Faithful Uriah

Uriah was a Hittite. “The Hittites as a people were warlike and brave. David’s offense was particularly grievous since Bath-sheba was a married woman and her husband was one of David’s most noble and trusted officers, a man of an alien race who had been brought in contact with the religion of the true God.” David devised a plan.

If he could get Uriah to sleep with Bath-sheba, he might conceal the identity of the child’s father. David ordered Joab to send Uriah to Jerusalem with dispatches.

This would not seem odd as Uriah was familiar with all aspects of the siege at Rabbah and could further report on Joab’s management of the siege.

Once Uriah’s report was delivered, David instructed him to go home to his wife and relax. However, Uriah slept in the palace guardroom. When told Uriah had not gone home, David asked, “Why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?” (2 Samuel 11:10).

Uriah’s reply showed his desire to share the trials and undergo the privations his men were experiencing in the field. Why should he enjoy benefits they could not? He swore he would not break faith with his men (v. 11). “It seems strange that he would make an issue of such a point in opposition to the king. It was either perfervid loyalty and patriotism or a suspicion of the truth.” David tried another tactic—he got Uriah intoxicated, hoping this would get him to go home to his wife. But Uriah spent a second night with the troops in the guardhouse (vv. 12, 13). In desperation, David decided to murder him. David ordered Joab to place Uriah at the front of the next assault, then the men around him were to fall back, leaving him exposed.

This was done, and Uriah fell at the gates of Rabbah with his men. Joab, whose allegiance was to David rather than God, became an accomplice to murder simply because his king told him to do so. “So low had David sunk that he made his trusted officer the bearer of his own death warrant. The valor of Uriah was to pay the price for the king’s transgression.”