David Sins Part 1

David got tired on the battlefield and was almost slain. The enemy took advantage of David’s fatigue. A Philistine had a heavy spear in his hand and almost killed David with it but David’s warrior saved David’s life. You can read about it in 2 Samuel 21:15-17.

David’s men said to him, “You shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.” (2 Samuel 21:17b) This meant that they didn’t want David to die.

David was a man of action. He had been a warrior since his youth. Staying home was not the best for David. It was a time of war and he sent his commander, Joab, to fight the Ammonites and they won the battle but David remained at home.

In the cool of the evening, David wandered up on his roof top. The buildings then were flat with an entrance to the roof. There they stored things or used it for extra space like our patios or porches of today. He looked over his city and out on an adjacent roof was a beautiful woman.

He inquired about her and was told her name was Bathsheba and she was married to one of David’s soldiers named, Uriah.

David desired her and took her to his house even though she belonged to another man. This was a sin. She became pregnant and this made David do another terrible sin.

He called for Uriah from battle. Uriah ate and talked with David and then that night he slept on the floor near the door with the guards. He didn’t go home to his wife.

He said, “The ark of the Lord dwells in a tent. The other officers and soldiers sleep on the ground this night in battle. I shall not go home and sleep in a nice comfy bed.”

David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to give to him. The letter told Joab to put Uriah at the front where the fighting was the fiercest. He wanted Uriah to die!

Joab did as he was told and put Uriah in the worst place. It was near the walls of the city where the enemy’s army could shoot arrows down from the walls. There Uriah and many other men were killed.

Joab sent word to David that Uriah was dead. David was relieved. He told Joab not to be too upset about the loss of life and to overtake the city and destroy it.

Bathsheba heard about her husband’s death and mourned for him. Later, David sent for her and she became his wife and bore him a son. The thing that David did displeased the Lord.

God wants us to do right. When we sin, it hurts us as well as others. The Lord wants us to have happy lives. Sin messes up our lives. Sin hurts us and causes us to be further from the Lord. In the next lesson, we will learn what happens to David because of his sin.

 

Memorize: Deuteronomy 13:4a You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice…

 

Verses in NKJV unless otherwise stated