1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
3 And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. 5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child. (2 Samuel 11:1-5 KJV)
Thomas Haweis
Verses 1-5: Dark and dismal are the contents of this chapter: David’s sun suffers a dreadful eclipse; and in the midst of his victories abroad, he is worse than vanquished at home, fallen a slave under brutish lusts and passions.
1. In pursuit of the former victory Joab presses hard on the deserted Ammonites, (David being returned in triumph to Jerusalem) and having subdued their country invests their capital. Note, When our enemies are fallen we must pursue the blow.
2. David in the meantime is seduced into the grievous crimes of adultery and murder. Whilst other kings are heading their forces in the field, he was indulging himself ingloriously in ease at home; whilst they endured the hardships of a camp, he rose from his downy bed, idly to saunter on the roof, and enjoy the evening’s breeze: there his wandering eye rolled around; and, as sloth had prepared the fuel, a spark of lust entered, that kindled it into a flame.
A beautiful woman in her garden retired, or in her chamber overlooked by the king’s palace, washed herself, from her natural ceremonial impurity, and thus innocently became a snare to the unguarded monarch. At the sight, unhallowed desires kindle in his bosom; he turns not away from the inflaming object, but urged by lawless appetite, contrives how to enjoy her. He inquires her name and condition, and not deterred by her belonging to another man, invites her to his house, and tempts her to his bed; to which, with too easy compliance, she consents. See now the deadly gloom that covers this great character! For one moment’s base indulgence, he is as much lost to all sense of shame, honour, and the fear of God, as the most abandoned atheist. Lord, what is man! Every circumstance served to aggravate his crime: a king, that should have punished with death the adulterer, one who wanted not numerous wives of his own, an aged man, in whom these youthful lusts were doubly brutish; the person injured, his friend and servant, now fighting for him in the field; and an accomplished woman, before innocent and respectable, prevailed upon, perhaps, not more by the glare of his crown, than the fame of his piety, as though that could not be criminal which David proposed.
Note, (1.) On this side the grave, no man is secure from presumptuous sins. (2.) The lusts of the flesh are the most besetting evils, and the last to be subdued. (3.) They who make provision for the flesh, by sloth and sensuality, are prepared for every temptation. (4.) When we are out of the way of duty, we can no longer expect divine protection. (5.) If the eye be suffered to wander, the heart will not be long restrained from sin. (6.) Every indulgence given to carnal appetite leaves us more unable to resist its cravings, and hurries body and soul headlong into perdition. (7.) When once the heart is given up to lewdness, then men can sacrifice honour, interest, friends, yea God himself, to the idol of their hateful passions.