Covering Up His Sin

When Uriah did not go home to spend time with his wife for the second night, even after they got him drunk, David knew they would not be able to pass off Bathsheba’s basby as being Uriah’s, and under the Old Testament law, adultery required the death penalty for both the man and the woman, as Leviticus 20:10 states.   “And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” 

As king, David could have avoided the death penalty, but the scandal would have hurt his reputation badly.   Since Uriah would be the only one who could prove the baby was not his, David decided to have him killed, and asked Joab to do it in such a way that the death would look like a normal casualty of war, in II Samuel 11:14-15.  “And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.  And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.”  Totally unsuspecting, Uriah even delivered the orders to have him killed.   

Joab had gotten by with the murder of Abner, and this time he had written orders from the king.  David would be forced  to protect him to protect himself, Joab followed the orders, In Ii Samuel 11:16-17.  “And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.  And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.”  A carefully timed withdrawal resulted in the death of several men including Uriah, making it difficult to prove Uriah was the intended victim.  James 1:15b warns, “…and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”  Uriah and the other soldiers were just the first casualties as result of David’s adultery.

Joab carefully worded his next message to David so that he would understand the death of the others was part of the cover for killing Uriah, in II Samuel 11:18-22.  “Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war; And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?  Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.

So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.  And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.  And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.”

David’s response to Joab’s message made it clear he understood what Joab was saying, and that he was willing to accept the death of the others to avoid the scandal, in II Samuel 11:25.  “Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.”  Once again we see the truth of the old sayin that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”   David would normally have been upset over the loss of even one man, yet in this case he just ignored the pointless deaths of several. 

A few weeks after Uriah’s funeral, David married the grieving widow.  Since everyone knew Uriah had spent some time in Jerusalem and had been subsequently killed, no one was likely to question who the baby’s father was and David would be seen as just helping out the poor widow and adopting her child.  II Samuel 11:26-27 describes this.  “And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.  And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son.”