Verse 27
“ Is this thing done by my lord the king, and you have not shown it to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
Then he politely asked the king whether this thing had been done by the king himself. Was it that he had simply omitted to tell his servants what he was doing, and had failed to inform them who it was who was to sit on his throne after him? The implication was, ‘or was there more to it than that?’ He was probably perfectly well satisfied in his own mind that David knew nothing about it, but that was not for him to say. That was for the king to say.
‘ Then king David answered and said, “Call to me Bath-sheba.” And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.’
David’s reply was quick and firm. Let his servants call Bathsheba to come back into his presence. And the result was that Bathsheba came back into his presence and stood before the king.
A major lesson behind this story lies in the warning it gives against the dangers of prevarication. If David had only made his intentions known earlier all this might never have happened. But while he himself knew that Solomon was YHWH’s choice as king he had failed to make that clear to His people or establish him as his heir. (Like many powerful men he did not want to appear unable to fulfil his responsibilities, and did not therefore wish to delegate supreme power to anyone else). And where a vacuum is left, someone or something will always come in to fill it. We should therefore learn from this that, once we know the will of God, we should put it into effect and make sure that all know about it. For if we delay we can be certain that something that is not the will of God will take its place. And that will cause problems for everyone.
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