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From Eternity Past
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. The law of God pronounced the adulterer guilty
of death, and the proud-spirited soldier, so shamefully wronged, might
avenge himself by taking the life of the king or by exciting the nation
to revolt.
Every effort which David made to conceal his guilt proved un-
availing. He had betrayed himself into the power of Satan; danger
surrounded him, dishonor more bitter than death was before him. There
appeared but one way of escape—to add murder to adultery. David
reasoned that if Uriah were slain by the hand of enemies in battle, the
guilt of his death could not be traced to the king. Bathsheba would be
free to become David’s wife, suspicion could be averted, and the royal
honor maintained.
Uriah was made the bearer of his own death warrant. The king
commanded Joab, “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 murder, did not hesitate to obey the king’s
instructions, and Uriah fell by the sword of the children of Ammon.
David Temporarily Becomes Agent of Satan
Heretofore David’s record as a ruler had won the confidence of
the nation. But as he departed from God, he became for the time the
agent of Satan. Yet he still held the authority that God had given him,
and because of this, claimed obedience that would imperil the soul of
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him who should yield it. Joab, whose allegiance had been given to
the king rather than to God, transgressed God’s law because the king
commanded it.
When David commanded that which was contrary to God’s law,
it became sin to obey. “The powers that be are ordained of God”
(
Romans 13:1
), but we are not to obey them contrary to God’s law. The
apostle Paul sets forth the principle by which we should be governed:
“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
1 Corinthians
11:1
.
An account of the execution of his order was sent to David, but
so carefully worded as not to implicate either Joab or the king. “Thy
servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”