10th Day after Pentecost Rev. Charles Wei
2 Samuel 11:1-15
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 get 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.”
Imperfect People
The story of David and Bathsheba is about the interaction of people from different levels of social standing and different levels of power. It’s a story about how power can be abused, and how the powerless can be victimized. David lived in his palace, looking down upon all of his subjects, which included Bathsheba. David was isolated from his people, and we can see in this story how he orchestrates all of his actions from his place of protection and privilege in the palace. We see that he sent Joab to war, he sent someone to learn about Bathsheba, he sent messengers to get her. I think it’s important that we pay attention to the fact that Hebrew word for “to get” that’s used here is the same word that would be used for buying commodities. Bathsheba is reduced to an object.When David summons her, she would’ve had no choice but to comply. David is the king; he has all of the power, and she has none. David is the ultimate authority in the land, and everyone has to do what he says. This is a far cry from the shepherd boy who killed Goliath with his sling.
Besides the story of Goliath, this story about David and Bathsheba is probably the most well-known story about David. To this day, David is revered because he ruled during a golden age of the Israelite people. We forget, sometimes, that David wasn’t perfect, and our scripture readings today describe a time in David’s life when he made some very bad decisions.
The first verse of this text says, “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.” But, David is the king. This is the time when kings go out to battle. Why did David stay behind?
Uriah actually addresses this in a pretty subtle and indirect way, later in the text. When David tells Uriah to visit Bathsheba, Uriah says, “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.” This reference to the festival of booths, when all of the people are supposed to be together, seems to be a subtle condemnation of David. All of his people are together, even God, as represented by the ark, and yet, David remains behind.
The incident with Bathsheba is a shadow on David’s character; he knew that she was a married woman, but he sent for her anyway. Later, when she conceives, David sends for her husband, Uriah, hoping that Uriah will have a conjugal visit with his wife while he is away from the war, so that everyone might believe that the child is Uriah’s, rather than David’s. When that doesn’t work, David schemes to have Uriah killed.
This doesn’t seem like someone to revere, someone that we should be modeling our lives after. David is brash, he’s arrogant, he’s impulsive to a fault and he wants things that are bad for him. Is David really supposed to be an example for us?
Just like David, none of us are perfect. We all have shortcomings that we’re trying to overcome, some perceived flaws of personality, character, or lifestyle. We all want things that aren’t necessarily the best for us. As a kind of extreme example, I saw this episode of “Hoarders” one time. It’s this horrible TV show that’s about people who have a compulsive disorder that prevents them from throwing things away. There was this one woman who refused to throw away food. So, she just had these mountains of rotting food all over her house.
The premise of the show is that people come in and clean all this stuff out. There’s a therapist there to make sure the people are handling everything okay, and to make sure that they actually go through with the plan to clean up their house, and really, clean up their lives. Hoarding isn’t just about the stuff; it causes all kinds of other complications. Their houses turn into fire hazards, and many of them start to get sick because of their living conditions. One woman was a compulsive shopper whose debt was spiraling out of control. Another family was about to be evicted from their home. One couple was about to lose their children to child protective services.
Like I said, these are extreme examples, but we all want things that are bad for us. I eat things I shouldn’t eat, I buy things I don’t need, I procrastinate. Now, I’m not saying that I spend a lot of time dwelling on my shortcomings and feeling depressed, but I do recognize them. I know that I’m not perfect.
David wasn’t perfect. We don’t have to do a lot of Biblical interpretation to understand that what David did was wrong. Did the power go to his head? Was he so separated, so removed, so high above his people, now, that he just couldn’t relate to them, anymore? What happened to the young shepherd boy to make him like this? David’s position of power blinded him to what he was doing; it was like he couldn’t even grasp onto the idea that what he was doing was wrong. But, the allure of those privileged spaces is powerful. So many of us would love to have the money, and the power, and the security of living like that. Some people might be attracted to the fame or the social capital. Any time we start thinking like that, we might need to consider if there are other reasons behind those desires.
It’s easy to judge David in this text, but as with anytime we read a story from the Bible, we have to ask ourselves how the story reflects in our own life. What does the story of David tell us about the spaces we move in, and our own privilege? What do we do with our privilege and power? Are we even aware of it?
David wasn’t perfect. Adam and Eve weren’t perfect. Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam, Samuel, Saul, none of them were perfect. Esther wasn’t perfect. Mary and Joseph, Peter and Paul. The Bible is full of stories of imperfect people. God loves imperfect people. And, God can use imperfect people.
David wasn’t perfect, but David loved God. Obviously, this doesn’t excuse any of his bad behavior, just like loving God doesn’t excuse any of us from our bad behavior, but David really loved God! And, God was able to use David to do some truly miraculous things, just like God used all of those imperfect people that I just mentioned to do truly miraculous things.
God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. We couldn’t be perfect, even if we tried. And, that’s okay. What matters is that we always try to be better, to do better. So, no matter what we might think is wrong with us, God will always love us and will always be able to use us, even in our imperfection, to make a better world. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
