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Power is not entitlement Old Testament Reflection

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David and Bathsheba

(1 Chronicles 20.1a)

1 It was now spring, the time when kings go to war. David sent out the whole Israelite army under the command of Joab and his officers. They destroyed the Ammonite army and surrounded the capital city of Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.

2-4Late one afternoon, David got up from a nap and was walking around on the flat roof of his palace. A beautiful young woman was down below in her courtyard, bathing as her religion required. David happened to see her, and he sent one of his servants to find out who she was.

The servant came back and told David, “Her name is Bathsheba. She is the daughter of Eliam, and she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

David sent some messengers to bring her to his palace. She came to him, and he slept with her. Then she returned home. 5But later, when she found out that she was going to have a baby, she sent someone to David with this message: “I'm pregnant!”

6David sent a message to Joab: “Send Uriah the Hittite to me.”

Joab sent Uriah 7to David's palace, and David asked him, “Is Joab well? How is the army doing? And how about the war?” 8Then David told Uriah, “Go home and clean up.” Uriah left the king's palace, and David had dinner sent to Uriah's house. 9But Uriah didn't go home. Instead, he slept outside the entrance to the royal palace, where the king's guards slept.

10Someone told David that Uriah had not gone home. So the next morning David asked him, “Why didn't you go home? Haven't you been away for a long time?”

11Uriah answered, “The sacred chest and the armies of Israel and Judah are camping out somewhere in the fields with our commander Joab and his officers and troops. Do you really think I would go home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? I swear by your life that I would not!”

12Then David said, “Stay here in Jerusalem today, and I will send you back tomorrow.”

Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day. Then the next day, 13David invited him for dinner. Uriah ate with David, who gave him so much to drink that he got drunk. But Uriah still did not go home. He went out and slept on his mat near the palace guards. 14Early the next morning, David wrote a letter and told Uriah to deliver it to Joab. 15The letter said: “Put Uriah on the front line where the fighting is the worst. Then pull the troops back from him, so that he will be wounded and die.”

16Joab had been carefully watching the city of Rabbah, and he put Uriah in a place where he knew there were some of the enemy's best soldiers. 17When the men of the city came out, they fought and killed some of David's soldiers—Uriah the Hittite was one of them.

18Joab sent a messenger to tell David everything that was happening in the war. 19He gave the messenger these orders:

When you finish telling the king everything that has happened, 20he may get angry and ask, “Why did you go so near the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Don't you know how Abimelech the son of Gideon was killed at Thebez? Didn't a woman kill him by dropping a large rock from the top of the city wall? Why did you go so close to the city walls?”

Then tell him, “One of your soldiers who was killed was Uriah the Hittite.”

22The messenger went to David and reported everything Joab had told him. 23He added, “The enemy chased us from the wall and out into the open fields. But we pushed them back as far as the city gate. 24Then they shot arrows at us from the top of the wall. Some of your soldiers were killed, and one of them was Uriah the Hittite.”

25David replied, “Tell Joab to cheer up and not to be upset about what happened. You never know who will be killed in a war. Tell him to strengthen his attack against the city and break through its walls.”

26When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27Then after the time for mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to the palace. She became David's wife, and they had a son.

The Lord's Message for David

The Lord was angry because of what David had done,

Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®) © 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
See this passage in other languages or Bible versions

Reflect

David had learned through years of experience that when he was desperate for God, he could overcome great obstacles. But now, he’s getting older and more settled. The kingdom is running well and David is feeling entitled to the perks of kingship.
What happens next serves to remind us that success in earthly affairs can sap spiritual awareness and vitality. When David became self-satisfied, he acted thoughtlessly and caused great pain.
At this point in his career, David seems to relax his sensitivity to God’s leading. In a season when he normally would have been out with his troops to strengthen the kingdom, David instead hangs out in the palace and lets his eyes wander into other people’s business. He peered from his rooftop into the private courtyard at a beautiful woman taking a bath, and decided to follow through on his primal urge.
David used his power to take advantage of the people he was supposed to be serving.
In God’s book, that adds up to sin, and sin has consequences. When David allowed his lust for another man’s wife to dictate his actions, he violated a trust and life got complicated. Yet he continued to wield his power carelessly. He tried to cover up his misbehavior, and that cost him the death of a loyal soldier.
David’s desire to escape just consequences compromised his integrity. His unwillingness to acknowledge his own sin undermined his influence.
We may not be kings, but God entrusts each of us with some level of talent and authority for us to use for good or ill. When left to our own devices, we are likely to act uncaringly and create problems. When we acknowledge our dependency on God and others, we are more apt to subdue our selfish interests and pursue more just patterns of living.

Respond

O God, protect me from a spirit of idleness and entitlement. Help me not to channel my power into selfish pursuits. Rather, let me use the gifts and position you give me to serve others and to please you. Help me to engage the right “battles” and avoid base temptations.

Doug Koop

Doug Koop is a writer currently serving as a Spiritual Health Practitioner at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. From 1987 to 2012 he worked as an editor with ChristianWeek newspaper, covering Christian faith and life in Canada. He and his wife, Margaret, are the parents of two adult sons and two daughters-in-law. http://www.christianweek.org http://www.promisekeepers.ca/seven/ http://digital.faithtoday.ca/faithtoday/20121112#pg1

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