Entitlement

 2 Samuel 11:1-26

I’ve heard these verses preached on many occasions, and David is always guilty of staying home when other kings are at battle.  The verse reads like this; “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.”  We do not know why David did not go to battle at this time, but we do know there were other times he did not go to battle with his men.  It was not staying at home that got David into trouble; it was a feeling of entitlement. 

In our culture to be entitled is common, for it is an “inflated sense of entitlement that sought special privileges for the individual.”  And maybe David allowed the enemy of his soul to tell him that as the King he was entitled to whatever he desired.  We can only speculate, but this is certain, when he saw Bathsheba bathing on her roof, he was taken with her beauty.  It makes sense that the palace was probably on the highest ground so the king could look out on his subjects, and on that evening he saw a lady so beautiful he wanted to know all about her.

The story should have ended after David sent out a person to find out all about her, and he got this report; “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”  But the story does not end, for the king has allowed lust to replace integrity, and like a deer in heat, he has his eyes only on the doe with no regard for the hunter.  The sad news is David knew she was married and that rendered her off-limits to him. 

Bathsheba seems to be innocent she was called to the palace and sent into the King’s chamber.  Scripture puts all the blame on David.  But sin always comes back to haunt you, and this time of fun is going to backfire!   She sends word   she is pregnant, and now the king has a problem, he has broken trust with God and with a soldier in his army.  David does what many a person has tried to do, cover his trail by having the husband Uriah come home to give him a report on the battle.  Uriah must have been one of the elite warriors, and it was not out of character to be summoned to give such a report.  What David was not counting on was Uriah was a man of integrity and would not go to see his wife while the Army of God and the ark of God were in battle.

The following is what Scripture reports about Uriah coming home.  “Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell 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 this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank so that he 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.”  King David at any other time would honor such a man, but what will a King do when trying to cover his sin?

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice