The perfect cover-up for sin? – Advent Psalm of Confession, Part 2

David is in a terrible spot of his own making. He has slept with one of his soldier’s wives, and now she is pregnant. How will this king who is known as “the man after God’s own heart” react?  In 2 Samuel 11, verses 6-9, David concocts a plan:

“So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 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. But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.”

David thinks he has come up with the perfect cover up.  Bring the woman’s soldier husband home on leave, and of course the soldier will sleep with his wife.  No one will know that the child isn’t the soldier’s.  David will be off scot-free.  Except for one thing.  Look at verse 10:

“David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” 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. 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.”

David thinks, “Maybe I haven’t made it clear enough for this guy.” So he essentially tells Uriah “It’s okay, go home and be with your wife!”  David even gets Uriah drunk, so that Uriah would be uninhibited by his sense of honor, go home and sleep with his wife.  But nope.  This Uriah is a dedicated soldier. 

In fact, what he says to David in verse 11 must have made David seethe more guilt, shame, anger, embarrassment.  What Uriah says is what David himself should have been thinking, saying, and doing all along. Remaining faithful.  The scene is dripping with irony.  Unfaithful David is unwittingly confronted by faithful Uriah, whose wife David has been unfaithful with.

Nothing is working. David must come up with another plan.  And just then, he has a moment of inspiration.  See verses 14-17,

“In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.”

This story just keeps getting darker and darker, as David is desperate to cover his sin.  Now he has not only committed adultery which the law says is punishable by death, David uses his power to effectively kill Uriah, which the law also says is punishable by death (Lev 24:17).  But after being told the news that his plan worked and Uriah is dead, take a look at verse 25 to hear David’s response, cold as ice: “Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another.” David who is a man after God’s own heart, seems now to have a heart of dead cold stone. 

With the husband out of the picture, David has just one final detail to cover up. In the next post we’ll learn what David does next.

Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash