"In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, 'This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.' So David sent messengers to fetch her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, 'I am pregnant.' So David sent word to Joab, 'Send me Uriah the Hittite.' And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, 'Go down to your house, and wash your feet.' Uriah went out of the king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, 'Uriah did not go down to his house', David said to Uriah, 'You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?' Uriah said to David, 'The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.' Then David said to Uriah, 'Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.' So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, 'Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die'"

(2 Samuel 11:1-15).

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Here we find David, remembered as the greatest king in the history of Israel, at a weak moment in his successful reign; for -- in this story -- David, chosen one of God, conqueror of Goliath, charismatic leader of a united Israel, descends here to the level of a thug, a lying, murdering, repulsive monster. As I read this story, I think I counted that David breaks the last five of the Ten Commandments; he commits adultery with Uriah's wife; he steals her from Uriah; he lies about it several times; he covets her enough to act upon his desire. For a minute, I didn't know if I was reading the Bible or the script for Scarface with Al Pacino!

"In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem" (2 Sam. 11: 1).

David seems to be in bit of a funk at the very beginning of the story; for, the text reads: "In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem" (2 Sam. 11: 1). I find it striking that after we are told that it is the season in which "kings go out to battle," and yet, it is said -- quite pointedly -- that David did not. Why didn't David go out to battle? The text does not give us an answer, but we know as the story begins that something is askew.

"It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king's house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, 'This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.' So David sent messengers to fetch her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house." (2 Sam. 11: 2-4).

David arises from his couch and makes his way to the roof of the house, perhaps in attempt to catch an afternoon breeze. He has napped and arisen from his afternoon snooze and, with sleep-swollen eyes, gazes down on his city, the city of David, the capital of his empire. He sees all that is his: the land, the roads, the storefronts, the tall buildings, the homes, and the people -- looking so tiny below, as they are going about their daily tasks. They remind him of his power and all that he has accomplished for his city. David has worked hard for Israel and for the city of David, -- to make it what it is.

As David gazes at his beloved city, he notices a gorgeous woman, naked -- and bathing at a nearby residence. David is instantly smitten and wants to know her name; a quick question to a servant establishes that the woman is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Now David knows who she is, and to whom she belongs. Both Eliam and Uriah are high rank in David's army; they are leaders, loyal in protecting David and all of Israel. David does not pause. After all, he is the king! David acts swiftly, as he has always done. David is not a pensive or brooding man, but he is a man that will have his way. His action is quick. In the text, the verbs rush just as the passion of David is rushed: He sent; he took; he lay (2 Sam. 11:4). I think we all pretty well get the picture what happens here.

I am sure now David is feeling like THE MAN. He is in control. He can have whatever he wants -- with no restraint, no second guessing, and no reservations. Here David is at the culmination of his enormous power.

"The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, 'I am pregnant'" (2 Sam. 11:5).

In verse 5, Bathsheba speaks for the first time, and what she speaks is utterly shattering: "I am pregnant" (2 Sam. 11:5). David's life flashes before his eyes: his reputation and honor, his kingship, everything that his brought him to this place; and, in an instant, David goes from feeling total control to feeling completely out of control. Notice, Bathsheba makes no demand or threat; her words say it all.

David acts here with his characteristic agility and decisiveness that led him to the throne. He does not stop to reflect. He does not deliberate. Here David makes a series of choices, digging himself deeper and deeper into a hole.

(2 Sam. 11:6-15)

Let's observe the following choices David makes.

1) He sends for Uriah and tries to get him home to Bathsheba, so that the people suspect that Uriah is the father of the child. Good plan, but Uriah will not go; but -- instead -- he sleeps among the king's servants, just outside David's house.

2) So, David tries again. This time David gets Uriah drunk, hoping that his judgment will go fuzzy and maybe he will change his mind. Uriah does not do such a thing; and, -- yet again -- he sleeps just outside of the king's house among David's servants.

At this point in the story, David is working himself into a tizzy. We hear him say to Uriah: "Go down to your house" repeatedly. It feels as though these words are pounding through the text at us, because at this point in the story: It is all David can think about! "Uriah! -- just 'go down' to your house, would you please?!" Right now -- this is the one thing that David wants, but it is the one thing he cannot have because Uriah will not do it.

3) Finally, David sends his chief commander and hatchet man, Joab, to take care of the matter, and David has Uriah killed in battle. In a letter to Joab, he writes: Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die (2 Sam. 11:15). David did not say this fleetingly off the top of his head, but wrote it down in a carefully crafted letter which he personally handed to Uriah to deliver to Joab.

* * *

Well -- David sure is on a roll. He seems to be simply making one poor choice after another. David does not offer any reflection; he does not clarify his actions for us. But -- in this text -- we are left with a series of many actions, mostly of David, and it is up to the reader to extract meaning.

Observing David's behavior, I believe that we have a lens into David's spiritual life; for, it is my conviction that we become the choices we make. Taking this into consideration, we have to ask -- what in the world is going on inside David? This is a good man; for David served God faithfully in many ways. God accomplished much through his life and reign over Israel.

It is my suspicion that David was so wrapped up in the war with the Ammonites that he denied to look at the war that was going on in himself. I think he was so caught up in being a leader -- and growing deeper in love with his own power -- that he failed to attend to his own inner conflict, and his own spiritual needs. David had something to reconcile with God, of which he remained unaware, and the result was that he acted out.

This is a common human pattern. When we do not connect to our deep spiritual needs, and what is left un-reconciled, we act out! This story is a perfect example of how an upright, faithful person can lose his center, and how sometimes a person makes poor choices. This is why we have confession in our worship: To allow, for some moments, an opportunity to be seen by our Creator.

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I am sure David would be embarrassed to know that this story has ended up in our canon today. I am sure he would desire for it to be edited out! How true that sometimes we wish that there were things in our lives that we could edit out. But our vulnerabilities and our painful experiences of the past are part of our canon, just as this story is part of the scriptures. Thus, be bold! -- people of God -- bringing all of who you are to the Spirit.

Just the fact that this story remains in our Bible today is a powerful message in and of itself; for, it is a reminder that God is present in all that we do, knowing everything about us. Just as God remembers when David was anointed by God to the kingship of Israel, and God remembers David's actions of injustice to Uriah, so God also remembers your celebrations and the things that may cause you shame.

The character in this story who remains quiet, but ever-present is God -- and God does not interject or speak any anecdote, or message to David (…although, we may desire for God to do so). But the presence of this story in the Bible is a reminder that God was present, watching, and listening to David, aware of David's vulnerability, his spiritual need.

David, indeed, has plenty of brokenness in his life, and this snapshot of his life is certainly a reminder of that. But, God desires more than anything for David to receive grace. God desires for David -- in his brokenness -- to live in joy and thanksgiving. God desires for David to say: "Hallelujah!" David must have had a profound spiritual connection with Bathsheba, for we know later that she became his wife. By David's seed, Bathsheba would later give birth to Solomon, who would follow David's kingship… and later Bathsheba, David, and Solomon would all be included in the genealogy of Jesus.

In spite of what he had done -- through deeds of injustice --, God still loved David! May we, too, live in the good news that God knows every line of our story -- full of love, and full of grace. Along with David, -- in our brokenness -- may we also say: "Hallelujah."

In the name of the Creator, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.