2 Samuel 11+12
Pride comes before a fall, or when all problems and difficulties seem to have been resolved, we are at our most vulnerable.
As we look at David and his journey through life, we see a man who, against all odds, rose to become king and sole ruler of Israel. His close relationship with God helped him to make the right decision in extreme life situations. At least most. Because the Bible also gives us information about questionable decisions. David always made these questionable decisions when he failed to ask God for advice. But his basic heart attitude towards God, his repentance and the attitude to be corrected by God are his most elementary character traits. But David also had weaknesses and the so-called fair sex was one of them. The biblical story of "David, Bathsheba and Uriah" is probably one of the best known. This story shows us what can happen when we let go of our mindfulness.
“It was summer and the rainy season was over. King David plans to overrun the enemy Ammonites, a people in the East Bank, in a war of aggression. Therefore he sends his commander Joab there with his master to devastate the land of the Ammonites and to besiege their capital Rabba. “But David stayed in Jerusalem” it says. Unlike usual, this time he does not go into the field. One evening he makes himself comfortable on the roof of his palace. His eyes wander around. Then he sees a woman bathing in the house opposite. "The woman was of beautiful form." She arouses his interest and he asks a servant about her and learns: The woman's name is Bathsheba, she is the daughter of a certain Eliam and is married to the Hittite Uriah, who serves in the king's army. At this point it should now also apply to a king that one does not break into the marriage of a married woman. Because according to the Mosaic Law, it is punishable by death. Even for a king. In addition, David was already married, as was usual at the time, to several women.
But David sent messengers and called for Bathsheba. And when she came to him "he slept with her". "And she returned to her house." That's what the Bible says in simple terms. But what happened there? A simple one night stand? No consequences, nothing bad? No perpetrator and no victim? Or did David use his position of power as an absolutist king to do what he wanted? He summoned Bathsheba to himself. However, it remains in the dark what happened and how the sexual intercourse came about. Was it Bathsheba's consent or was it rape?
After that, Bathsheba returns to her house. In what state of mind? Guilty because she herself was an active part in this adultery? Or traumatized and sad because she was forced to have sex and now doesn't know how to deal with it?
Most interpreters assume that Bathsheba was a victim of King David's sexual greed and uncontrolled exercise of power. However, there is also some evidence that Bathsheba was not a victim, but deliberately brought about this situation. Bathsheba came from a wealthy family and was the granddaughter of Ahithophel, an adviser to David. So she could have defended herself. But there are also interpreters who assume that Bathsheba deliberately took her bath in a place where she could be seen by David during his evening walk on the roof of the palace.
So Bathsheba goes home and when a month later her menstrual period stops, she makes David say, "I'm pregnant." David now knows what the hour has struck.
And what is happening now is totally incongruous with the man that God says is a man after his own heart. Because David is now doing everything he can to cover up what he has done. To do this, David needs three tries. Two of these fail as David hopes that Uriah, on his home leave granted to him, will go home to his wife. For Uriah reacts differently than David expected. Uriah proved to be a loyal soldier, a loyal subject to his king. His position in the army is more important to him than his own family life. His service and his soldierly esprit de corps are more important to him than his own domestic peace and sex with his wife. Two failed attempts in which David tries to create a situation that makes Bathsheba's pregnancy legitimate. Eventually, David is left with only one absolute and hard method. He must get rid of Uriah. And so he sends Uriah back to the army and to the front, giving him his own death sentence in a sealed letter. In this letter, David orders his army commander Joab that Uriah should be deployed at the front line in such a way that he will lose his life.
Just the man after God's own heart and a blink of an eye later an adulterer and murderer. What a case. And yet we will experience in the further course of this story that God will not let David fall.
Please read the story of David and Bathsheba yourself in the Bible and draw your own conclusions.
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