{"id":17530,"date":"2021-07-23T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/urc\/urc-daily-devotion-friday-23rd-july-2021"},"modified":"2021-07-23T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T05:00:00","slug":"urc-daily-devotion-friday-23rd-july-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.trinitywimbledon.org\/index.php\/urc-daily-devotion-friday-23rd-july-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"URC Daily Devotion Friday 23rd July 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday 23rd July 2 Samuel 11:2-21<\/strong><\/p>\n

It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king\u2019s 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, \u2018This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.\u2019  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, \u2018I am pregnant.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

So David sent word to Joab, \u2018Send me Uriah the Hittite.\u2019 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, \u2018Go down to your house, and wash your feet.\u2019 Uriah went out of the king\u2019s house, and there followed him a present from the king.  But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king\u2019s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, \u2018Uriah did not go down to his house\u2019, David said to Uriah, \u2018You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?\u2019  Uriah said to David, \u2018The 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.\u2019  Then David said to Uriah, \u2018Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.\u2019 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.  In the letter he wrote, \u2018Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.\u2019  As Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant warriors. The men of the city came out and fought with Joab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was killed as well.  Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting;  and he instructed the messenger, \u2018When you have finished telling the king all the news about the fighting,  then, if the king\u2019s anger rises, and if he says to you, \u201cWhy did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?  Who killed Abimelech son of Jerubbaal?  Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?\u201d then you shall say, \u201cYour servant Uriah the Hittite is dead too.\u201d\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflection<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Forget anything you\u2019ve been told about David being seduced by a scheming, adulterous woman; this is a story about male lust, abuse of power and a whole catalogue of sins that can be levelled against David.  He breaks half the 10 commandments and violates other aspects of the Israelite law codes too. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bathsheba is engaging in ritual cleansing when David spies upon her from the elevated position of his palace and she has no power to resist the king\u2019s sexual advance.  Her husband is part of Israel\u2019s army and away fighting, (where David should have been as leader); and Uriah, a Hittite, isn\u2019t bound by the covenant codes which David is supposed to exemplify.  Hearing that Bathsheba is pregnant, David summons Uriah home to make it appear that the child is Uriah\u2019s; but Uriah complies with Israelite law in full and David\u2019s plan fails.  When David tries to undermine his resolve, Uriah remains righteous, whereas David abuses his powers and makes Joab complicit in the killing of Uriah, along with the unnecessary deaths of other soldiers too.  This inevitability wasn\u2019t considered when David devised his unholy scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every aspect of David\u2019s behaviour is sinful down to his anger towards Joab for losing so many men in battle \u2013 and all in a futile attempt to hide what would now be described as his rape of another man\u2019s wife.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why does this story exist in the scriptures?  Because it portrays David, Israel\u2019s greatest king, as a flawed human being, just like all of us.  It shows how easily one sinful act can lead to another; and how things can spiral out of control if we try to preserve our reputation and abuse our position.<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is: God remained faithful to David and achieved great things through him.  There is hope for me!<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Loving God we pray for women and men in our world who are victims of sinful behaviour directed against them, or caught up in the consequences of the abusive use of power by those in privileged positions.  Protect them from wrongful accusations of complicity and restore them to wholeness.<\/span>
Help us discern truth when others try to keep it hidden; and save us from becoming complicit with perpetrators of wrongdoing.  Amen.<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday 23rd July 2 Samuel 11:2-21 It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king\u2019s 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, \u2018This is … <\/p>\n

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