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One Sin Leads to Another, June 21
2 Samuel 11
The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
2 Samuel 11:27
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When in ease and self-security he let go his hold upon God, David yielded
to Satan and brought upon his soul the stain of guilt. He, the Heaven-appointed
leader of the nation, chosen by God to execute His law, himself trampled upon
its precepts. He who should have been a terror to evildoers, by his own act
strengthened their hands.
Amid the perils of his earlier life David in conscious integrity could trust his
case with God. The Lord’s hand had guided him safely past the unnumbered
snares that had been laid for his feet. But now, guilty and unrepentant, he did
not ask help and guidance from Heaven, but sought to extricate himself from
the dangers in which sin had involved him. Bathsheba, whose fatal beauty had
proved a snare to the king, was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s
bravest and most faithful officers. None could foresee what would be the result
should the crime become known....
Every effort which David made to conceal his guilt proved unavailing....
In his desperation he was hurried on to add murder to adultery. He who had
compassed the destruction of Saul was seeking to lead David also to ruin. Though
the temptations were different, they were alike in leading to transgression of
God’s law....
Uriah was made the bearer of his own death warrant. A letter sent by his
hand to Joab from the king commanded, “Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the
hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.” Joab,
already stained with the guilt of one wanton murder, did not hesitate to obey the
king’s instructions, and Uriah fell by the sword of the children of Ammon....
He whose tender conscience and high sense of honor would not permit him,
even when in peril of his life, to put forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed,
had so fallen that he could wrong and murder one of his most faithful and most
valiant soldiers, and hope to enjoy undisturbed the reward of his sin. Alas! how
had the fine gold become dim! how had the most fine gold changed
[179]
37
Ibid., 718-720
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184