If you have been in church for any amount of time, you have probably heard the story about David and Bathsheba from 2 Samuel 11. It starts out with this statement ‘When Kings go to war’, then tells the story of King David staying home and doing something awful.
However, this same statement is also found in 1 Chronicles 20. In this passage, it doesn’t talk about his sin with Bathsheba, but it does mention a victory won at Rabbah. Both 2nd Samuel 11 and the story in 1 Chronicles, tell about Joab going to Rabbah, but here, we see that David actually joined Joab. Let’s look at a portion of both passages for context. 1 Chronicles 20:1-3 1In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, Joab led the Israelite army in successful attacks against the land of the Ammonites. In the process he laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 2 When David arrived at Rabbah, he removed the crown from the king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and he found that it weighed seventy-five pounds. David took a vast amount of plunder from the city. 3 He also made slaves of the people of Rabbah and forced them to labor with saws, iron picks, and iron axes. That is how David dealt with the people of all the Ammonite towns. Then David and all the army returned to Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 11:1-2 1 In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. 2 Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. The rest of this chapter and into the next, we see that David sins, not only by laying with the wife of one of his most valiant warriors, but also, after finding out she was pregnant, manipulates to have him killed in battle. Then because of the sin, and after David actually marries Bathsheba, unfortunately the child dies. David repents and he and Bathsheba have another child, then we pick up at 2 Samuel 12:26-30 26 Meanwhile, Joab was fighting against Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and he captured the royal fortifications. 27 Joab sent messengers to tell David, “I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply. 28 Now bring the rest of the army and capture the city. Otherwise, I will capture it and get credit for the victory.” 29 So David gathered the rest of the army and went to Rabbah, and he fought against it and captured it. 30 David removed the crown from the king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed seventy-five pounds. David took a vast amount of plunder from the city. 1 Chronicles 20 doesn’t tell the story of David and Bathsheba and I’m not sure why. But in the middle of that story, the prophet Nathan goes and confronts David. 2 Samuel 12:7-12 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The LORD, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. 10 From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. 11 “This is what the LORD says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. 12 You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.” As you read through other scriptures, you see that this prophecy came true in David’s lifetime. All of this horror happened simply because David wasn’t where he was supposed to be. During those times, the kings didn’t battle in the winter, simply because of the conditions. The travel would have been treacherous due to the weather and the cold would have been hard to manage. But a king wanting to take over a territory would usually wait until the conditions were more favorable in the spring to go and begin to battle. David sent Joab to attack Rabbah because they were Ammonites, one of their biggest enemies. The actual battle and siege took almost two full years. Joab had taken some of the soldiers initially, but imagine fighting for two whole years. Then we see in 2 Samuel 26-30 (above) that Joab is requesting David’s help, so David gathers the rest of the army, goes and helps finish the job and takes the spoils, then they return to Jerusalem. Back to the main point, David wasn’t where he was supposed to be. But look at all of the consequences because he didn’t show up.
But something Nathan says in the middle of this story is very hard to accept: 2 Samuel 12:7-9 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The LORD, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. 9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? God had given David the highest authority in the land, that of King. God saved him from his predecessor, gave him everything his predecessor had and would have given him more if he would have asked, and at the end of all of that, God says David ‘despised’ the word of the Lord by sinning so greatly. All of this because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. When we don’t show up, we begin to get lazy about our responsibilities, then it opens the door for temptation. It is as simple as that. Had David been leading this battle, they probably would have won it much quicker. In that one act alone, he disdained his relationship with his commander Joab. He allowed a battle to go on a lot longer than it should have. Instead of sleeping on the battlefield, he walked around the roof of his house, lusting after someone else’s wife. What has happened when you didn’t show up for something you were supposed to do, and it had consequences that affected others? Most of us read the story of David and Bathsheba and only think about what David went through, but have you ever thought about those soldiers? You can’t have a voice in a room you aren’t in. You can’t have an impact in a place you don’t show up to. If you miss out on something, even something seemingly small, you may never fully know or understand the consequences of your absence. But God does. Don’t ever miss the assignments He has made for you, always show up. It protects you and others more than you may ever know.
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