Samuel 11 -

And the thing David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

A messenger rode back to Jerusalem with the news of the battle. “The enemy came out against us,” he reported. “Some of the king’s servants are dead. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”

The knowledge should have been a door closing. Instead, David sent messengers to bring her. It was a command disguised as a summons. A king does not ask. Bathsheba came. And the king took her.

Her name was Bathsheba. He learned that quickly enough from a servant. She was the daughter of Eliam, and the wife of Uriah the Hittite—one of his own elite soldiers, a loyal warrior even now camped before the gates of Rabbah. samuel 11

Uriah arrived, tanned and dusty, smelling of smoke and horses. He stood before the king with a soldier’s rigid respect. David welcomed him warmly. “Go down to your house,” the king said with a generous smile. “Wash your feet. Rest. See your wife.”

He even sent a gift from the king’s own table—a portion of meat to sweeten the welcome.

When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned. She tore her garments and wept for seven days. And when the days of mourning were over, David sent for her and brought her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. And the thing David had done was evil

Uriah, the faithful Hittite, took his own death warrant in his hands and rode toward Rabbah.

Joab read the letter. He understood. He did not question the king. That night, he launched an assault on the city walls. In the place where the enemy’s archers were strongest, he placed Uriah and a few other men. The arrows flew. Uriah the Hittite fell, his blood soaking into the foreign soil of Ammon.

The evening air over Jerusalem was thick with the scent of jasmine and dust. From the rooftop of the royal palace, the city sprawled below like a patchwork quilt of shadow and fading gold. It was spring, the time when kings go to war. But King David was not with his army. He had sent Joab and the mighty men to besiege the Ammonite city of Rabbah, while he remained in the comfort of his house. “Some of the king’s servants are dead

David listened, his face a mask. To the messenger, he said coldly, “Tell Joab not to let this trouble him. The sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen the attack against the city and overthrow it.”

But the Lord saw.