20240519

he sees all

2 Samuel 11:1-27 (JDV)

2 Samuel 11:1 In the spring of the year — when kings march out to war — David sent Joab with his officers and all of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof, he saw a woman bathing — a very beautiful woman.
2 Samuel 11:3 So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hethite?”
2 Samuel 11:4 David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home.
2 Samuel 11:5 The woman conceived and sent word to inform David: “I am pregnant.”
2 Samuel 11:6 David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hethite.” So, Joab sent Uriah to David.
2 Samuel 11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going.
2 Samuel 11:8 Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So, Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him.
2 Samuel 11:9 But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.
2 Samuel 11:10 When it was reported to David, “Uriah didn’t go home,” David questioned Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”
2 Samuel 11:11 Uriah answered David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camping in the open field. How can I enter my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live and by your life, I will not do this!”
2 Samuel 11:12 “Stay here today also,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So, Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
2 Samuel 11:13 Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. He went out in the evening to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.
2 Samuel 11:14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.
2 Samuel 11:15 In the letter he wrote: Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.
2 Samuel 11:16 When Joab was besieging the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were.
2 Samuel 11:17 Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the men from David’s soldiers fell in battle; Uriah the Hethite also died.
2 Samuel 11:18 Joab sent someone to report to David all the details of the battle.
2 Samuel 11:19 He commanded the messenger, “When you’ve finished telling the king all the details of the battle–
2 Samuel 11:20 if the king’s anger gets stirred up and he asks you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the top of the wall?
2 Samuel 11:21 At Thebez, who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the top of the wall so that he died? Why did you get so close to the wall? ‘– then say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hethite is dead also.'”
2 Samuel 11:22 Then the messenger left. When he arrived, he reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell.
2 Samuel 11:23 The messenger reported to David, “The men gained the advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we counterattacked right up to the entrance of the city gate.
2 Samuel 11:24 However, the archers shot down on your servants from the top of the wall, and some of the king’s servants died. Your servant Uriah the Hethite is also dead.”
2 Samuel 11:25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this matter upset you because the sword devours one and then another. Intensify your fight against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him.”
2 Samuel 11:26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah had died, she mourned for him.
2 Samuel 11:27 When the time of mourning ended, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, what David had done was evil in Yahveh’s eyes.

he sees all

This passage stands as a warning for all of us who consider ourselves faithful to the LORD. David did not get away with his sin. Yahveh sees all and knows all.

When we sin, it displeases him – it makes no difference how loyal we have been in other matters. He sees. He knows. His holiness is repulsed by our acts of unrighteousness. Even if no one else knows, he knows.

LORD, we beg your forgiveness. We fail you often, and usually no one else knows. You know. Forgive us.