The Integrity of a Loyal Husband, Part 2

King David is a celebrated hero of Israel, but the Bible shows us that David was flawed.

In fact, one of his greatest blunders led to an innocent man's death arranged by the king himself. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll continues a message he started on Tuesday's program. He's teaching from 1 Samuel 25, where the story of David's affair with another man's wife triggered a sequence of lies.

By reliving this familiar story, we'll discover what it means to cultivate what Chuck calls the integrity of a loyal husband. Let's begin with prayer. Before we cluck our tongues or shake our finger at David, Father, stop us. Help us to look within and realize the same nature that was residing in David when he acted in hypocrisy and murder resides in us. We need you every moment of every day, Father, to control our thoughts, to guide our eyes, to stop us before we attempt to cover wrongdoing. We need the courage to tell the truth, the integrity to acknowledge our own responsibility with wrongdoing.

We can even be like Joab and cooperate with a plan we know is wrong. So, Father, today soul-searching will go on in this room, and among all who hear your word, may it proceed without resistance as we realize we, just like those men and the women around us and all people, we, our Father, struggle deeply, inwardly, secretly. I pray that you will speak especially to those who are plotting a plan that is wrong and that you would stop them. Whatever it may be, Father, whatever the message, may it be heard and heeded. Speak through your words today as these statements from this passage reach out to us and beg for a reason. May nothing interrupt our thoughts as we work our way through the story and then realize its application personally. Help us, our Father, as we continue on this journey. Life is long and it is arduous and there are pitfalls.

There are times when we lose our patience and lose our way. Remind us of the value of restraint. May we lean hard on you and the power of your spirit within us. May we learn to say no, even when no one else is around. And may that no honor you. We give you these moments ahead, confident that you will use them personally through Christ our Lord, we pray.

Everyone said, Amen. Chuck titled his message, The Integrity of a Loyal Husband. Uriah and Bathsheba nestled into that little home to begin their honeymoon together and hope for a wonderful series of springtime days together as they would enjoy the pleasures of marriage and the beginning of life as a couple. And one day there's a knock at the door and Uriah reads his orders that come from the king. He's ordered into battle of all things. Joab's been appointed the field commander. He will lead the battle at Rabbah. Uriah learns of that and whoever it may be, he will certainly cooperate with the plan because Joab is appointed by his king. So Uriah would answer to Joab as the battle begins. All of a sudden we're moved in just a single verse back to Jerusalem to the bedchamber of David who is taking a nap while his soldiers are fighting.

We're never told why. Why didn't he go into battle? Why did he hang back at the palace?

For whatever reason, it was late in the afternoon after he had enjoyed a midday rest that he stretches himself sitting on the side of his bed, stands up. It must have been hot in the room so he turns and decides to walk out where there might be a cooler breeze on the on the roof of the palace. When he does, he hears the splashing of water.

David's never taken the time to observe who his neighbors are. Suddenly he's interested in one of them. He sees the body of a beautiful naked woman bathing, blinded by lust, forgetting that he has other women already, his wives in the palace. He wants another one.

Forgetting who he is and forgetting the respect the nation has for him. I mean, it's the city of David. It's the star of David on the flag.

It's David's royal palace. And right now it's David who wants a woman. Bring her to me. She comes.

The two of them lie together. Adultery is committed and she quickly is on her way. I think David thought little of it by now. His guilt has blinded him to even a concern about what has happened until he gets word from her that changes everything.

I am pregnant. He thinks of one thing. I've got to get Uriah in bed with his wife.

Whatever it takes. Uriah is on the battlefront, remember? A messenger hands him a message. You are to return to meet with the king in the royal palace. Without hesitation, Uriah takes the message and does exactly as it says.

I can only picture it. He comes off his mount as he reaches the steps of the palace. He walks up. That palace guard must have stood at ramrod. Attention snapped a salute. He returns it, walks in and is escorted back to the private chamber of David the king.

As he enters, everyone else in the room leaves. The door closes and here is that unbelievable moment. He, face to face with the king of Israel. His heart must have been in his throat.

What an honor. And he waits to hear what the king will say. Look at the words. Listen to the hypocrite. When Uriah arrived, verse seven, David asked him, how's Joanne?

And how's the battle progressing? He didn't care about either one. He wanted Uriah home with his wife.

But Uriah must have thought this is going to lead to something far more important. They're fine. The battle is going well, my king.

Great. Verse eight, go on home, Uriah. Rest.

Rest? Go home? Surely there's more in David's mind than this. Why, as a matter of fact, for the first time in his entire life, he doesn't obey an order. We read specifically, Uriah didn't go home. Verse nine, that night he slept with a palace entrance guards at the king's palace. Where did he go between the time he left and the time he went to sleep in the entrance if he didn't go home? Here's another question for you.

I deliberately looked past it. Verse eight, David told Uriah, go on home and relax. David even sent a gift to Uriah after he left. What was the gift? No one even addresses it in any of the commentaries I checked, and I checked over a dozen. None of my resources address either what was the gift or where Uriah went.

I'm intrigued by those kind of mysteries. I don't know. So if you're waiting for the answer, I can't tell you. It's never answered here or anywhere else.

We're just left. I wonder what Bathsheba thought when the gift arrived at the home and Uriah wasn't there. How strange it was that David would send a gift, no doubt to his home.

Maybe it sat there, right there at the entrance. And maybe she thought maybe Uriah's coming back. She doesn't know. I'm convinced Bathsheba was not a part of this plot at all.

But whatever. He spends the night in the palace entrance, of all things. This top elite soldier rolls up a garment and makes it his pillow and sleeps on the floor right there in the palace. The next morning, verse 10, when David heard that Uriah had not gone home, he summoned him. Well, I would imagine. And he asked, what's the matter? Oh, why did you go home last night after being away for so long? I love Uriah's reply.

I love it. Listen to the integrity. He is speaking to the king of Israel. I could not do that.

The ark, the armies, the armies of Israel and Judah are living in tents, Joab, and your men are camping in the open fields. How could I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife? I swear I would never do such a thing. That's how soldiers lose their rank. That's how you get mustard out of the core. But David doesn't do that.

I think his mouth must have dropped open. He's never seen such integrity. I could not do that.

I will not do that. It's as if David shrugs and says, all right, stick around another day and we'll have dinner together tonight and then you can go back tomorrow. So Uriah stayed, we read, stayed that day at Jerusalem and the next day David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. Hello, can David go? If he can't convince him while he's sober, maybe he will yield when he's inebriated. And even then we read, Uriah doesn't go home again another night in the palace entrance.

You know, Uriah is a better man drunk than David is sober. I cannot do that. I will not do that.

Those are our men. So look at what happens. Watch. We read in verse 14, the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah. Uriah, give this to Joab.

His death warrant. He knew that Uriah would never, ever open that letter. That letter was safe in Uriah's pouch.

It's exactly where it went. An amazing man. I rather suspect Uriah is thinking, even now, this is the strategy. David needed time to think it through. It's the message for my field commander and for me. We're going to work in some way together and what a privilege it'll be to carry this out as I take this message from my king to my commander. He arrives and I want to pause for a moment and set the record straight before you get overly impressed with Joab. Go back to chapter three, the end of the chapter. You need to see this. Joab is a distant relative of David, by the way.

He is more than that. Joab has just killed Abner, a strong warrior, and it incenses David. The end of the chapter, you pick up the story at verse 38. Look at this.

You can't miss it. Then King David said to his officials, don't you realize that a great commander has fallen — referring to Abner — has fallen today in Israel? And even though I am the anointed king, these two sons of Zeruiah, Joab and Abishai, are too strong for me to control. Look at that statement.

Look at that statement. Joab is one of those conniving officers who, unconvinced, remains suspicious of David. Nevertheless, a good warrior, certainly brutal, able to fight.

But you'll notice something here back into chapter 11. When Uriah returns to the battle, look at this. He gave the letter to deliver, and the letter instructed Joab — I meant verse 15 — station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest, then pull back.

In other words, take away all the defense. He's a sitting duck so that he will be killed. I've marked only one line in this chapter in my Bible.

That's the line. It is a premeditated murder. Have him killed.

Stop. Joab reads the instructions in the letter. Joab knows that Uriah is one of the thirty-seven. He's telling me to have him killed. Joab's already the suspicious type.

I won't carry that theory much further, but I'll leave it with you. I am convinced, in my heart — he understood the command. He'll do it. He folds it up, puts it in his pouch, and sees it as checkmate blackmail when he needs it.

He's got David just where he wants him. Whatever is going on, this is wrong. You don't kill one of your top thirty-seven. You don't kill any of your own men, deliberately.

This is instruction to take him out. So Joab does exactly that. He assigned him to the point most threatened where the enemy's strongest men were fighting. And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed — notice, notice — along with several other Israeli soldiers. So he's not only killed Uriah, he's killed other soldiers. I'm sure Joab covered that so that it wouldn't look like what it was.

It would look like just a skirmish, and they got the raw end of the deal, and they lost Uriah. Now David must be wondering by now what's happened on the battlefield, so Joab solves the question. Verse 18, he sent a battle report to David. He told his messenger, look closely, report all the news of the battle to the king. He might get angry and ask, why did the troops go so close to the city, meaning the city of Rabah? Didn't they know that there would be shooting from the walls? Wasn't Abimelech, son of Gideon, killed at Thebes by a woman who threw a millstone down on him?

Oh, why would you get so close to the wall? Then tell him Uriah the Hittite was killed, too. We'll all be sure and add that.

Watch. Back in Jerusalem, the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave the complete report to David. The enemy came out against us, the open fields, and said, you know, he said, and as we chased them back to the city gate, the archers on the wall shot arrows at us. Some of the king's men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite. Why did he want him killed? Well, for sure, the pregnancy would become known and he would have to face Uriah because Bathsheba would quite likely yield the name.

He thought this would remove part of the accusation or the possibility of such. Well, says David, this is the hypocrite. Well, then tell Joab not to be discouraged.

The sword devours one today and this one today and that one tomorrow. Okay, fight on harder. Hail to Israel. Shame on you, David.

What a pathetic example of a leader. Chuck Swindoll often says that the Bible never flatters its heroes, and that's certainly true of David. We're witnessing the king of Israel at his lowest moment, caught in a trap of his own making. The title of Chuck's message is The Integrity of a Loyal Husband. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. And if you're looking for an inspirational book to help you start the new year and one that ties in naturally with this new study, then we highly recommend Chuck Swindoll's book called Joseph, a Man of Integrity and Forgiveness. In his book, Chuck helps us walk alongside this biblical hero to see how God used his adversity to display his glory. It's a story of overcoming the betrayal by his brothers, false accusations from his employer and injustice from the authorities. God had his hand on Joseph all along the way. Ask for the book Joseph, a Man of Integrity and Forgiveness.

It's available for purchase at insight.org slash offer. Or call us if you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. Chuck's personal mission is to help you learn more about the Bible and its relevance to your life. It's all made possible, of course, because people just like you give voluntary donations.

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My power works best in weakness. Again, if you're listening in the United States, call 1-800-772-8888 or go to insight.org slash monthly companion. Join us when Chuck Swindoll describes what he calls the integrity of a loyal husband, Thursday on Insight for Living. The preceding message, The Integrity of a Loyal Husband, was copyrighted in 2021 and 2022, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.