Gems from the Psalms – Day 12

₁The following spring, at the time of the year when kings usually go to war, David sent out Joab with his officers and the Israelite army; they defeated the Ammonites and besieged the city of Rabbah. But David himself stayed in Jerusalem.

₂One day, late in the afternoon, David got up from his nap and went to the palace roof. As he walked about up there, he saw a woman having a bath. She was very beautiful. ₃So he sent a messenger to find out who she was, and learnt that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. ₄David sent messengers to fetch her; they brought her to him and he made love to her. (She had just finished her monthly ritual of purification.) Then she went back home. ₅Afterwards she discovered that she was pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him.

₆David then sent a message to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. ₇When Uriah arrived, David asked him if Joab and the troops were well, and how the fighting was going. ₈Then he said to Uriah, “Go home and rest a while.” Uriah left, and David sent a present to his home. ₉But Uriah did not go home; instead he slept at the palace gate with the king's guards. ₁₀When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he asked him, “You have just returned after a long absence; why didn't you go home?”

₁₁Uriah answered, “The men of Israel and Judah are away at the war, and the Covenant Box is with them; my commander Joab and his officers are camping out in the open. How could I go home, eat and drink, and sleep with my wife? By all that's sacred, I swear that I could never do such a thing!”

₁₂So David said, “Then stay here the rest of the day, and tomorrow I'll send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. ₁₃David invited him to supper and made him drunk. But again that night Uriah did not go home; instead he slept on his blanket in the palace guardroom.

₁₄The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. ₁₅He wrote: “Put Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is heaviest, then retreat and let him be killed.” ₁₆So while Joab was besieging the city, he sent Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy was strong. ₁₇The enemy troops came out of the city and fought Joab's forces; some of David's officers were killed, and so was Uriah.

₁₈Then Joab sent a report to David telling him about the battle, ₁₉and he instructed the messenger, “After you have told the king all about the battle, ₂₀he may get angry and ask you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight them? Didn't you realize that they would shoot arrows from the walls? ₂₁Don't you remember how Abimelech son of Gideon was killed? It was at Thebez, where a woman threw a millstone down from the wall and killed him. Why, then, did you go so near the wall?’ If the king asks you this, tell him, ‘Your officer Uriah was also killed.’ ”

₂₂So the messenger went to David and told him what Joab had commanded him to say. ₂₃He said, “Our enemies were stronger than we were and came out of the city to fight us in the open, but we drove them back to the city gate. ₂₄Then they shot arrows at us from the wall, and some of Your Majesty's officers were killed; your officer Uriah was also killed.”

₂₅David said to the messenger, “Encourage Joab and tell him not to be upset, since you never can tell who will die in battle. Tell him to launch a stronger attack on the city and capture it.”

₂₆When Bathsheba heard that her husband had been killed, she mourned for him. ₂₇When the time of mourning was over, David sent for her to come to the palace; she became his wife and bore him a son. But the LORD was not pleased with what David had done.