Thursday 24th October
Read 2 Samuel 11:14-17
“In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, ‘Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and die.’
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.” (NIVUK)
Plan A (bring him back to spend the night with his wife) and Plan B (get him drunk to spend night with his wife) both failed. Either because Uriah was aware of what had happened or because Uriah was more upright than David. Plan C is desperate and brutal. David instructed Joab to murder Uriah and make it look like a war casualty. Joab improvised somewhat but carried out the king’s order.
To send the murder decree by the hand of the innocent victim demonstrates how desperate David was and how far David had fallen. An innocent glance from the roof has resulted in the murder of an innocent man, and the death of many innocent men, simply to cover up David’s sin.
What questions does this raise for you? For me I wonder, if David can act so heinously then I can too. What hope is there for anyone if the one God chooses can fall so far? Then I wonder where the author got this information, the contents of a sealed letter…