2 Samuel 11:14–21 (ESV) – 14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” 16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. 18 Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. 19 And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, 20 then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’ ”

David’s affair with Bathsheba was going to be known. She was pregnant. David’s plan to cover it up did not work because Bathsheba’s husband was an honorable man and did not go along with the plan. In response, David came up with an even more outrageous scheme. If he could not get Uriah to go along, he would just eliminate Uriah altogether. David sent Uriah to the front lines of battle with the sole intention of having him killed. It worked.

When we see the growth of David’s sin, it should shock us. This is what sin does to all of us. It starts off as something seemingly small, but quickly grows and expands to include lies to cover it up, others who were not originally involved, and murderous feelings and actions towards others. We may not actually kill someone, but we may begin to despise or reject the one who is causing our sin to be known. We murder them in our hearts.

Sin is ugly and it is a part of every human heart. This is why Jesus had to die for us. We are all sinners and need forgiveness. Praise God that we have a Savior to rescue us from ourselves!

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