DAVID’S FALL WITH BETHSHEBA The people of Ammon fled before ‘Abishai,’ and retreated to their fortified city ‘Rabbah.’ Ample preparations were taken to have them destroyed in their city, so as not to represent any more danger to the kingdom of David. David’s men, led by ‘Joab,’ devastated the cities and villages of Ammon, and besieged their fortified city ‘Rabbah.’ As for David, he remained in Jerusalem; and It so happened, that one evening he arose from his bed, and slothfully walked on the roof of the king’s house; and from there, he let his eyes wonder without control, to look with lust to the wife of (his brother); then, he gradually went down the slope, to commit horrible sins. 1- The slothfulness of David 1-2 2- The gradual fall 3-4 3- His human dealing with the situation 5-13 4- Delivering ‘Uriah’ to his death1 4-25 1- The slothfulness of David: The first step in any fall is slothfulness and negligence. David never fell in such a horrible sin (adultery), in his boyhood and youth, when he was shepherding the sheep; when he worked in the royal court; when he was a fugitive, and pursued by Saul; when he became a king over just one tribe; and even as he strove for the salvation of all the tribes of Israel. But now, as his kingdom got well established, increased in glory and got his own house of cedar, he forsook the war to Joab, the commander of his army, and slothfully relaxed in his house in Jerusalem. In the time of the evening, instead of praying for the sake of his men fighting the war of Israel, he arose and walked on the roof of the king’s house, “and he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold” (2 Samuel 11: 2). Life of slothfulness creates a void in the heart and senses, for man to seek fulfillment of his senses through an outer beauty. St. (Mar) Ephram the Syrian, often talked about the danger of slothfulness and negligence in the life of the believer, as well as in the life of the spiritual leader; Of his words are: [The slothfulness of body members will be followed by distraction of thoughts1]. [When the body takes interest in worldly things, and leads a slothful life, the lust in him will turn aflame2]. [Slothfulness and negligence do not only harm a leader, but also those under his command3]. [A man, entrusted with a treasure, should never fall asleep. If we faithfully follow the law of watchfulness, and knowledgeably practice discernment, from which we would reap the fruit of life, the attacks of lusts will never approach our minds4]. 1 The Ascetical homilies, hom. 22. 2 hom . 37. 3 hom . 48. 4 hom . 62. 70 2- The gradual fall: “So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said,‘Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?.’ Then David sent messengers, and took her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house” (2 Samuel 11: 3, 4) David was once strong; never fell since his boyhood to adultery; never offensively killed anybody; and never swayed to the right or to the left, in things concerning the law, save in few moments of weakness. How then, was he falling now, after he became a strong king, a selected prophet, and a just judge of his people?! David probably did not imagine that he could fall in such a dreadful way; “But sin is very sinful” and very deceptive; It knows how to cast its nets and lay its snares, to catch the mighty gradually. David started, in Jerusalem, by becoming negligent in the time of strife, by sleeping on the bed of slothfulness in his house; then by walking on the roof of the king’s house, instead of praying in contrition for the sake of his men. From the roof he saw a woman bathing in her house. He inquired about her , probably assuming that she is a virgin, to take her as his wife; Yet, having been told that she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was fighting for his country, he sent messengers and took her, and fell with her. David’s reason and good sense, paralyzed by his lust, overlooked the following facts: a- Having been granted the great divine grace of being the Lord’s anointed and prophet, he should not have destroyed the holiness of his inner life in the Lord. b- His country was in a state of war; and it was his duty to go to battle, as he used to do, to give joyfully for the sake of the glory of God and the edification of his people; and not to seek the fulfillment of his body lusts. c- By committing adultery with another man’s wife, he broke the law, that condemns to death both the adulterer and the adulteress (Leviticus 20: 10). d- He betrayed a faithful hero, who was fighting for his country-a Jew of foreign origin. The secret of this fall is those “little foxes that spoil the vine” (Songs 2: 15). A big sin starts as a little negligence, that gradually drags man into an endless series of sins. It was in the evening (2 Samuel 11: 2), as David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of his house, to see a woman bathing. It was the right time to fall because the “Sun of Righteousness” set on him; and the darkness prevailed around him; as though at night. As long as our Christ-the Sun of Righteousness-is shining in us, there will be no night, , and no darkness shall prevail; We shall rather be the children of light, kept from falling by His grace. The apostle Paul says: “But you, brethren, are not in darkness; ... You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness; ... But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope for salvation” (2 Thessalonians 5: 4-8). Our bond with the Lord Christ sheds light in our depths; so that no evil thought will ever crawl to us, nor a thief will get through into our hearts. An evil lust crawled into the senses of David in that evening; It came-according to the prophet ‘Nathan,’ as (a guest) who seeks to be fed and get fulfilled. David sent messengers to the house of Uriah the Hittite, and took his only wife ‘Bethsheba’; He 71 sought her to fulfill his wicked lust, although he already had many women. ...; His lust (devoured) her, as well as himself! The Book says, “She came to him” (2 Samuel 11: 4). The woman, feeling what he had in his heart, might have contributed to stir up his lust; probably counting it an honor, to be sought by such a great king ... Yet, in spite of this, David was not justified nor excused, as he was the one who sent for her. As a boy, he could kill the mighty Goliath, terrify the heathens, and give back to the people their dignity. But here, he was broken in humiliation at the hand of a woman! St. Augustine comments on the fall of David before his carnal lust, saying: [Carnal weakness should be taken into consideration. Let us recall the words of the apostle: “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body” (Romans 6: 12). He did not say: “Let no sin be in you,” but: “Do not let sin reign.” There will be sin in you, when there is pleasure; But sin will reign in you, when you give it your consent. It is fitting for you to rein the carnal pleasure, springing from an illegal foreign source; and not to let it loose. Tame it and control it; Do not let it control you. ... Are you stronger than David?! That sin was not committed by David when Saul was persecuting him ... and when he was confused because of his enemies, fleeing from place to place to avoid falling into their hands. He never coveted what belongs to others; and never killed a man for his wife, after committing adultery with her. He was weak and miserable because of his troubles; yet he was attached to God. How beneficial are the temptations; they are like the scalpel of a surgeon1]. 3- His human dealings with the situation: According to the law, Bathsheba, if found pregnant, had to be put to death (Leviticus 20: 10); So she sent and told the king, to find a way to save her from death. David instructed Joab to send him Uriah the Hittite from war, to go down to his house so that the pregnancy would be counted as though from him, and so the crime would be concealed. But Uriah refused to sleep in his own house, as long as his brethren were fighting in the battle field. God rebuked David on the tongue of Uriah, unknowingly, who said: “The ark and Israel and Judas are dwelling 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 drink, and to lie with my wife?! As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing” (2 Samuel 11: 11). ‘Uriah’ decided that his faith in God, the holiness of his life, his humanity, and his honor as a man of war, forbid him from entering his house, to eat and drink, while the battle was going on. He counted it as an insult: to God (symbolized by the ark), to the people (Israel), to the king’s tribe (Judah), to his commander (Joab), as well as to his brethren in the battle field (servants of David); to go to his house to practice what was his lawful right ... It was time for giving and striving, and not to enjoy personal privileges! That was a rebuke to David who, by his fall, insulted God, his people, his tribe, his fighting men, as well as friendship, and even himself. David used every way possible to cover up his crime; He called the man, hoping that he might find in that call a chance to practice his lawful rights with his beautiful wife. He even gave him an order to enter his house, but the man refused, for the love of God, of 1On Ps. 50 (51). 72 David, of his people, and of the honor of his brethren in war. Finally he made him drunk ...; but even then, he refrained from going down to his house (2 Samuel 11: 13). 4- Delivering Uriah to death: When the situation got too much to bear, the mighty David started to go down into a series of horrible sins; He gave his faithful hero a concealed message to carry to Joab, to have him killed by the hands of the enemies. Previously, David could defend the truth, and fight against the pagans, to give the people back their dignity, even at the expense of his own good; But now, he took the justice lightly, and despised the spirit of honesty and loyalty, delivering the faithful warrior together with other innocent souls, to death by the enemies hands, for no reason but to cover up his disgrace, and to conceal the truth. Did ‘Joab’ realize the secret behind David’s message? Although he probably did not realize it in the beginning, he had to obey his master’s command; but he definitely understood what was behind it, when David married the wife of that man, directly after the mourning period was over. ‘Joab,’ could have harbored some doubt, that behind that message, there had to be a serious secret; and that ‘Uriah’ would possibly be the victim of that mysterious decision; that had him killed with no trial, and no defense on his part. But, for ‘Joab,’ it was a precious chance, to realize the king’s purpose, and to spare himself being humiliated for having killed his rival ‘Abner’ (2 Samuel 3). David was kept feeling a kind of humiliation before Joab; that led Joab to dare to talk to him with haughtiness, after killing David’s son ‘Absalom’ (2 Samuel 19: 5-8). David intended in vain to fire him from his command; then he finally told his heir and son Solomon to have him killed (1 Kings 2: 5, 6). The Unjust killing of Uriah, together with some men of war, occurred because of a sin of adultery; thence, violence is always wielded with defilement. We find a person who is falling under the heavy weight of abomination, to be fierce in his depths, even if he looks gentle and meek; and we find a person, who is fierce in his depths, to collapse miserably before his body lusts. Violence and adultery are like two brothers, going hand in hand, and supporting one another. Many fell into body lusts, because of their violence; When man is violent with his parents, brothers, relatives, or colleagues, he will definitely drink of the fruit of his behavior; his body will turn violent against him, to oppose every purity or chasteness; and as said by the prophet Obadiah: “As you have done, it shall be done to you” (Obadiah 15). Going back to David, we find his anger rising , because Joab approached so near to the Ammonite city of ‘Rabbah,’ disregarding what previously happened to Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth, who died because a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone on him from the wall (Judges 9: 5-54). Yet when he was told that Uriah the Hittite died, his anger subsided! When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned him 7 days, as was the custom in those days (Genesis 50: 10; 1 Samuel 31: 13); after which David took her as his wife, and assumed that a veil was finally put over his crime forever; Yet his conscience rested for just one year, because. “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Samuel 11: 27) God has no partiality; If David had much strived for the sake of God, and for the 73 edification of his people, that would never cover up such a horrible crime and such an evil act, ... God waited for David to repent; but as his conscience did not come to wake up, He sent him someone to wake him up and to rebuke him. We end our talk by quoting St. Augustine in his homily on psalm 51: {The woman was far, but the lust was close at hand (see Romans 6: 12); It is as though the sins that we commit, are not the fruit of circumstances; but because we have the sin in us, it drags us on to wherever it chooses].
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