First Things First – Tenth Sunday After Pentecost (2 Samuel 11: 1-15)
I hope that you have brought a brick with you this week. As I mentioned at the end of last week’s service, a brick could be any sort of token that is symbolic of whatever small thing you can bring to building whatever it is you wish to create in this world. Sometimes what we want to do, or what feel we are called to do can seem like an impossibly big task. However, all we have to do is bring that one brick, that one thing or idea or action, that we can start building on. You’ll have an opportunity to bring your item forward later, during communion. I mention all this now, though, to acknowledge that this talk of building something is a bit ironic considering the Bible story we have just heard, because the story of the scandal involving David and Bathsheba and Uriah is the story that begins the deconstruction of King David. In terms of the Biblical narrative David’s adultery with Bathsheba is the first action in a series of actions and decisions that will lead to his temporary downfall and his war with his son Absalom. But, we’ll get to that in a few weeks.
The story of David is popular for several reasons. Many of the tales are well known. Some like to read it with a focus on David at the chosen king of God’s people. These parts of the story highlight his special relationship with God, and this relationship gives David’s successes as a warrior and as a politician a sense of righteousness. Even things that David does that seem morally questionable are given a bit more justification based on the belief that he was chosen by God and loved especially by God.
Of course, those morally questionable things are another reason that the David story is such a popular and compelling one. And the stories we will hear the next few weeks are prime examples of this. We will see David the adulterer, and David who conspires in a murder plot and cover up, and we see the David who fails as a father and goes to war with his own son. Perhaps this part of the story is so popular simply because people love this kind of soap opera style drama, or they are excited by the action and violence of war. Maybe it is popular because people find it easy to connect with the flawed character of King David. It’s all well and good to have a hero to admire and look up to, but a man who makes so many impulsive choices and serious mistakes, a man who begins to fail as much as he succeeds, that is someone people can understand and connect with. The danger, of course, is that we begin to excuse his bad behavior because of our belief that he is chosen by God and that he is faithful to God through all of that trouble. All that is true, David was chosen by God for great things, and his relationship with God was long, and complicated, but faithful to the end. That does not mean we can overlook David’s mistakes or the way he abuses his power. This story is here to make sure that we don’t. While certain details and motivations are left vague so that we have to read between the lines, the one thing in this story that is not left in doubt is that David screwed up. The blame must be laid at his feet. Which, I think is another thing that would make this story so appealing to our internet and social media age. We love drama and scandal, of course, but we also love, love, love to assign blame, especially when it’s obvious who to blame and why. In our world, blame and trying to justify one’s actions are common ways that people respond to conflicts and challenges in their lives.
Let us dive into the story, then. We begin with David hanging out on the couch on the roof of his palace. It is a time of war, and for whatever reason, David has made the choice not join his army in its siege of Rabbah. It is from this rooftop, and with nothing to do while the army is away, that David notices Bathsheba, bathing in her courtyard. He has her brought to him as soon as possible, and this is when he commits the act of adultery. It is adultery, at least, because Bathsheba is married. Not only that, but she is married to Uriah, and David knows this because Uriah is one of the most well-regarded soldiers in his army. To add to it Bathsheba is also the granddaughter of one of David’s top royal advisers. There is a reason her home was close enough to the palace that David could see into it. So, this was not a smart decision on David’s part. However, he might have gotten away with it, except that Bathsheba gets pregnant, and the timing of all this will make it obvious to people that David is the father. So, this is how David creates his problem. His actions lead to the creation of significant challenges in his life. How David responds to this time of difficulty will tell us something about him. As it does with any of us. How we step up to meet challenges in our lives reveals something about us, about our character, about our priorities – what we hold as most important. So, surely, we will be able to look to David -the chosen king, a man favored by God and faithful to God. Certainly, he will respond in a way worthy of being an example, in a way that is righteous.
Well, he responds first by calling Uriah back home from the frontlines. A good first step, you might think. Now David can come clean, tell Uriah what has happened, ask forgiveness, and offer to help the family in their time of need. Except that is not what David does. David goes into cover up mode. He tells Uriah that he should go home and reunite with his wife. David’s hope here is that this can convince people that the baby is Uriah’s, not David’s. Uriah, however, does not cooperate. He spends the first night sleeping outside his house. So, the next night David brings Uriah back to the palace and offers food and lots of drink. He still does not go home to his wife. Instead, he spends that evening passed out with the palace servants. David’s plans are not working. So, David comes up with a new plan. He sends him back to the battlefront and sends a letter with him for his general Joab. The letter tells Joab to send Uriah to the front lines of the battle where the fighting is heavy, and that once he is there the rest of the soldiers should fall back leaving Uriah exposed and vulnerable. Uriah will die in battle and David will be free of the consequences of his affair with Bathsheba.
So, that’s how David handled things, but he is not the only character in this story. We also have Uriah, who is facing some challenges of his own. First, he has been called back to Jerusalem, and he is not sure why. He believes his place is on the battlefield. When David brings him in for an audience, he is very vague, and does not say why he has called Uriah back. All he does is ask questions about how the war is going. Uriah assumes this can’t be why the king has brought him back from the war. So, when David suggests that Uriah go home for the evening and be with his wife, he suddenly thinks he understands. This must be a test. The king is testing his devotion as a soldier and his loyalty. A good soldier would not go home and be comfortable and enjoy the company of his wife while the rest of his fellow warriors had followed the Ark out into battle. So, Uriah does not go home. He stays outside the doors of his home and sleeps there on the ground. He does not see his wife. The next night he is invited back to the palace. This time David offers Uriah much to eat and drink. Too much in fact. Still, Uriah does not go home, he sleeps there in the palace in the servants’ quarters. After that, David sends Uriah back to the war, and gives him a letter to carry and pass on to Joab. Uriah passes this test as well. He is so trustworthy that he doesn’t even consider reading this letter to see what the king is asking.
So, here we have two examples of characters who find themselves in trouble, but handle it in very different ways. On the one hand we have King David, the main character in this story, the one whose actions drive the story and create problems for him and the rest of the characters. The story leaves motivations vague, but in his actions, we see in David someone who acted impulsively, perhaps out of desire. He sees something he wants and he knows he has the power to take it. However, then things start happening that are out of his control. Bathsheba gets pregnant, and on two separate occasions Uriah refuses to go home and be with his wife. So, how does David respond to these obstacles? What are his priorities in these moments? Is it to be faithful and righteous in the eyes of God? Not really, no. When David is confronted with the consequences of his actions he decides the best course is to try and preserve his image, his power. He tries to cover up what has been done, even going so far as conspire to murder one of his best soldiers.
Then on the other hand we have Uriah. He is also faced with a difficult situation, although he is not sure why. He thinks his loyalty is being tested by the King. His response to this challenge is much different than David’s. Uriah does not prioritize his own wishes and desires. Instead, he acts from a place that honors his principles as a soldier. He does not seek the comfort of his home or a reunion with his wife, because the thing that is most important to Uriah is his sense of duty and his relationship with his fellow soldiers. It is a relationship based on respect. He cannot go home while his comrades in arms (and the Ark of the Covenant) are still marching into battle. It never occurs to him to be disloyal to his king, even though it leads him to unknowingly carry and pass on a letter that contains his own death sentence.
In these two characters we see examples of responding to challenging situations in our lives. David acts out in a desperate way, while Uriah acts in a way that is calm, cool, and collected, despite his uncertainty about his situation. Again, we can only guess at motivations, but it seems that David acts out of desperation here because he is afraid. He is afraid of what he might lose. He might lose the respect of the people; he might lose certain freedom and resources by having to take the responsibility to care for this child and its mother. And, of course, he might lose his power, he might lose his special status and favor in God’s eyes. After all the years David had spent fighting to gain that power and being assured of his chosen-ness, to lose any of that would also mean to lose part of his identity. From a certain perspective, power and privilege are part of what made King David King David.
However, it would seem that Uriah did not have any of these concerns. That isn’t to say that Uriah had nothing to lose, because he was afraid to lose things. He was afraid to lose the respect of his fellow soldiers, he seems to have been worried about losing the trust of his king. Yet, he did not act out of desperation, and I think that is because he was not afraid of losing himself. Uriah’s identity was not tied up in his privilege or his power over other people. Uriah knew who he was, and his identity was formed by his sense of duty, his relationships, and his service to others. So, he responded to a time of uncertainty, a time he thought he was being tested, by living out and staying true to those principles.
My hope for us, then, is that when we are confronted with challenges, or with times when we fear we might be losing something, we might look to the example of Uriah. My hope for all of us is that we know ourselves in that way, or that we take some time to get to know ourselves the way Uriah did. My hope is that we get to know ourselves that way, so that we are faced with challenges we can respond without desperation, because we know that who we are is never found in our privileges over people, but the types of relationships we have with them. We do not find who we are in the power we strive for, but in the responsibilities that we accept. We do not find ourselves in personal gain but in service to others. So, let us look to the example of Uriah, whose name translated means, “Yaweh is my light.” And in times of trouble let us follow that light.
As for David, well, he made some serious mistakes in this situation, but his story is not finished. We hear more about the consequences of his actions and his ongoing relationship with God next week.
Amen.