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Study the Word. Meditate on it and let it be your delight and holy guide.
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2 Samuel 8-12
Second Samuel 8 - 9
The 8th chapter of Second Samuel deals with the expansion and growth of the Davidic empire as well as the expansion and growth of the coinciding bureaucracy. Much of it reflects state ideology and propaganda. One can read between the lines, however, and see thecontinuing temptations that are surrounding David and leading to his “sins to come.”
The 9th chapter begins a transition that moves into the section through Chapter 20. Whereas we read some fairly uncritical ideological claims in the previous chapter(s), here we are confronted by the reality of humanity in all of its sordid detail. The good and the bad stand side by side. The David who is about to commit a grand sin here practices steadfast love with the house of Saul - specifically with Saul’s handicapped grandson, Mephibosheth.
Second Samuel 10 - 12
In Chapter 10, the Ammonites, joining in a Syrian alliance, want to end their subservience and enter into a war with David. Interestingly, David relies on good old military minded Joab to take care of the job.
By the 11th Chapter, we learn how David, who once led battles in person (see 1 Sam. 8:20) now is sending others in his stead while he rests on the couch (2 Sam. 11:2). There’s trouble when one has too much leisure, and David gets into trouble by simply looking out the window and seeing - Bathsheba. But David doesn’t call her by name. The story suggests lust, pure lust, without restraint or reservation. David uses and abuses his power and remains in control, until reality strikes. Ultimately, we are never in control. Bathsheba gets pregnant. David has indeed lost control, but tries to hold on.
Who else would David send for but Joab? Their plan is to send Uriah home to have marital relations with his wife (“washing your feet” is a euphemism) so that Uriah will think the baby is his. But Uriah, a Hittite, a foreigner, is a faithful man of integrity and refuses to have sexual relations until the war ends. The contrast between the foreigner and David is not accidental.
Desperately, David wines and dines Uriah, feigning friendship, and then sends him to the front lines where Joab can see to it that he will be conveniently killed. When the dirty deed was done, and received word of its completion, he sent a chilling message back to Joab: “Do not let this thing be evil in your eyes.” Do not let this deed seem evil?! Do not notice how morally bankrupt it is?! Pretend that this is the way of war?! Technically, Torah law does not consider death in war to be part of the “thou shalt not kill” command, but David is stretching Torah law. Is David morally blind? Is his numbed by his power? Is he too cynical to care?The text notices and cares. Bathsheba, the defiled woman, is still not called by her name. She is, however, relentlessly called “the wife of Uriah.” Even Matthew 1, in which Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Mary are all called by name, Bathsheba remains, “the wife of Uriah.”
Does David really believe God will not notice and care? David seems to have forgotten: “When he commits iniquity, I will discipline” (7:14).
Chapter 12
Prophetic speech ultimately helps to save and heal. Even kings must listen to prophetic speech. They ignore it at their peril. David broke three commandments: he coveted, he committed adultery and he killed. He violated God’s laws and God’s relationship. “When he commits iniquity, I will discipline,” God declared. The discipline is multifaceted. There will be immediate repercussions. Consequences will be paid. And there will be, ordained by God, a sword over David’s house forever. The seeds of violence are sown into the very fabric of David’s Jerusalem. It will always face conflict and destruction.
To David’s credit, he confessed. He recognized himself in the parable. Unlike so many others, he didn’t kill the prophet. God is Father. David - in full confession - is son. Hoping against hope, David prays and fasts to save the life of his innocent newborn - the very life he’d once tried to pawn off as Uriah’s child. The tragedy in the story is deep. Hear the silence of the newborn, the silence of Bathsheba who also is a victim. Was the second son born to David and Bathsheba a gift for David or for Bathsheba? God is a God of grace. The name Solomon comes from the root word shalom, and God loves Solomon. (See Ps. 103:9-14). Divine anger is never a sign of the end of divine love.
; 2 Samuel 13-15, 2 Samuel 16-24
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