless death of a good man.
Way back in the first article about this passage, I said that I would talk about how his name means “flame of Yahweh” or “my light is Yahweh.” when I read about the untimely demise of this man, I couldn’t help but see him as a type of Christ, a messianic figure. This isn’t blasphemous to say; it important to realize that the center of Scripture is Jesus, and that there are many people and things in the Bible that point to Him. Some, like Melchizedek, are blatant, while others like Issac or Noah’s ark are a little more subtle.
Chalk Uriah up in the subtle category, but check it out. Here we have a man who, in his predicament, is blameless. Despite this, he is punished for someone else’s sin, and he even had to carry his own cross (the letter that commanded his murder). The flame of Yahweh had been extinguished for crimes that he didn’t commit. It’s not a complete picture of Christ’s incarnation, but he’s just that, a type. Just some food for thought.
(18) Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting.
(19) And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king,
(20) then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
(21) Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”
So now the battle’s over, and Joab has to report back to his king. Normally, David would be ticked off, because they not only sustained some heavy losses, but did so because of a call by Joab that would have been seen as foolish in any other circumstance. But David had a man he wanted to be killed, and Joab made sure that he knew that the job had been done.
(22) So the messenger went and came and told David all that Joab had sent him to tell.
(23) The messenger said to David, “The men gained an advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate.
(24) Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall. Some of the king’s servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”
The messenger relays the message. How does David take the news?
(25) David said to the messenger, “Thus shall you say to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ And encourage him.”
Checkmate. David’s deed had been done, and the response he dispatches to Joab is about as calloused as can be. Remember, Uriah is not just another private in the army. 2 Samuel 23:39 has him listed as one of David’s mighty men - his best warriors under his command. So a mighty warrior and probably a friend of some sort has just been flippantly dismissed by the king.
(26) When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband.
(27) And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
And here is the resolution of this chapter of the story. Bathsheba laments over her husband’s death. Some people question her role in this story, and I think that we can’t know for sure. For all she knows, her husband is now dead in battle and there’s a king waiting to marry her. She might have suspected foul play, but it’s possible that David’s reputation kept her from getting too suspicious. There are plenty who don’t like her because she didn’t utter a peep as the whole story unfolded, but I really think she didn’t know the full extent of what was happening around her. She doesn’t take any blame at the end of chapter 11; rather, David is the only one publicly mentioned who has displeased the Lord.
Those who read on into chapter 12 will find that the Lord deals harshly with David: Nathan the prophet calls him out and then promises that David’s house will be filled with strife and that the baby born out of wedlock will die. Such things might merit another article, but for now we are at the bottom of the slippery slope, and it is all punishment, sorrow, and repentance after that. Thus, this series is complete.
I think the biggest lesson we can learn here is that everyone is vulnerable. No one can escape the pull of sin, and one afternoon of laziness and complacency is all that it takes to embark on a journey that goes deep into sin. One can lead to another, and another, and another, until we are in a place that we would never imagine being in. David is one of the spiritual giants in Scripture, a veritable hero, and he tumbled down the slippery slope.
It is my prayer for myself and for everyone who reads this that we find ways to stay active and avoid the sin of David. To do so will save us a lot of anguish.
Grace and peace,
Brendan
Photo accompanying article was taken by Flickr user frenchy_ross. The original photo can be found here, and was distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.0 Generic license.
