TO CHEW ON: “Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in His sight?” 2 Samuel 12:9
David was now a successful and loved king. One day when he was relaxing on the palace roof, he caught sight of a beautiful woman taking a bath. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. So he told his servant to bring her to the palace.
She came and David found out her name was Bathsheba. She was married to Uriah, one of David’s soldiers. But that didn’t stop David from taking her to his room and making love to her. Then he sent her back home. A short time later, Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant.
Now this was a problem, because her husband wasn’t home. He was on the battlefield. People would ask, “Who is the father of this baby?” Maybe David would be found out. So David sent for Uriah to come back from the war. David thought Uriah would welcome the chance to be with his wife. Then he would think the baby was his.
But when Uriah came home, he refused to go home to Bathsheba. “Why should I enjoy my wife when my fellow soldiers are dying?” he asked. Then he spent the night with David’s servants.
So David went to Plan B. He sent Uriah back to the war with a note for his captain. The note said to make sure Uriah was sent to the most dangerous place on the battlefield. No one should defend him when he was attacked. This way he would be killed by the enemy.
A few days later Uriah was killed in battle. Soon after that, David married Bathsheba. He thought that no one knew what had happened and everything would be just fine.
But God knew. One day God sent Nathan the prophet to see David. He told David a story about a rich man who stole the only pet lamb of a poor man, in order to feed his guests.
Illustrations by Annie Vallotton from the Good News Bible© American Bible Society 1976, 1992, used with permission.
“You are that man,” Nathan replied. “You had all the women you wanted. Yet you weren’t satisfied. You stole Bathsheba from Uriah and had him killed. There are consequences for your sin. Now there will always be killing in your family.”
PRAYER: Dear God, am I hiding any sin like David was? Please help me remember, face up to it and make things right. Amen.
MORE: Snowball Sin
Have you ever made a snowball with sticky snow? Though you start with a ball of snow so small you can hold it in your hands, as you roll it in the snow and more and more snow sticks to it, it’s soon so big and heavy you can hardly push it.
Sin is like that. David’s look at Bathsheba led to thinking about her and wanting her. That led to adultery (having sex with someone who is married to someone else), and deceit and eventually murder.
- Can you think of a time sin was like a snowball in your life?
- Remember how easily sin grows next time you’re tempted to let your thoughts go where they shouldn’t, tell a ‘white lie,’ take something that isn’t yours.
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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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