Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(1 Kings 15:5) Because David did right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
Chronologically, this verse does not really belong here. In context, it told of the reason why the Lord continued to bless David's descendants. It was because David had always done right in the eyes of the Lord and never turned aside from what the Lord commanded him, except for one matter in which David greatly sinned, the matter of Uriah the Hittite, which this verse prefaces.
Back to the true chronological timing:
(2 Samuel 11:1) And it came to pass after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the children of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.
It was the spring of the year after the events of the past year when the Syrians had fled and gave up helping the Ammonites any further. David sent Joab and all his troops out to fight the Ammonites, whom they destroyed and besieged their chief city, Rabbah. It was said to be a time when kings go forth to battle, perhaps because the weather was most agreeable, but David chose not to participate. Had he done his duty, he would not have fallen into temptation. As they say, "Idle hands are the devil’s playground."
(2) And it came to pass in an evening that David arose from off his bed and walked upon the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
One evening David arose from his bed and was walking upon his roof when he saw a very beautiful woman bathing.
(3) And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
David enquired about the woman, and someone told him she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
(4) And David sent messengers and took her, and she came in to him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her uncleanness, and she returned to her house.
David sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him, and it seems she came willingly to him, and he lay with her, meaning sexually. She had been purified from her uncleanness which was the reason for her bathing, purifying herself after her menstrual period. She afterward returned to her house.
(5) And the woman conceived and sent and told David, and said, "I am with child."
Bathsheba became pregnant and sent a message to David to tell him that she was with child.
(6) And David sent to Joab, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent Uriah to David.
David sent a message to Joab, the commander of his troops, to send to him Uriah, which he did.
(7) And when Uriah had come to him, David demanded how Joab did and how the people did and how the war prospered.
When Uriah came to him, David asked him how the war was going and how Joab and the people were doing.
(8) And David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
David then told Uriah to go to his house and wash, and David sent a gift of food after him.
(9) But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.
However, Uriah did not go to his house but slept at the door of David's house with his servants.
(10) And when they had told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Did you not come from your journey? Why did you not go to your house?"
It was told to David that Uriah did not go to his own house, so David asked him why.
(11) And Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. 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 this thing."
Uriah was a very honorable man. While the ark of the Lord and his commander and his servants and soldiers were encamped in tents and open fields, he could not in good conscience go to his house to eat and drink and sleep with his wife. He vowed not to do such a thing, but of course, that is exactly what David wanted him to do, in order to hide David's sin with Uriah's wife.
(12) And David said to Uriah, "Tarry here today also and tomorrow I will let you depart." So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day and the next. (13) And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him, and he made him drunk, and at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord but did not go to his house.
David asked Uriah to stay with him another day which he did. David invited him to eat and drink with him, and he purposely made him drunk, hoping to drive him home to his wife. However, that honorable man slept with David's servants and would not go to his house.
(14) And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. (15) And he wrote in the letter, saying, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle and retire from him that he may be struck and die."
The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent Uriah back to battle to deliver the letter. David wrote in the letter that Joab was to put Uriah in the front line of the hottest battle and retreat from him, leaving him to be struck down and killed. It is hard to believe that this man after God's own heart could stoop so low as to murder an honorable and innocent man to cover his own sin.
(16) And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew that valiant men were. (17) And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab, and there fell of the people of the servants of David, and Uriah the Hittite died also.
Joab looked around and observed where the most valiant men were, men no doubt willing to risk their lives to defend Israel, and he put Uriah with them. When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab's army, some of David's soldiers were killed, including Uriah.
(18) Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, (19) And charged the messenger, saying, "When you have made an end of telling the matters of the war to the king, (20) And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say to you, 'Why did you approach so near to the city when you fought? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? (21) Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerub Besheth? Didn't a woman cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? Why did you go near the wall?', then you say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'"
Joab sent a messenger to tell David how things were going with the war. He told him that if David got angry asking why they would go so close to the wall of the city, knowing that exposed them to being struck by the enemy, reminding them of what had happened in the past when being exposed to the wall of a city, the messenger was to tell David that Uriah had died also. Joab knew that would pacify David's anger as that is what David most wanted.
(22) So the messenger went and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for. (23) And the messenger said to David, "Surely the men prevailed against us and came out to us into the field, and we were upon them even to the entering of the gate. (24) And the shooters shot from off the wall on your servants, and some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also."
The messenger went and told David all that Joab had told him. The messenger told how the men of the city attacked them in the field, but they had fought them back to the gates of the city. However, shooters on the wall shot and killed some of them. He added that Uriah had been killed.
(25) Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make your battle more strong against the city and overthrow it,' and encourage him."
David told the messenger to tell Joab not to let the recent events of the war discourage him. The sword killed strong men as well as the weak, and he should just plan to strengthen his attack on the city and overthrow it. He told the messenger to encourage Joab with those words. What a disgusting deceitful act! David spoke as if it had all been unplanned and unfortunate, and he spoke as the magnanimous leader who did not blame his commander but encouraged him. Of course, it was to cover his wicked commandment to Joab and also Joab's participation in obeying David's cruel command.
(26) And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. (27) And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him, surely knowing nothing of David's plot to have him killed to cover his adultery. When the time of her mourning had passed, David sent for her and made her his wife. She bore him a son. Of course, the thing David had done displeased the Lord! My first thought, was, "Duh! Ya think?" It seems like the most horrific sin. Adultery was one thing, but plotting the murder of an innocent and honorable man to cover that adultery! That was beyond the pale! Then I realized I was judging the severity of sins. Adultery wasn't as bad as murder, and murder was certainly worse than anything I had done! But sin is sin in the eyes of the Lord. It's all sin against the Lord, rejecting Him and His word, to do what we want to do. It's elevating ourselves above God. And to be completely honest with myself, if there is a sin that ranks worse than another, it may be pride! God hates pride (Proverbs 6:16-17, 16:5). So to imagine myself not as wicked as another because my sin was not as bad is a far worse sin! But because we do instinctively judge the wickedness level of sins, David's sins should give us immense encouragement, because God forgave those and called David a man after His own heart. He will certainly forgive us for any sin for which we truly repent. There are powerful lessons for us in the sin of David with Bathsheba.
