2024_04_17 Insight Post- Rusty Coram
This week’s reading- 2 Samuel 11, 2 Samuel 12:1-24, 1 Kings 1:11-31, 1 Kings 2:13-19, 1 Chronicles 3:5, Matthew 1:6
One of my heroes is Uriah. He was a soldier in Israel’s army whose character stands out as unusual while he was deployed to resist the Ammonites. King David should have been with his army, but instead, he gave Joab, his top military commander, the assignment while he stayed home. David could have avoided a major mess if he had been faithful to his leadership. We read that David saw Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, bathing one evening and had her brought to him for sex. The one-night stand led to a pregnancy. In an attempt to cover it up, David had Uriah (who was one of David’s elite special forces team called “the thirty”) sent from the battle to the palace to be with Bathsheba, hoping he would be fooled into thinking the baby was his. “Then he told Uriah, “Go on home and relax.” David even sent a gift to Uriah after he had left the palace. 9 But Uriah didn’t go home. He slept that night at the palace entrance with the king’s palace guard. 10 When David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him and asked, “What’s the matter? Why didn’t you go home last night after being away for so long?” 11 Uriah replied, “The Ark and the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, and Joab and my master’s men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear that I would never do such a thing.” 2 Samuel 11:8-11 (NLT) Uriah’s unwillingness to budge led David to orchestrate his murder on the battlefield… all of this just to cover up the fact that he slept with Uriah’s wife.
I wonder how often David struggled over the years with the contrast of his and Uriah’s character. Uriah chose not to compromise what he saw as faithfulness to his comrades. No law said he couldn’t be with his wife on his leave back home, but he didn’t want to take a privilege that his brothers-in-arms didn’t have access to. On the other hand, David had shirked his duty to his troops and nation, which set him up for greater and greater temptation. An important principle in the Bible is that faithfulness begins in the little things. Choosing to be faithful to God and others, even in seemingly small things, sets the stage for when we are facing bigger ones. Jesus said, “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities”. Luke 16:10 (NLT) David, by avoiding his duty to be with his troops (see 2 Samuel 11:1) set himself up to be exposed to the temptation he fell to. He may have felt that it was no big deal to stay behind, but in doing so, he opened the door to entertaining and taking actions he knew were wrong.
Several years and much heartache later David writes in Psalm 139:23-24:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you,
and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Praying this before acting is wise!
Rusty Coram
Senior Pastor