David:The Shepherd King, #19
"A Fall From the Rooftop"
II Samuel 11:1-27
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
"Someone has described the life of King David as being like the two sides of a roof. The one side rises and rises, and then, at the top, it suddenly drops off and falls an equal distance on the other side."
Introduction
A little boy was returning from Sunday School one day, where the Ten Commandments had been the topic. When he arrived home he asked, "Daddy, what does it mean when it says, 'Thou shalt not commit agriculture'?"
Some of you parents can probably identify with the dilemma that father was in because you've been there. You don't want to violate the child's innocence by giving him more information than he is ready for, yet, you don't want to put him off by withholding a needed answer. In this case, though, there was hardly a beat between the question and the wise father's answer: "Son, that just means that you're not supposed to plow the other man's field."
Frankly, I wish that all of us were as innocent as that child when it comes to the topic I'm going to address in this message. I wish I could euphemize the subject so that all of us would get the message and yet be spared the details. Indeed, I wish that all of us could, if just for a moment, see the pain and ruined lives that result when people refuse to heed the warnings and plow the other person's field. .
Someone has described the life of King David as being like the two sides of a roof. The one side rises and rises, and then, at the top, it suddenly drops off and falls an equal distance on the other side.
David rose from the sheep pens of his father, Jesse, steadily, to become the king over God's Old Testament people - their greatest king ever. David was a man of God, an exceptional warrior, a leader with charisma that wouldn't quit. He was a popular poet, a songwriter with a heart for God - a powerful example of a man who knew how to live and walk with God. His Psalms continue to inspire those who are seeking after God.
But if we are to fully understand the man, we must consider the other side of the roof. Beginning in II Samuel 11 in the Old Testament, David breaks over the top and begins to slide down the other side. The story involves adultery, deceit, cover-up, and murder. It set in motion a series of events that would compound heartache upon heartache in the life of this man who was the King of Israel.
How does a godly person - a "man after God's own heart" in this case, get involved in an adulterous affair? Read with me and we'll see. The first five verses of II Samuel 11 tell the story of David's sin. The remaining verses of that chapter tell how he tried to cover it up.
I. David's Sin of Adultery.
(Read v. 1)
David has reached what we call today, "middle age" by the time of the events described here. He is about 50 years old. He is at that stage in life where his youthful investments are yielding a premium of prosperity and respect. He can slack off a bit and not lose his position. Up until this time he has, for the most part, led the troops into battle himself. On this particular spring day, however, as the soldiers amass and march to the battle fields, General Joab is at the front. David has decided to take the spring campaign off. It would turn out to be one of the poorest choices he ever made because it would launch him on the toughest campaign of his life - one in which he would be terribly defeated.
By the way, it would be wise for us to mention at this point that times of leisure can be times of great vulnerability. The is that, after working long and hard on a project, we all share that desire for some unstructured, unaccountable, time off. We don't want to have to get up at a certain hour or be at a certain place at a certain time, or go by someone else's agenda, which is all fine and good. If we are not careful though, in our temporary dropping of the disciplines of work, we also may drop the discipline of self control that normally keeps us out of trouble. The proverbial statement, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop" is true all too often. It is good and wise to take time off from the disciplines of our work, but a Christian can never take time off from the discipline of self control. Not in this life, anyway.
The writer of scripture seems to imply that David should have been in battle rather than in bed in those words, "at the time when kings go out to battle." Certainly, in the years that would follow this incident, there would be plenty of times when David would wish he had gone into battle that spring morning. But he stayed behind in the quiet solitude of the palace.
(Read v. 2)
Nothing wrong in that, as far as David's innocence is concerned. This wasn't a planned thing on his part. He had an outdoor quarters - a roof terrace or patio in the palace. Sleep has eluded him, so he gets up and walks to the barrier along the edge of the roof and looks out over the houses below. Such an inadvertent thing could happen to anyone here.
A person has to wonder, though, what this woman was doing taking a bath on the roof in full view of the King's outdoor sleeping quarters. Was this a ploy on her part to get the attention of the King or was she so naive that she didn't know what she was doing? I tend to think, for reasons I will mention in a moment, that she knew what she was doing, but I well say that I have seen women today who seem to be absolutely oblivious to the affect they have on men with their various states of dress and undress.
Ladies, men are stimulated by what they see. The way you dress and the way you carry yourself in the view of your Christian brothers can be a great help or a great hindrance. Like Bathsheba here, you can destroy a man's godly intentions by the way you dress. Do you realize that? That is why Paul told Timothy to teach the women in the church to "adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly..." (I Timothy 2:9). Are you doing that?
You young ladies, if you are having trouble determining what is modest and discreet, ask your father if he is a godly man. Then listen to what he says! (It's been my experience that all too often young ladies disregard the instruction of their fathers in this area.) If you don't have a Christian father, ask another godly man whom you respect, in the presence of his wife, of course. There are some of today's fashions that you simply cannot choose for your wardrobe without running the danger of causing your brothers to stumble. Short shorts, short dresses, skin tight pants and sweaters, provocative bathing suits, clothes with holes in them where they shouldn't have holes, have no place in the wardrobe of godly women if they are to be worn in mixed company. Are you listening? I won't prescribe a dress code for you, because it won't work, but I will plead with you, for God's sake and the sake of your Christian brothers, dress in a manner that fits a woman who loves God. No, you don't need to look like a mud fence, but neither should you dress provocatively. No matter what we might conclude about David's spiritual condition at this point, had he not had a naive or willing partner, this adultery would never have happened.
Of course, David wasn't innocent in this situation either. If you know about his earlier life, you know he was a man who did not bridle his passions as he should. In 2 Samuel 5:13, we read, "Meanwhile David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron..." This was in addition to the six or more wives he had in Hebron.
The law of Moses had laid it down in Deuteronomy 17:17, "Moreover, he [the king] shall not multiply horses for himself...Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away..."
David did not obey that teaching. He would pay for his disregard, as we shall see.
Adultery is seldom something that just "happens" on the spur of the moment or as an after-thought. It nearly always has a background - a history of letting down of the guards and barriers. Lust is allowed to grow in a life until it becomes a tolerated habit. Kept within bounds, at first, to be sure. But it grows stronger and stronger. If not brought under control and kept there, it will grow out of control.
By the way, I think this makes something very clear that flies in the face of a commonly held myth today: Having multiple partners does not diminish the problem of lust. It only increases it. David had all the wives he wanted, but he still wanted someone else. Feeding lust, thinking that if we can just get enough, we'll be satisfied, only causes it to grow stronger until ultimately, a person will do things that are twisted and abnormal that he never dreamed he would do. Before this chapter is over, David will have murdered an innocent man!
The following words were spoken by a man who committed adultery and as a result, lost his family. They are the words of an anonymous man who wrote in LEADERSHIP Magazine a few years ago:
"I learned quickly that lust...points in only one direction. You cannot go back to a lower level and stay satisfied. Always you want more...Lust does not satisfy; it stirs up. I no longer wonder how deviants can get into child molesting, masochism, and other abnormalities. Although such acts are incomprehensible to me, I remember well that where I ended up was also incomprehensible to me when I started."
You see, the promise that "just a little more" or "just someone else" will bring satisfaction is a myth.
Husbands, the Bible commands us to limit our passions to our marriage partners alone. Proverbs 5:15-16 says, "Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your won well. Should your springs be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?" This verse isn't a lesson on drinking water, in case you hadn't figured it out!
Wives, while I'm at it, don't be a dry well for your husband. Don't put him under pressure and the temptation to go elsewhere! To be sure, He will be responsible for his actions, regardless of you, but God will hold you accountable as well. And I suppose we could say that to the men as well regarding their wives.
A good physical and emotional relationship at home will not guarantee there will be no adultery, but it, along with godly convictions, is the strongest insurance there is. If you don't like what I say on that subject, then go read I Corinthians 7 for yourself. In the passage, Paul's says, "Stop depriving one another."
Well, David's problem wasn't his wife. It was his unwillingness to control his lust. Had he sought happiness God's way, with the one wife of his youth, he probably would not have fallen into sin.
(Read v. 3)
Now, what David should have done upon seeing this woman was to call his servants to go down and tell her to put some clothes on. Perhaps even better than that, he should have called his wife to do it. Don't you suppose she might have had something appropriate to say to this woman who was exhibiting herself in front of her husband? Instead, David started indulging his curiosity. His fantasies were aroused. He started playing with lust. He's playing "what if." And apparently the one who responded to his inquiry about Bathsheba picked up on it. "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" "David, this is a married woman!"
David should have stopped right there. But like the fish that is lured out of his safe hiding place by a tantalizing bait, he's not thinking about the hook and line that will haul him out to destruction.
Curiosity kills more than cats! It kills men and women as well. "I wonder what it would be like? What if...?" Don't play those games!
When Jesus taught us in Matthew 5 that "everyone who looks upon a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart," He was drawing the limit line of what is right and proper well back from the actual deed of adultery. He was drawing the line at our curiosity point. The word He used in that passage for "looks upon" means to gaze intently. It means to carefully and longingly consider something - the very thing that is going on in David's mind.
When the engine of lust suddenly roars to life in your body, the time to kill that engine is now! Don't let it idle while you inspect the merchandise! Every revolution of that engine will make you weaker and less able to say no.
When Potifar's wife put the make on the godly Joseph, he didn't stick around to consider the options. He ran!
Paul told young Timothy, who had the same kinds of hormones we have today, "flee youthful lusts."
But David didn't flee. He didn't even walk away from the edge of the roof.
(Read v. 4)
A moment ago I said I didn't believe that Bathsheba was a naive, innocent party. I say that because there is not a hint of resistance in this verse. This was not a rape. It was an act between consenting parties. Both of them were guilty.
(Read v. 5)
In the roulette game of illicit sex, you never know when the spinning wheel is going to stop on that slot that reads "pregnant." Further, though it isn't an issue here, you never know when it is going to stop on a slot that reads "syphilis," or "gonorrhea," or "aids." There is always a risk. Even in a day when devices are being passed out on high school campuses and the words "safe sex" have become household language. The only "safe sex" is monogamous sex. The only hedge that protects monogamy is faithfulness in marriage.
But far more was at risk for David than the embarrassment of an illicit pregnancy. This act, and the ones that followed it as David attempted to cover it up, would ravage David's family! You see, this father would lose the respect of his sons and as a result, one of them would be murdered, one would rape his own sister, and another would lead a rebellion against the kingdom. More on that later.
Right now, David is faced with two choices: Call in the counselors and admit the wrong he has done, or attempt to cover it up. I'm sorry to tell you that David wasted little time launching the cover-up.
II. His Attempt to Cover Up.
(Read v. 6)
Uriah was on the battle field.
(Read v. 7)
What a hypocritical farce! David isn't interested in Uriah and the war. That is simply a subterfuge.
Once the decision is made to cover up, deceit and hypocrisy abound. Deceit and adultery go hand in hand. Even the most godly person can become warped into someone who cannot be trusted in the event of adultery that isn't faced and confessed.
(Read v. 8a)
"Wash your feet" is an idiom that means, "relax and make yourself at home."
(Read 8b-11)
Uriah was a man of integrity - something David had been up until this point. Now his hypocrisy stands out in bold relief against the backdrop of Uriah's honor. You would think that David would have been convicted of his sin right then and there since he was a man who valued such integrity in his life. But his sense of justice is warped at this point by his sin. Sin does that. It blinds us to obvious right and wrong.
(Read v. 12-13)
David's second attempt to cover his sin failed. He has stooped even lower in his cover-up, but that wasn't the bottom of it.
(Read v. 14-15)
David made this godly man carry his own death warrant!
David is so bent on covering up his disgrace that he is actually ordering the murder of this man of integrity! Once you start down the slippery slope of deceit, it gets harder and harder to stop and get off. Adultery demands deceit. It is always better to stop and confess and face the music rather than it is to wait for god to make you face it.
(Read v. 16-17)
Ah, the perfect cover-up. Now no one would ever know. But God knew. He saw the whole thing. David would reap what he was sowing, bitterly!
(Read v. 18-21)
So, Joab, an accomplice in this murder, knows full well the hypocrisy of his boss! It would come back to haunt David later. He would never really be able to trust Joab fully because of his knowledge of this.
(Read v. 22-25)
What a farce! David and Joab are playing their little game to the hilt!
(Read v. 26)
That verse just drips with hypocrisy, doesn't it? This whole passage does! Here this woman who has betrayed her husband and now shares in the guilt of his murder, puts on the customary garb of a mourning wife. Oh, she's so sad! How long did she mourn? It doesn't say, but we can probably bet that it was as short as possible, since it would be to the advantage of David's reputation to get her to the palace as soon as possible.
(Read v. 27a,b)
Ah, perhaps the whole thing wasn't noticed by the general population of Israel, but someone else noticed it.
(Read v. 27c)
You see, even the most well executed cover-up is really no cover at all. You can hide the sin of adultery from people sometimes, but you can never hide it from God. He sees it all.
There is a passage of Scripture that all of us should have marked in our Bibles as a reminder of this. It is found in Numbers 32:23: "But if you will not do so, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out."
The adulterer or adulteress will be exposed. It is only a matter of time - time in which there must be constant worry that the truth will become known - time in which the spiritual life becomes a barren desert, void of any worthwhile meaning.
David would keep this issue a secret for a full year after it happened until God would finally force him out into an open of confession.
Listen to what he wrote in the 32nd Psalm about his spiritual life during that time:
"When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer..."(1)
No Psalms were written during the time that David covered this up.
Conclusion
I would like to leave you with several thoughts about what has been described in this passage:
1. THE SIN OF ADULTERY CAN HAPPEN EVEN TO PEOPLE WHO SEEK AFTER GOD. There is not a character in all the Bible who sought God like David did. Yet, he fell into this sin. Why? How? He did not control his lust in the times leading up to this event.
If you are feeding lust now by not controlling your fantasies, by viewing illicit material, by spending too much time with someone of the opposite sex who is attractive to you but doesn't belong to you, understand that it could happen to you. Some people have managed to avoid the sin of adultery, not because they are strong, but because the opportunity hasn't presented itself. Control lust in the early stages and you won't need to fear the action later.
2. GOD SEES EVERYTHING THAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW. There is no effective cover-up. There is no way to hide your thoughts or your actions. We need to remember that as a deterrent for deception.
Florence Littauer said, as quoted by J. Alan Petersen in his book, THE MYTH OF GREENER GRASS,
"No good Christian man or woman gets up in the morning, looks out the window, and says, 'My, this is a lovely day! I guess I'll go out and commit adultery.' Yet many do it anyway."(2)
May it not be done among us...
2. Florence Littauer, as quoted by J. Allan Petersen in THE MYTH OF GREENER GRASS. [Back]
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.
All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.
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