A thousand years before Jesus lived God chose a young man to be king, a great king, over the Jewish people. His name was David.
As a boy David killed the great Philistine warrior, Goliath. He continued to excel on the battlefield and grew famous throughout the land as a fighter and military strategist. The people of the southern kingdom chose him as their king, and after the death of King Saul, the people of the north chose him too. He united all the lands of the Jews, and through military campaigns pushed the boundaries of their empire to include much of the Middle East. David was smart, handsome, popular, successful, and rich. Everything he touched turned to gold. He got used to having everything go his way, and he knew that God favored him, both personally and as a leader.
Then something happened: one spring morning, the great king, David, was walking along the roof of his palace, enjoying the cool morning air. His army was laying siege to the city of Rabbah, so there was nothing for him to do there and he returned to Jerusalem to wait. As he walked and looked out over the city he governed, he happened to notice a young woman nearby taking her morning bath. He didn’t recognize her, but he was entranced by her beauty. Her name was Bathsheba and she was lovely, I mean, strikingly so. In that moment mother-nature came alive and he wanted her.
One of the things we know about human beings is we want what we want. “What do you want for dinner?” “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “Where do you want to go on vacation?” We may not always get what we want, but that doesn’t mean we no longer want it. Are there things you want but can’t afford? Your heart may still be set on it even if you don’t have the money to buy it. We want what we want.
David usually got what he wanted so, without thinking, (and that will key to what follows) he wanted Bathsheba. The story is simple and direct. He sent someone to find out who she was. Then he sent someone to take her. She came. He slept with her. She got pregnant.
This was not about love, or relationship, or commitment or sharing a life together. It was about David taking what he wanted. This incident is usually called “adultery” by biblical commentators. To me, it sounds like what we call rape. It was power and lust functioning without any thought about consequences. We want what we want. Why does the name “Harvey Weinstein” come to mind at the moment?
But consequences for David came anyway even he hadn’t thought of them. A woman who was not David’s wife was pregnant while the woman’s husband was away fighting a war. You can’t hide pregnancy for very long. David’s palace staff knew Bathsheba had come to David. For the first time in his life the great king was in trouble. What should he do now?
As the story continues we hear of one of the most sordid tales in the bible. There is a lot of violence and injustice in the bible, but there is nothing as gruesome as what follows: deception, disregard for innocent life, tragedy, and blindly following orders, orders that are clearly immoral.
David sends for Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, from the siege. David tells him to go to his house, assuming he and Bathsheba will make love as couples do. But Uriah does not go to his own house out of a sense of loyalty to his comrades who are still on the front lines. How can he enjoy a night with his wife while they are away from their homes serving their country? How could he return and face them? He sleeps at the palace gate. David had plotted that they sleep together and then when the baby is born everyone would think that Uriah was the father. Don’t you hate when things don’t work out as you had hoped? But David can’t give up. He hatches another plot.
David writes a message to Joab, his field commander. It says: when you go into battle, make sure Uriah is at the front of the line. As the enemy moves forward order our troops to pull back so that Uriah will be left alone and killed by the enemy. The story includes a cruel and tragic irony: Uriah himself carries his own death message to Joab, who must have recognized this as murder, but he follows the king’s orders anyway. How can he do that? How can he be involved in the unnecessary death of one of his own soldiers? He must have held a deep fear of the great king. But for David, even though Uriah is dead, Bathsheba is still pregnant, and he still has a problem.
There is so much evil on display in this story. We read it and wonder how could anyone ever fall to such a low level? How could anyone ever behave that way, and treat people like that? I could never do that. I mean, I might make mistakes now and again, but to do the kind of thing David did – no – never – not me!
Really? Are you sure about that? You have never done anything without thinking through the consequences? You have never let your wants and desires take control of your actions? Maybe you have never done something as terrible as planning the death of an innocent person, but most of us have done something that put us in a difficult position, even a desperate position. We want what we want, and sometimes that desire is so strong it takes over everything else.
And that is what got David in trouble. He didn’t think. He didn’t stop and reflect. He didn’t use his imagination to project himself into the future when sleeping with Bathsheba was still theoretical and had not yet become history. Maybe you have never raped anyone or murdered anyone – (I hope not!) But that doesn’t mean you aren’t like David in other ways. Have you ever done something really stupid without thinking it through? Most of us have, and that is what we share with David.
The lesson here is quite simple. Before acting, take a moment and reflect on the consequences of that action. Use your imagination. Wonder what will happen, and then ask yourself this question: am I prepared to deal with the results of my actions? If the answer is “no”… don’t do it. Don’t. Just don’t. Wants and desires change. What you want today will probably not be what you want next month. When I was younger I wanted a sailboat. Sarah and I lived near the ocean and I would see all those sailboats gliding across the bay and I told myself how wonderful that would be. But I get seasick. I would have been miserable. When I stopped and reflected on that fact, I realized I was not prepared to deal with the consequences of owning a sailboat. I no longer want a sailboat, and I’m fine with that. In fact, I’m really glad I don’t have one. I don’t enjoying feeling seasick.
There is a second and more important question to ask: what do I really want? What do I want deep down, at the center of my being? What kind of a person do I want to be? David was a great king with incredible success. But he is also remembered as a rapist and a murderer. Is a few moments of enjoyment worth a lifetime of misery and a tarnished legacy?
The story of David and Bathsheba, and Uriah and Joab is one of the most horrible stories in the bible. Knowing what we all have in common with David, let’s not make it our story too.