2 Samuel 11:6-13

Relax, Read and Reflect

Prayer- Lord, Open our hearts and open our minds and help us learn. Go-Fight-Win. Amen.

2 Samuel 11:6-13 (New International Version)

⁶ So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David. ⁷ When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. ⁸ Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. ⁹ But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house.

¹⁰ When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"

¹¹ Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!"

¹² Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants; he did not go home.

The cover-up begins. Bathsheba is pregnant after her tryst with David. Her husband, Uriah the Hittite, is a soldier in David's army. So David sends word to Joab to send Uriah to Jerusalem to report on the fighting.

Uriah came and reported, but when he was finished he stayed at the palace. When David heard this his asked why. Uriah said that the army was was camping in tents so it was not fair for him to go home.

David needed Uriah to go to his beautiful wife and let nature take it's course. So, he does what he thinks is a sure fire way to have Uriah go home and sleep with his wife, he gets him drunk. Still Uriah shows honor and does not go home.

Questions:

1. Why does David ask for Uriah to come home?

2. Why is it significant that Uriah, a Hittite, show so much loyalty to David and to his fellow soldiers?

3. What will David do next?