This program of daily devotions is designed to take you through the Bible in three years. It is our desire to help you gain a better general understanding of God's Word.
Please understand that in a study this brief, we will be concerned with only the major emphases and context of the Scriptures.
Each day a devotion for one or two chapters is posted, beginning with chapter one of Genesis and going through chapter twenty-two of Revelation. You are free to print each page as it appears. If you miss a day, you may contact us and request that devotion. Please send your request, along with $.50 (p&h) for each page to:
Bruce McGee,Pastor
205 Adams
Columbia, LA 71418
HERE
Bro. Bruce's commentaries for the
books of Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus are
now available in hard copy for $7.50. Just mail your request for
COMMENTARY ON GENESIS to the address above.
2Samuel
1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
Most folk, when they come to this chapter, miss a very important point because they focus on SIN rather than on DUTY.
2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
Perhaps David was getting older. Perhaps the years of running from Saul and battling with enemies had caused him to be physically tired. And probably he was mentally tired as well.
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
Now, Bathsheba wasn't totally innocent in this either. No doubt the king of Israel had a tremendous allure, but she should have said "NO!" When they committed adultery, she became pregnant. Now there was surely TROUBLE!
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to day also, and to morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 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.
16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
17 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.
David used Uriah to carry his own execution notice. The letter he carried to Joab told the captain to discretely have Uriah killed.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
19 And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,
20 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?
21 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.
22 So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23 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.
24 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.
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.
Joab knew that David might be angry because he lost some good men in this battle. But he also knew that David had wanted Uriah dead. So he gave instruction to his messenger. The message was brief: "We attacked, we lost some men because we got too close to the wall, and Uriah is dead."
26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
Bathsheba spent the appropriate time in mourning for her husband. But then, as soon as the mourning period was over, David married her and brought her in to his house.
Please continue with us in daily Bible study.
CHAPTER 11
David had defeated the Syrians, and now was going to totally defeat the Ammonites. This would ensure Israel against attack an secure them for the future. He was DUTIFUL in doing this.
But David made one mistake. He didn't personally attend to this duty.
There is no doubt that David should have stayed with the work personally. So let me apply this to OUR day. There is no doubt that we should stay with WITNESSING. Because if we don't we allow ourselves to become IDLE. And then -- poor conduct can happen, just as it did with David.
A Christian should be constantly looking for opportunities to witness to otherse about Jesus, and he/she should constantly taking advantage of those opportunities. This keeps our guard UP instead of letting it DOWN!
BEWARE when you leave the war for COMFORT!
James 1:14 says, "..every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed." When we allow ourselves to be drawn away from God's WORK, then we are headed for disaster!
James 1:15 says, "Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
Have you ever heard the term "perish the thought?" My friend, when the sin of laxness in God's work enters - PERISH THE THOUGHT before you perish with it!
Later, this man David would write to God in a song: "Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity and quicken Thou me in Thy way." (Psalm 119:36-37)
David looked ans saw Bathsheba. At that time, he should have gone back to bed and never thought of it again. But he did not. He "inquired" about her. And when he learned that she was married, it was TOO LATE! Lust had already conceived!
But Uriah was earnest and honest and DUTIFUL. There's that WORD again! Uriah felt a compunction to be with the army, and would not go into his wife. David tried everything, even getting the man drunk. But Uriah's FOCUS was on the right thing, and nothing worked to get him away from it. THAT'S being DUTIFUL!
Joab, who has shamed the kingdom, and yet has been restored, obviously feels he "owes David one." He became an accomplice in this henious crime.
An Uriah; the honest, faithful, DUTIFUL servant was KILLED!
How could such a man as David do such a horrible thing? How could this man with such great compassion, faithfulness, honor and integrity commit such an awful crime of passion? The Bible clearly tells us why. Even David tells us why.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
"The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek God, They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is NONE that doeth good, no, not one."(Pslam 14:2-3)
No one knows to what depths of evil even a saved person will sink when temptation is conceived and brings forth sin!
David would not question Joab's military tactic.
So David, because of his sin with Bathsheba, was responsible for more deaths than Uriah. He was also responsible for the loss of some other good men in the army.
David has committed a gross sin. And it is public knowledge. Sin of this sort cannot be kept quiet. People knew about it, and David lost credibility.
But in the next chapter we will see how GRACIOUS God can be.
Verse 27 tells us that God was "displeased." God is JUST. He will chastise us when we sin. God is LOVING. The aim of chastisemtent is restoration.
Even now, God is setting the wheels in motion for David to be PUBLICLY reproved. God CAUSES David to publicly repent. And then, God in His justice, takes the son which Bathsheba bore.
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."(Galatians 6:7)