The Tragedy Of Roofgate

Those who regularly read the Bible have learned that in doing so they receive a rich perspective toward life in this world and also  life in the world to come. Something that I have learned is that the Bible is full of clues that we miss unless we carefully consider every sentence and every word. For instance in the first part of the first verse of second Samuel chapter eleven there is a very crucial clue to something King David is about to do which tragically affected several individuals and the whole nation of Israel.

“In the spring of the year, when kings go to battle, David sent Joab...But David stayed home.”

Think about what this tells us. Joab was not a King, David was! David was still able to fight. As leader of the nation, where should he have been? He should have been leading his army into battle against the Ammonites. But in the next few verses we see that he was on his roof after napping, spying on his beautiful neighbor who was taking a bath. Maybe he had seen her do this before. Perhaps he already knew that at that time of the day her routine was to bathe. That could have been the reason he stayed home. David committed a sin that led to other horrific sins.

The progression of King David’s sins:

He intentionally looked at Bathsheba lustfully. His eyes lingered.

Because of his power he was able to act to fulfill his sinful desire.

He ordered the lovely Bathsheba to come to him.

He slept with her.

As a result she became pregnant with his child.

David attempted to cover it up by bringing Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, home from battle so that he would sleep with her.

That backfired on him because Uriah was such an honorable man that he wouldn’t even go home to be with her. That just didn’t seem right to him while his fellow compatriots continued to fight

David schemed to place Uriah in a position on the battlefield where he would be killed, and he was.

David took Bathsheba to be his wife.

The damage done by King David:

Uriah was killed because David wanted Bathsheba for himself.

Bathsheba wasn’t to blame for David’s lust driven actions.

The scriptures tells that she grieved for Uriah. She must have loved him. David destroyed her marriage.

During the time when David had sinned and turned from God, up until the point where he finally repented, he never wrote a single psalm.

David was never the effective King he had been prior to his sins.

Thus the whole kingdom of Israel suffered.

David’s family suffered for many years, and his and Bathsheba’s tiny son died as a result.

And David was tormented because of his sin and bore the guilt the rest of his life. When a man commits adultery he will suffer guilt until the day he breathes his last breath.

Worst of all David broke God’s heart.

All of this because King David did not do what kings do in the spring, and in David’s situation, as the leader of God’s chosen people. He should not have stayed home. Certainly It was not God’s will for David to stand on his roof and watch a beautiful woman take a bath. What about it men, what would you have done?