The Life and Times of

Plan C: Get Uriah to Do Drunk What He Will Not Do Sober (11:12-13)

David is getting desperate. David has not even entertained the possibility that Uriah will refuse his offer. Uriah speaks with such conviction, David knows that he will never violate his duty as a soldier with all of his mental faculties. David lands upon one last modification to his original plan -- get Uriah drunk and then into bed with his wife. After all, don't people do things when they are drunk that they will not do when sober? This will surely bring about David's intended outcome.

It must be with great apprehension that Uriah joins David for dinner this last night in Jerusalem. David begins to eat and to drink, and he will not take no for an answer when he offers food and drink to Uriah. Eventually, it works, for David makes sure that Uriah has enough alcohol in his system to make him drunk. And in this condition, David sends Uriah home to “sleep it off,” in his own bed, of course. Even drunk, Uriah will not violate his conscience!⁴ Once again, Uriah spends the night at the doorway of David's house, along with his servants. He does not go to his own house, and thus he does not sleep with his wife. David is in trouble.

Plan C: In Desperation, David Has Uriah Put To Death (11:14-17)

David has set out on a course of action that backfires. He intends to put Uriah in a position that will make it appear that he is the father of Bathsheba's child. But Uriah's conduct has publicly exhibited his loyalty to his duties as a soldier, making it more than evident that he cannot possibly be the father of this child. It is worse for David now than it had been when he summoned Uriah to Jerusalem. David concludes -- wrongly -- that his only course of action now is to have Uriah killed in action. I don't know that David actually thinks he can deceive the people of Jerusalem as to whose child Bathsheba's baby is. How can he when everyone knows Uriah has never been with his wife to get her pregnant? It seems now as though David is simply trying to legitimize his sin. By making Uriah a casualty of war, he makes Bathsheba a widow. He can now marry this woman and raise the child as his own, which of course it is.

It must be an agonizing night for David, seeing that even drunk Uriah is a better man than he. And so in the morning, David acts. He writes a letter to Joab, which will serve as Uriah's death warrant. In this letter David clearly orders Joab to murder Uriah for him. He even tells him how to do so in a way that might conceal the truth of the matter. In so doing, David will honor Uriah as a war hero, and magnanimously take on the duty of being a husband to Uriah's wife, also taking care of the child she is soon to bear. Joab is to put Uriah on the front lines of battle, at the fiercest place of battle, no surprise for a man of his military skills and courage. Joab is to attack and then retreat in such a way as to make Uriah an easy target for the Ammonites, thus assuring his death. There is no mistaking David's orders to Uriah: he wants Uriah killed in a way which makes it look like a simple casualty of war. Joab complies completely with David's orders, and Uriah is eliminated, no longer an obstacle to David's plans. In giving this order to Joab, David makes him a part of this conspiracy, making him share the guilt for the spilled blood of Uriah. David's sin continues to encompass more and more people, leading to greater and greater sin.

How strange it is to see David, the mighty man of valor, (1 Samuel 16:18) dealing with Uriah, another mighty man of valor, like the enemy. Here is Uriah, a man who will give his life for his king, and David, a man who is now willing to take Uriah's life to cover his sin. We all know that it doesn’t work. How strange it is to see David making Joab his partner in crime, especially after what Joab has done to Abner:

26 When Joab came out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah; but David did not know it. 27 So when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the middle of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the belly so that he died on account of the blood of Asahel his brother. 28 Afterward when David heard it, he said, “I and my kingdom are innocent before the LORD forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. 29 “May it fall on the head of Joab and on all his father's house; and may there not fail from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or who is a leper, or who takes hold of a distaff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.” 30 So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon (2 Samuel 3:26-30).

David condemned Joab and put him under a curse because he shed the innocent blood of Abner. Now, this same David (well, not really the same David) now uses Joab to kill Uriah and get him out of his way. David's enemy (Joab) has become his friend, or at least his ally. David's enemies (the Ammonites) have become his allies (they fire the fatal shots which kill Uriah). And David's faithful servant Uriah has been put to death as though he were the enemy. Not only is Uriah put to death, but a number of other Israelite warriors die with him. They have to be sacrificed to conceal the murder of Uriah. Uriah's death has to be viewed as one of a group of men, rather than merely one man. Without a doubt, this is the moral and spiritual low-water mark of David's life.

Joab Handles a P.R. Problem (11:18-25)

These eight verses, devoted to the way in which Uriah's death is reported, are double the length of the account of David's sin with Bathsheba. They virtually equal the length of the account of David's dealings with Uriah. These verses begin with Joab's careful instructions to the messenger, who is to bring the news of Uriah's death to David. They conclude with the messenger's actual report and David's response to it. Why does the author devote so much time and space to the way in which Uriah's death is reported to David? Let us see if we can find the answer to this question as we look more closely at these verses.

Mission accomplished: Uriah is dead. Joab has carried out David's instructions to the letter. Now Joab must send word to David, in a way that does not completely disclose this conspiracy. Joab calls for a messenger to go to David. He gives very exacting instructions to him. He is first to give a full and complete report of the events of the war, including the ill-fated attack on the city, and the slaughter of Uriah and those with him. Why is how the messenger reports this incident so important?

The answer is quite simple, as is evident by Joab's own concerns. The entire mission is a fiasco. The Israelites have besieged the city of Rabbah. This means they surround the city, giving the people no way in or out of the city. All the Israelites have to do is wait them out and starve them out. There is no need for any attack. The mission is a suicide mission from the outset, and it does not take a genius to see it for what it is. Joab has to assemble a group of mighty men, like Uriah, and including Uriah, to wage an attack on the city. This attack is not at the enemy's weakest point, as we would expect, but at the strongest point. This attack provokes a counter-attack by the Ammonites against Uriah and those with him. When the Israelite army draws back from their own men, they leave them defenseless, and the obvious result is a slaughter. How can one possibly report this fiasco in a way that doesn’t make Joab look like a fool (at best), or a murderer (at worst)?

This the reason for Joab's careful instructions to the messenger. He is to report the attack on the city of Rabbah to David, and then tell of the Israelite losses which result. Joab knows that David will react (perhaps hypocritically) to the report of the attack and the resulting losses. It is at this point, Joab instructs the messenger, that he is to inform David of the death of Uriah. This will certainly end any protest or criticism on David's part.

And so in verses 22-25 we are given an account of the messenger's arrival, of his report to David, and of David's response. I must point out that the messenger does not do as he is told, at least the way I read the account. The messenger goes to David and tells the king how the Ammonites prevailed against them as they left the city and pursued the Israelites into the open field. The Israelites then pursued the Ammonites, pushing them back toward the city as far as the city gate. It was here that Uriah and those with him were fighting. It was here that they were within range of the archers, who shot at them and killed a number of servants. And quickly the servant adds, “and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead” (verse 14).

Now why does this messenger not wait for David to respond in anger, as Joab instructed? Why does he inform David that Uriah has been killed, before he even utters a word of criticism or protest? I believe the messenger gives the report in this way because he understands what is really going on here. I think he may know about David and Bathsheba, and perhaps even of her pregnancy. He certainly knows that Uriah was summoned to Jerusalem. I think he also figures out that David wants to get rid of Uriah, and that Joab has accomplished this by this miserable excuse for an offensive against the enemy. I think the messenger figures out that if David knows Uriah has been killed, he will not raise any objections to this needless slaughter. And so, rather than wait for David to hypocritically rant and rave about the stupidity of such a move, he just goes on and tells him first, so that he will not receive any reaction from David.

And the servant is absolutely right, as the verse 25 indicates:

Then David said to the messenger, “Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it'; and so encourage him” (2 Samuel 11:25).

These words of David are the frosting on the cake. They seem gracious and understanding, even sympathetic. In effect, David is saying, “Well, don't worry about it. After all, you win a few, and you lose a few. That's the way it goes.” Uriah, a great warrior and a man of godly character, has just died, and David does not express one word of grief, one expression of sorrow, not one word of tribute. Uriah dies, and David is unmoved. Contrast his response to the death of Uriah with his responses to the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:11-27), and even of Abner (2 Samuel 3:28-39). This is not the David of a few chapters earlier. This is a hardened, callused David, callused by his own sin.