David is a young shepherd, chosen by God, and anointed by Him to be a King, who first gains fame as a musician and later by killing Goliat. He went from being a shepherd boy to the Palace as king.
David, with the help of the Mighty Warriors, conquers Jerusalem, taking the Ark of the Covenant into the city and establishes the kingdom founded by Saul.
Bathsheba is the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of the Mighty Warriors in King's David army, that later became the wife of David. She was the daughter of Eliam, also a Mighty Warrior, and he is mentioned in 2 Samuel 23 as the son of Ahithophel, who is described as the Gilonite. Ahithophel was a counselor of King David and a man greatly renowned for his sagacity. During Absalom (David's third son) 's revolt Ahithophel deserted David and supported Absalom. When he saw that the revolt would fail, he left Absalom's camp at once and returned to Giloh, his native place, and after arranging his worldly affairs, hanged himself and was buried in the sepulcher of his fathers (2 Samuel 17).
The Haggadah, a Jewish text that tells to every Jew's son about the liberation from slavery in Egypt (things of the flesh), states that Ahithophel was misled by his knowledge of astrology into believing himself destined to become a king of Israel. He therefore induced Absalom to commit an unpardonable crime (2 Samuel 16), which sooner or later would have brought with it, according to the Jewish Law, the penalty of death. His astrological information had been, however, misunderstood by Ahithophel; for in reality it only predicted that his granddaughter, Bathsheba, the daughter of his son Eliam, a Mighty Warrior, would become queen.
The mighty warriors at the front battle lines are identified in 2 Samuel 23 and in its final 4 chapters as a group of his best 37 fighters (later expanded to around 80) with mighty powers, who fought side-by-side with King David. According to the text, Abishai, the brother of Joab, killed 300 men with a spear, and so became famous among the The Mighty Warriors. The Text also states that despite the fame and respect Abishai was not included among the Three Best Warriors, suggesting that being part of the The Three powerful ones, fame was not the only accountable thing, but something which an individual has to prove or achieve beyond it in order to gain such exclusive title, and that is integrity (what we do when we think nobody is looking at us).
David's first interaction with Bathsheba, the granddaughter of Ahithophel, is described in 2 Samuel 11.
David decided to leave the place where God call him to be and take a time off. The Scripture does not give us a reason why he did that. What we can see is that all of the overwhelming victory caused by his role as a leader was really beginning to affect him. He was a shepherd by nature and a leader by the calling of God. He was designed to lead men face to face, not from afar.
Bathsheba was summoned by King David during his time off, after had seen her bathing in her courtyard from the roof of his palace and lusted after her. 2 Samuel 11 says:"One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of his palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, 'She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.' Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness). Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, 'I am pregnant.' (2-5) Informed that her husband was Uriah the Hittite, David summoned Uriah from battle to meet him, suggesting that he go home and "wash his feet," meaning to spend time at home and attend to his wife. He refused, claiming a code of honor with his fellow warriors while they were in battle. It was common for Mighty Warriors and in warriors in general in preparation for battle to abstain from sex. Uriah repeatedly refused to see his wife, forcing David to elaborate a sinister plan to kill him in battle due to Bathsheba's pregnancy, and finding no way to hide it. David sent Uriah to the captain and commanding officer Joab, with a letter that ordered Joab to put Uriah on the front lines and have the other Mighty Warriors move away from him so that he would be killed by the enemy soldiers.
Uriah the Hittite was from the ethnic Hittite residents in Israel that had lived in and around the region, the Land of Canaan, since before the time of Abraham. The Hebrews, upon their entry into Canaan, had been commanded (Deuteronomy 20) "to kill anything that breathes .. in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance," with the explanation that "otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do .. and you will sin against the Lord your God." Some of the earlier inhabitants were spared, in some cases for cooperating with the Hebrews (Joshua 2, Joshua 6, Judges 1) in other cases from failure to carry out the extermination order of the forces of evil (Joshua 15, Joshua 16, Judges 1).
In the era of David's rule, many residents of non-Hebrew descent followed the Hebrew faith and came to be accepted as Israelites. This included Uriah, as his name in Hebrew means "God is my light." His status as an mightier officer and his closeness to David, living closely to David's roof, would indicate this acceptance within the ethnic community.
Joab the son of Zeruiah, king David's sister, on the other hand, was David's nephew and he made him captain of his army (2 Samuel 8; 20; 1 Chronicles 11; 18; 27).The name Joab is derived from "Yahweh" meaning "Father." Uriah referred to Joab and not David as "my lord or commander" (2 Samuel 11). Joab is a king maker who dispatches ruthlessly his own military rivals, Abner and Amasa.
Joab is sufficiently powerful that David, on his deathbed, advises Solomon to arrange his death (1 Kings 2). David saw a deeper threat from Joab through his entanglement with Uriah's wife.
Joab's name is given to two other individuals in the Scripture (Ezra 2; 8). Those are the descendants of Joab of Bethlehem the son of Zeruiah, king David's sister; the subject is of the House and head of the House. The individual is Obadiah the son of Jehiel. Joab had two brothers, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was killed by Abner in combat, for which Joab took revenge by murdering Abner in Ambush, against David's wishes and shortly after Abner and David had secured Peace between the House of David and the House of Saul. (2 Samuel 2; 3 )
The prophet Nathan confronted David about Uriah's murder plan, by telling him a story of a rich man and a poor man. Hearing the story, David grew angry and replied: "As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb 4 times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity." Nathan replied: "You are that man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: "I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master's House to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the House of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you more. Why did you despise the Word of the Lord by doing what is EVIL in His Eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the Sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the Sword will never depart from Your House, because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own."
Nathan then informs David that his child with Bathsheba must die. David mourns and begs for mercy. Indeed, their first child dies after 7 days. His entire story from that moment results in civil war and division in his family. The consequences for his actions were severe.
Proverbs 28:2 says: "When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability." Every great person live by core values and integrity. They pave pathways in life rather than just allow life to take its course. What goes inside of every individual determines where they are headed in life.
It takes integrity to maintain what God gives us. It takes persistence, determination, and consistency to make sure that we are focused.
David's heart pushed him towards the throne. It was not title, prestige, good money or job, not even favor with his family that did that for him. God never held a person back from transformational leadership, and the invitation will always be on the table.
Unfortunately, temptation is like a filter that always sneak in when our guard is down. Let's no make room for temptation. We have to show integrity by keeping our word and stay faithful and hold ourselves accountable to the standards we want to live out based on God's Word and calling.
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