2 Samuel 11:6

DAVID WAS TRYING TO COVER UP HIS SIN

"So David sent word to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was doing, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. Then David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? 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 down 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 let you depart." 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."

In view of Uriah's determination not to visit his wife, some scholars suppose that, "It is not impossible that a rumor of his wife's adultery had reached Uriah."[15] Of course, there seems to have been a stern prohibition against sexual relations on the part of soldiers who were consecrated to warfare (1 Samuel 21:5), but that does not appear to this writer as a sufficient explanation of Uriah's behavior in this episode.

"Send me Uriah the Hittite" (2 Samuel 11:6). David had only one purpose in this, namely, that of bringing Uriah home so that the child to be born to Bathsheba might APPEAR to be the child of Uriah. This was effort no. 1 by David to hide his own sin.

"David asked him ... how the war prospered" (2 Samuel 11:7). This was pure hypocrisy on David's part. He had brought Uriah to Jerusalem for an utterly different purpose than that of getting information about the progress of the war. His purpose here was to deceive Uriah as concerning David's real purpose in sending for him. This was David's effort No. 2.

"Go down to your house and wash your feet" (2 Samuel 11:8). This was David's effort no. 3. It was a direct invitation of the king for Uriah to spend the night with his wife. "The expression `wash your feet' was a well-known idiom fully understood and explained by Uriah in 2 Samuel 11:11."[16]

"But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house" (2 Samuel 11:9). David had instructed some of his servants to observe Uriah's actions and report back to the king. One wonders if those servants were the very persons who had brought Bathsheba to the king's bedroom. "Those servants (messengers) were some of the vile people who hang about great personages ready to minister to their sins."[17] Such "servants" would certainly have gossiped among themselves about the king's actions.

"They told David, `Uriah did not go down to his house.'" (2 Samuel 11:10). David must have been naive indeed if he supposed that the members of his household had faithfully kept his sinful behavior a secret. By this time, his shameful conduct was known all over Jerusalem.

"The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths" (2 Samuel 11:11). Some scholars consider it uncertain, but apparently the ark of the covenant had been carried with Israel in their siege of Rabbah. The fact that, during Absalom's rebellion, the ark was also carried by Absalom's supporters supports the idea that it was customary for Israel to take the ark with them into battle (2 Samuel 15:24).

"Booths" (2 Samuel 11:11). Payne believed that this word is a reference to the temporary dwellings used by Israel during the Feast of Tabernacles, indicating that, "Now some six months had passed,"[18] since the spring of the year when the siege began.

"I will not do this thing" (2 Samuel 11:11). This flat refusal of Uriah to spend the night with Bathsheba forced David to take further steps in his vain efforts to conceal his sin.

"So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next" (2 Samuel 11:12). This was David's effort no. 1 to conceal his wickedness. He extended Uriah's leave, still hoping that he would go down and spend the night with his wife.

"He made him drunk" (2 Samuel 11:13). This was effort no. 5, the same being another sin in the eyes of the Lord. Habakkuk has this: "Thus saith the Lord, Woe to him who makes his neighbors to drink ... and makes them drunk ... shame will come upon your glory" (Habakkuk 2:15,16). "Robbing a man of his reason is worse than robbing him of his money; and drawing him into sin is worse than drawing him into any trouble whatsoever."[19] This fifth effort on David's part to maneuver Uriah into spending a night with Bathsheba was completely foiled by Uriah's steadfast refusal. Instead, he slept with the guard at the entrance to the palace.

We have already seen that one sin always leads to another; and when once a sinner has embarked upon such a downward road there is no limit to the number or grievousness of the sins that will be committed.