Page images
PDF
EPUB

and on foot. Shobach, the commander of the Syrians, was slain by David's own hand. The success of his arms, with his personal prowess and skill, so terrified the various kings who were subject to Hadadezer, that they were glad to accept of offers of peace from David, and became tributary to him. The Syrians, too, we are told no longer dared to afford the Ammonites any aiu in their future conflicts with the Israelites. Se Psalms 20 and 21.

CHAPTER XXVII.

David's conduct in the case of Bath-sheba and Uriah.

David was now nearly, or quite fifty years of age; about twenty having elapsed since he was crowned king of Judah at Hebron. He had advanced, as we have seen, from one degree of prosperity to another, till he found himself the monarch of the most powerful nation on earth; beloved by his people; dreaded by his enemies; and enjoying the greatest of all blessings, the peculiar protection and favor of Jehovah.

Alas! that in the midst of such unexampled prosperity, he should forget his obligations to

the Author of it, and suffer himself to fall into sin by yielding to the temptations which assailed him. It cannot be, that at this time he felt deeply his dependence on God, and daily and fervently raised his supplications in secret, for the wisdom and grace which he so much needed. His successes had probably inflated his pride and self-reliance. He had gained the most triumphant victories over his earthly enemies, but now he had spiritual ones to contend with, more formidable on account of their subtlety and power. He had slain the commander of the Syrian hosts with his own arm; but he had now to cope with the prince of darkness, while a traitor lurked within his own bosom, and was ready to betray him into the hands of this terrific adversary of souls.

David had returned from his victory over the Syrians, to Jerusalem, and after the lapse of a year, despatched the whole of his military forces. under Joab, to carry on the war against the Ammonites, while himself remained behind. The Israelites, having had several encounters with the enemy, in which numbers of the latter were slain, laid siege, at length, to Rabbah, one of their principal cities.

It was in this posture of affairs that the temptation assailed David to which allusion has just been made. He was led by it to desire to have as his wife, (although he could not expect to be

absent, at this time, David sent messen

married to her, for she was already the wife of another,) a very beautiful woman of Jerusalem. Her name was Bath-sheba. Her husband was Uriah the Hittite, who was with the army under Joab. gers to her, that he might carry his purpose into effect, and was successful. She was brought to the palace. She returned home a grievous sinner in the sight of God. David, too, incurred enormous guilt. He knew the divine commands, but violated them. He coveted his neighbor's wife. But his sin ended not here. Crime leads on to crime, and he who yields to temptation, and commits one sin, knows not where his guilt will end.

He wished to conceal his crime, and especially to keep it from Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba. He sent for him to return from the army to Jerusalem. Uriah came, and David used several expedients to get him to return to his own house, and live with Bath-sheba and his family as usual. Uriah, a brave and patriotic soldier, would not do this while his fellow-soldiers and his general were still prosecuting the siege, and thus David was involved in still greater diffi culty. A new and dreadful temptation presented itself to his mind. He began to think that if Uriah was dead, he should not only thus be rid of one who could give him a great deal of trouble, but that he could then soon marry Bathsheba. But he dared not order Uriah to be put

to death, for it would be too outrageous an enormity. He resolved to accomplish by stratagem what he shrunk from doing openly. He despatch. ed Uriah back again to the army, with a letter to Joab, and by this means made the man whom he had so grossly injured, the unconscious instrument of his own destruction. That letter contained the injunction, "Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die."

Joab had not the moral courage to disobey the order. He may have been wicked enough, too, to hope that a compliance with it would serve to promote his worldly interests by ingratiating himself still more with his sovereign. At any rate, he made use of the first opportunity to carry the wishes of David into effect. For soon ordering an assault upon the city which, it will be recollected, he was besieging, Joab took care to assign Uriah a place among the foremost, and where he would be exposed to the greatest danger. Some of the men of Rabbah made a sally, while others discharged their arrows from the walls, and a severe conflict ensued. Uriah fell, as had been expected, being deserted, it is probable, by those who might have sustained him and his party; and some of the Israelites were also slain.

Joab immediately sent a messenger to David, to inform him of what had happened. He took

care, however, to do this in a way which would not expose either himself or the king. He charged the messenger, saying, "When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, and if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerub-besheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall?-then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also."

Having received this message, David sent back word to Joab: "Thus," said he, addressing the messenger, "shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.”

Bath-sheba, on hearing of the death of her husband, mourned for him, as was the custom, a few days, with the usual ceremonies, but was soon married to David, and thus they both showed that they still cherished the attachment which had been formed between them, and that nothing like penitence for their offences had as yet found its way to their heart.

The divine testimony is left on record against the conduct of David in the whole of this affair;

« PreviousContinue »