Bible History Unmasked: Part 2: Casualties of the Crown: Bathsheba & the Cost of Power

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Welcome to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and this is Faith on the Go, where you take the word with you

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on your drive to work, while you're getting ready in the morning,

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or even in those quiet moments before prayer.

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Real life, real word, and real growth, all while you are on the go.

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Before we get into today's word, let's take a moment to center ourselves with a familiar prayer.

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The prayer of Jabez.

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Oh, that you will bless me indeed and enlarge my territory.

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Let your hand be with me and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.

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Father God, we come before you this day asking that you will indeed bless us,

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not just with what we have, but in who we are becoming.

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Enlarge our territory, Lord. Expand our capacity, our mindset,

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and our ability to receive what you have for us.

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Let your hand be upon us, guiding us, covering us, and leading us in every decision we make.

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And Father, keep us from harm, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,

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that we may walk in peace and not in pain.

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And Lord, just as you heard Jabez when he cried out to you, hear us now.

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Your word says that you granted his request, and we believe that you are the same God today.

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So we come boldly before you, knowing that you hear us, knowing that you see

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us, and knowing that you respond to the prayers of your people.

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Have your way in this moment as we sit, listen, and receive your word.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Hello, welcome back to Diary of a Black Woman podcast. I'm your host,

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Connie Morris, and today on our journey through Black history unmasked,

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we're covering Bathsheba.

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This is part two of Bathsheba. This one's titled Bathsheba, the casualties of

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the crown, grief, collateral damage, and systemic corruption.

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We learned in episode one, we dismantled the myth of the rooftop.

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We saw that Bathsheba was not presented in scripture as a seductress.

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She was a woman seen from a place of power summoned by the king and pulled into

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the consequences of David's decision.

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But in episode two, we're going to take a little deeper look because sin in

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high places rarely stays private.

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When David abused his power, the damage did not stop with Bathsheba. It spread.

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It reached Uriah. it reached Joab, it reached the battlefield,

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it reached the unborn child, and it reached the whole house of David.

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So we can't play around with sin because God doesn't.

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And so when this episode, it's a nice long episode, but it really talks about

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the casualties of the crown.

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Because when a king sins, ordinary people often leave.

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Ordinary people get hurt and it runs very, very deep.

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And so our foundation of scripture is still found in 2 Samuel.

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So go back to 2 Samuel 11. We're going to pick up where we left off in episode 1.

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We're going to start with verse 5. When we talk about David and Bathsheba,

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David had the crown and Bathsheba carried the shame.

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David gave the order, but Uriah lost his life.

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David tried to cover the evidence, but the household suffered the consequences.

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This is not just a story about adultery.

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This is a story about a cover-up, corruption, murder, grief,

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and the human cost of unchecked power.

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This chapter about David's life, God does not hold anything back about the juicy

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and gory details because God always tells us that the Bible is what good for learning.

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He wants us to learn from David's behavior.

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We know David turned out to be a great guy that shows the power of God.

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But meanwhile, we got to look at what was lost and how that incident corrupted his whole family.

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And so we're in 2 Samuel 11, verse 5.

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And this is the message of Bathsheba when she tells David that she was pregnant.

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Verse 5 said, the woman conceived and sent word to David and says, I am pregnant.

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So let's talk about this incident. We remember that Bathsheba was in her stage

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of purification when she was on her porch in the evening.

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David was resting and he gets up out of his bed and he goes out,

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he looks out the window and he sees Bathsheba in her purification stage in the evening.

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And they said, who is this? He asked, who is this lady?

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They automatically told him, that's Uriah's wife.

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Her name is Bathsheba. We also learned that Bathsheba wasn't.

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A stranger to who David was. They lived all in the same circle.

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We know that her father was one of David's men. Uriah, her husband, was one of David's men.

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So Bathsheba was the collateral damage in this situation because David knew her, knew about her.

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Because when they gave the warning that is Uriah's wife, he did not stop.

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He continued and he summoned for Bathsheba. And so we're picking it up now where after

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the rendezvous, the incident, if we call it in real lifetime,

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cover your ears if you have small children, that was actually unconsensual sex,

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which makes it a rape, you know?

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And so we don't talk about that enough that she did not call for him.

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She did not call for him. She did not consent to that activity. She was summoned.

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And at that incident, she had an incident, a sexual relationship with a man

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without her permission.

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So let's continue. This chapter carries a lot of weight, and I might have to

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put it on explicit because God is not holding out the details, and I'm not either.

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So when Bathsheba sends a message to David and tells David that she is pregnant.

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She does not give a speech. She does not go on to explain, right?

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She does not accuse. She simply reports the consequences.

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Say, hey, dude, you know, when you did that to me, now I am pregnant.

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But in this translation, King James says, I am with child.

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So this is a moment that's important for Bathsheba's message.

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She exposes David, and David wanted to keep it hidden. And so having a rendezvous

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after a lady comes off of her menstrual cycle is pretty much when she's the most fertile.

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Did David know that? I don't think he didn't know that. Did David know that

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that lady was married? Yes, he did.

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Does he, did he know what he was doing? Yes, I believe that he did.

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But he did it anyway. And so now Bathsheba is now with child.

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And now with child, this story doesn't end with that rendezvous. It cannot be ignored.

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It cannot be quietly dismissed.

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Her body now carries a proof of what happened in the palace.

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Because Bathsheba had been purifying herself after her monthly uncleanliness,

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the timing of the pregnancy would have been clear.

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Uriah was away at war.

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David could not easily pretend that the child belonged to Uriah unless he could

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bring Uriah home and create the appearance that Uriah had slept with his wife.

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So David does not respond with repentance. He responds with a strategy.

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This is where David's sin moved from abuse of power into a cover-up.

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Bathsheba pregnancy exposes what David wanted hidden. Her message forced a secret.

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Out of the palace shadows. Now let's go to 2 Samuel.

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We're still in chapter 11. Now we're going to read from verse 6 to 13 to find out what David did.

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And David sent to Joab saying, send me Uriah the Hittite.

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And Joab sent Uriah to David. And when Uriah was come unto David,

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David demanded of him how Joab did and how the people did and how the war prospered.

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And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house and wash thy feet.

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And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.

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But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his

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lord, and went not down to his house.

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And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down to his house,

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David said to Uriah, Comest thou not from thy journey?

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Why didn't thou go into thine house? And Uriah said unto David,

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the ark and Israel and Judah abide in tents and my Lord Job and the servants

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of my Lord are encamped in the open fields.

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Should I go into my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife as thou

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liveth, as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. Check this out.

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He says, you pulled me off the field in the middle of war and you're telling me to go to my home.

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He says, aren't we still in the middle of war? So he said, I'm not going in my home.

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I'm going to stay right here because my men are at battle.

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So David was attempting to do what? Covered?

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Of his sin. We'll read some commentary here.

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It says, David commits adultery with Bathsheba and is later punished by God.

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The African-American society, adultery is a very serious crime.

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The religious and social uses of sex are held sacred and respectable.

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Sexual offenses of one kind and another are many and show clearly that Africans

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consider the power uses of sex to be sacred and therefore to be safeguarded.

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When adultery is discovered, it is dealt with severely.

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In some society, the guilty person, particularly the man, has been whipped,

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stoned to death, made to pay compensation.

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And has his head or another part of his body mutilated.

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The ancient Hebrew took this view of sex.

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And so when we're looking at the Bible, and we don't want to watch over.

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At this particular time what that meant for David.

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So David, knowing he's a king, he knows that he committed adultery. We said R-A-P-E, rape.

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But he said he committed adultery. Adultery to me is like is mutual. But that was a nice way.

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But at the end of the day, it wasn't mutual. It wasn't a mutual incident.

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It was David wanting this lady Bathsheba and then went and sent for her.

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And so we see here that David sends Uriah from the battlefield,

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sent for Uriah from the battlefield and tells him to go home to his wife.

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David's first plan is simple.

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Bring Uriah home, send him to Bathsheba and make it appear that the child is Uriah's.

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But Uriah does not cooperate with the cover-up.

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Uriah comes back from war, but instead of going home to enjoy food,

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comfort, intimacy with his wife, he sleeps at the entrance of the palace with the servants.

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When David asks why he did not go home, Uriah gives one of the most honorable

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responses in this chapter.

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He says the Ark, Israel, Judah, Job, and the soldiers are staying in tents.

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How could he go home to eat, drink, and lie with his wife?

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While they are still in the field. Think about that. Wouldn't that sound kind of.

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Think about it. You're a man in the field, you're a man at work,

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and your boss calls you to go home and sleep with your wife.

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You're like, how do you dictate when I sleep with my wife?

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How do you dictate my life like that? You dictate to me as a commander-in-chief

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on what I do on the field, not what I do with my wife and when I do it with my wife.

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So think about Uriah, Uriah said, I don't understand this.

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This seems kind of off, but right now he's not thinking outside the box.

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He's thinking like, I don't know what's going on, but I know one thing that's not going to go on.

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I will not go home to my wife. I'm in the middle of war. This is one of the

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strongest contrasts in that story.

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David is an Israelite king, but he is acting selfishly.

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Uriah is called the Hittite, yet he is acting righteously.

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David is home from battle, but he's thinking of himself. Because David should

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have been at war too, right? He should have been at war with his team.

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So he brings Uriah home from battle, thinking it's an honorable thing.

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But really, he was not thinking of others.

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He was thinking of himself. David is trying to use Uriah's marriage to hide his own sin.

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Uriah is honoring the battlefield, the ark, the army, and the king.

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And guess who's watching?

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God is. What contrast should not be missed? That should not be missed.

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Uriah's integrity exposes David's corruption even more.

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David tried to use Uriah's loyalty as a tool for deception, but Uriah's loyalty

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became a witness against David.

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You know, when someone is good, they're good, and when they're bad, they're bad.

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David did a wrong thing.

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Got another woman pregnant. And not a strange woman, it was somebody he knew.

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And that was one of the people that he hired that worked for him.

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He did that to someone that close.

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Well, what happened? Let's see it. Let's go to 2 Samuel 14 to 7.

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Are you feeling this in your heart?

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Because I feel the betrayal in my heart of what David did. And like I said,

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when you read the Bible and you take your time, you start to see the true nature of a person.

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And now you see what God, why God did what he did.

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2 Samuel 11, verses 14 to 17.

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But I want to take it back a few steps because we're going to leave.

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I want to give you the whole story.

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I want to start again at verse 10, where we left off.

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And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went down to his house.

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Uriah did not go down to his house.

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David said unto Uriah, cometh not from thy journey.

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Why did not not go down to the house? Right? That's kind of repeating what I

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said, but David is asking him, why didn't you go to your house?

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And then Uriah tells him that, right? And so let's go to verse 12.

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And David said to Uriah, tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart.

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So Brian Bowden drew some that day and tomorrow. So he didn't sleep with him

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that night. He said, I want you to stay here a couple more days.

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Like that might be something that'd be tempting to go sleep with your wife.

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Like David was still playing his game.

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And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him, and he made him drunk.

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And at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of the Lord,

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but went not down to his house.

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So now David is feeding him, and

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now David gets him drunk, but Uriah still does not go home to his wife.

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And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Job and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

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And he wrote in the letter saying, Sent ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest

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battle, and retire ye from him, and that he may be smitten and die.

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Came to pass that Job observed the city, and when he assigned Uriah to a place

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where he knew that valiant men were, and the men of the city went out and fought with Job,

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and there fell some of the people of the service of David, and Uriah the Hittite died also.

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He sent out, he gave Uriah his, can we say that, the M word,

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his death warrant was signed by David to now,

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since he won't sleep with his wife, then go ahead and send him for battle.

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And then let's set him up to actually be harmed, to unalied him.

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David writes a letter to Joab and sends it by Uriah's own hand.

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This is one of the darkest details of the story. Uriah needs to read it.

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That's how honorable he was. David writes a letter, ordering Joab to put Uriah

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at the front of the fiercest battle and then withdraw from him so that he will be struck down and die.

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Then David sends a letter by Uriah himself. Well, Uriah carries his own death

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sentence. That detail shows how deep David's corruption has become.

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David does not just panic. He plans, he writes, he commands.

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He uses military power to erase the man who existed, threatened his cover-up.

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This is no longer only a moral failure. This is a state-sanctioned violence.

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David uses the machinery of government, military command, royal authority to

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arrange a death. The king who was supposed to defend justice become the source of injustice.

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Moab also becomes part of the system. He receives the order and carries it out.

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He places Uriah where the fighting is strongest and Uriah dies.

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It says he died. Uriah was killed and the cover up now has blood on it.

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David's private sin became public corruption. When powerful people refused to

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repent, they often create systems to protect the lie.

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This sounds like a terrible, terrible soap opera, but this is a real life event.

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And God recorded in the Bible for our learning.

00:18:49.961 --> 00:18:54.977
We see here that even when people in power get themselves into trouble,

00:18:55.302 --> 00:19:01.304
they use death to cover up their sin. And what God is saying right now is like,

00:19:01.600 --> 00:19:04.259
no matter what you do, I see it all.

00:19:04.561 --> 00:19:08.931
There's people right now who thought that their sin, when they not get their

00:19:08.931 --> 00:19:13.158
sin of maybe run alive in some folk, technology.

00:19:13.848 --> 00:19:17.969
Finally uncovering those lies. Think about it.

00:19:18.265 --> 00:19:23.194
And so not hearing the story does God have his eye open. He hasn't said nothing yet.

00:19:23.617 --> 00:19:27.739
God hasn't said a word. He's watching David's action.

00:19:27.855 --> 00:19:32.598
He's watching how deep will he go to cover up his sin.

00:19:32.876 --> 00:19:38.403
And God is saying that to you. How deep would you go to cover up your sin?

00:19:38.745 --> 00:19:42.448
And he says, no matter how deep you go, I saw it all.

00:19:42.715 --> 00:19:46.064
Let's continue in verses 18 to 25.

00:19:46.290 --> 00:19:52.156
Then Job sent and told David all the things concerning the war and charged the

00:19:52.156 --> 00:19:58.225
messenger saying, when thou has made an end to telling the matters of the war unto the king.

00:19:58.678 --> 00:20:03.996
And if so be that the king's wrath arise, and he says unto thee,

00:20:04.327 --> 00:20:08.721
wherefore approach ye so nigh unto the city that ye did fight,

00:20:08.965 --> 00:20:14.317
knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall? He says, why did you make me do that?

00:20:14.549 --> 00:20:20.801
Why did you make me do that? Verse 21, who smoked and billed the son of Jeruzabeth?

00:20:21.115 --> 00:20:26.276
Did not a woman cast a piece of millstone upon him in the wall that he died

00:20:26.276 --> 00:20:29.741
in the beds? He's telling a story that happened in the Bible,

00:20:30.066 --> 00:20:34.629
you know, where this lady threw a millstone on top of this man's head.

00:20:34.954 --> 00:20:41.111
You know, why ye nigh the wall? Then say thou thy servant your rider, Hittite, is dead also.

00:20:41.379 --> 00:20:46.076
So the messenger went and came and showed David all that Job had sent for.

00:20:46.076 --> 00:20:50.906
And the messenger said unto David, surely the man prevailed against us and came

00:20:50.906 --> 00:20:56.065
out upon the field and were upon them even until the entering of the gate.

00:20:56.396 --> 00:21:02.266
And the shooter shot off from the wall upon the servant and some of king's servants

00:21:02.266 --> 00:21:05.719
to be dead, and thy servant Uriah is dead also.

00:21:06.177 --> 00:21:10.334
Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab,

00:21:10.630 --> 00:21:15.930
Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devours one as well as another.

00:21:16.296 --> 00:21:21.294
Make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it, and encourage thou him.

00:21:21.543 --> 00:21:22.936
He was like, you know what, that's

00:21:22.936 --> 00:21:26.541
what happens in war. David kind of nonchalantly said, you know what?

00:21:27.196 --> 00:21:30.916
Even Joab said, something ain't right here. Why did you make me do this?

00:21:30.916 --> 00:21:33.502
He had questions. He had questions.

00:21:33.861 --> 00:21:37.199
Joab sends a messenger to report the battle results to David.

00:21:37.314 --> 00:21:43.705
After Uriah's death, after he was killed, Joab sends words to David to report

00:21:43.967 --> 00:21:47.212
included the military loss and the death of Uriah the Hittite.

00:21:47.589 --> 00:21:51.594
David responds to shilling. He tells a messenger to say to Joab,

00:21:51.943 --> 00:21:53.603
Do not let this upset you.

00:21:53.945 --> 00:22:00.316
The sword devours one as well as another. In other words, David treated Uriah's

00:22:00.316 --> 00:22:03.884
death as if it was just a normal casualty of war.

00:22:04.174 --> 00:22:06.745
But it was not normal. It was arranged.

00:22:07.036 --> 00:22:12.643
It was an order. It was covered. David used the language of war to hide the reality of murder.

00:22:12.957 --> 00:22:16.742
This is what corruption does. It changes the wording.

00:22:17.084 --> 00:22:19.266
It makes murder sound like a strategy.

00:22:20.683 --> 00:22:27.406
It makes betrayal sound like a battle log. It makes injustice sound like unfortunate circumstances.

00:22:27.748 --> 00:22:32.810
David tried to make Uriah disappear inside the statistics of war,

00:22:33.054 --> 00:22:39.141
but God saw the truth. David tried to bury murder under a military language,

00:22:39.362 --> 00:22:42.583
but heaven was not confused by the cover-up.

00:22:42.932 --> 00:22:46.037
David not only, come on, he not only...

00:22:46.735 --> 00:22:51.292
Took a woman that wasn't his. He took a life that wasn't his.

00:22:51.524 --> 00:22:55.632
He had his friends try to cover it up and they're kind of confused.

00:22:55.632 --> 00:23:01.340
Like, why did you do that? And he said, Job, don't be upset. This is a casual war.

00:23:01.613 --> 00:23:05.514
So now we got other players in the game of David's sin.

00:23:05.770 --> 00:23:13.270
How much would it take to cover up his sin? Let's go to verse 26 and 27. I'm going to read 25.

00:23:13.618 --> 00:23:17.484
Then David said unto the messenger, thou shalt say unto Joab,

00:23:17.768 --> 00:23:22.976
Let us not think displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another.

00:23:23.277 --> 00:23:28.403
Make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it, and encourage thou him.

00:23:28.659 --> 00:23:33.099
And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead,

00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:35.687
she mourned for her husband.

00:23:35.943 --> 00:23:40.778
And when the morning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house,

00:23:40.923 --> 00:23:44.104
and she became his wife and bear him a son.

00:23:44.412 --> 00:23:48.752
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Wow.

00:23:49.172 --> 00:23:53.764
Sin has a story, doesn't it? See what happens when you try to cover up sin?

00:23:54.025 --> 00:23:59.331
Now this lady, not this lady, this lady has a name, but Sheba mourns.

00:23:59.482 --> 00:24:04.542
The wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead and she mourned for him.

00:24:04.542 --> 00:24:06.779
She had nothing to do with that murder.

00:24:07.086 --> 00:24:12.868
It was David's idea. When we rush past this, then we skip a part.

00:24:13.211 --> 00:24:18.801
We skip the part that the Bible says that she will mourn for her husband.

00:24:19.143 --> 00:24:23.364
Before she became David's wife, before Solomon is even born,

00:24:23.712 --> 00:24:27.741
before she became Queen's mother, she is a grieving widow.

00:24:27.979 --> 00:24:32.099
She lost her husband at war, but not just any war.

00:24:32.360 --> 00:24:35.936
She lost her husband because David arranged his death.

00:24:36.354 --> 00:24:40.612
David may not know the full plot, but I'm sorry she may not know the full plot

00:24:40.612 --> 00:24:42.525
at this moment, but we know.

00:24:42.797 --> 00:24:44.893
God revealed it to us for our learning.

00:24:45.207 --> 00:24:50.733
We as the audience, we are as the witnesses. And you know God knows. Her grief.

00:24:51.249 --> 00:24:56.264
Is real. It was real. Her grief deserves a space in this story.

00:24:56.572 --> 00:25:01.309
This is why when we talk about this episode, it must not just focus on David's guilt.

00:25:01.692 --> 00:25:05.720
It must also make room for Bathsheba's pain. She was summoned by the king.

00:25:05.982 --> 00:25:09.970
She becomes pregnant. Her husband has been killed, not by anybody,

00:25:10.266 --> 00:25:13.847
but by the man who pregnant her. She is brought into David's house.

00:25:14.109 --> 00:25:18.322
But the thing David has done displeases the Lord. Notice that the scripture

00:25:18.322 --> 00:25:22.427
does not say this thing that Bathsheba done. It says the thing David had done.

00:25:22.741 --> 00:25:28.075
The sentence matter. That sentence that David, this thing, displeased the Lord.

00:25:28.354 --> 00:25:30.843
He sinned. He didn't go to the Lord, did he?

00:25:31.186 --> 00:25:34.251
They said David was a worshiper of the Lord after God's heart.

00:25:34.518 --> 00:25:38.662
But at this particular time in his life, he was thinking how to cover things up.

00:25:38.982 --> 00:25:43.822
How do I cover this up? To the extent where you pregnant a woman you probably

00:25:43.822 --> 00:25:50.739
knew because of the family and your leader, you knew your leader's wife, you killed her husband.

00:25:51.041 --> 00:25:54.814
And then God says, this has pleased me.

00:25:55.093 --> 00:25:59.818
God placed accountability where it belonged, but she was not part of David's scandal.

00:26:00.131 --> 00:26:03.191
She was one of the casualties of David's crown.

00:26:03.847 --> 00:26:08.357
Let's see what happens in 2 Samuel 12, verses 1-9.

00:26:08.514 --> 00:26:12.949
And the Lord sent Nathan unto David, and came unto him, and said unto him,

00:26:13.257 --> 00:26:16.948
There were two men in the house, the one rich and the other one poor.

00:26:17.413 --> 00:26:22.852
The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herbs, but the poor man had nothing,

00:26:23.119 --> 00:26:26.991
save one oolam, which he had brought and nourished it.

00:26:27.270 --> 00:26:31.865
And it grew up together with him, and with his children it did eat of his own

00:26:31.865 --> 00:26:37.687
meat, and drank of his own cup and laid in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter.

00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:43.075
And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own

00:26:43.075 --> 00:26:46.610
flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man.

00:26:46.941 --> 00:26:54.377
That was coming unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man was come to him.

00:26:54.638 --> 00:26:57.885
And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man.

00:26:57.885 --> 00:27:03.055
And he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing

00:27:03.258 --> 00:27:07.975
should surely die, and he should restore the land fourfold, because he did this

00:27:07.975 --> 00:27:10.137
thing, and because he had no pity.

00:27:10.457 --> 00:27:15.275
And Nathan said to David, Thou art that man. Thus says the Lord God of Israel,

00:27:15.559 --> 00:27:17.893
I had anointed thee king over Israel.

00:27:18.201 --> 00:27:22.908
I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul, and I gave thee thy master's house,

00:27:23.228 --> 00:27:28.439
and thy master's wives unto thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah.

00:27:28.735 --> 00:27:34.465
And if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

00:27:34.784 --> 00:27:39.863
Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do this evil in his sight?

00:27:40.189 --> 00:27:44.545
Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to

00:27:44.545 --> 00:27:48.118
be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword.

00:27:48.740 --> 00:27:53.190
The children of Ammon. Now therefore the source shall never depart from thine

00:27:53.190 --> 00:28:00.774
house, because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

00:28:01.128 --> 00:28:05.530
Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise a people against thee out of thy own

00:28:05.530 --> 00:28:11.030
house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes, and give them unto thy neighbors.

00:28:11.030 --> 00:28:17.800
And he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of the sun, for thou did it secretly.

00:28:18.154 --> 00:28:22.438
But I will do the same before all Israel, before the sun.

00:28:22.723 --> 00:28:26.710
I went a little bit past that because I just felt like I needed to read all

00:28:26.710 --> 00:28:31.770
of it, that when God sees your sin and see how you respond to it without the

00:28:31.770 --> 00:28:35.968
repentance and you still continue to cover it up, and then you're going to marry her.

00:28:36.695 --> 00:28:39.995
It's like, that's going to make it all right. We hear these stories a lot,

00:28:40.315 --> 00:28:43.917
but we never really think they're in the Bible. But let's go back.

00:28:44.213 --> 00:28:49.211
We see that Nathan confronts David with the parable of the rich man and the poor man's lamb.

00:28:49.530 --> 00:28:54.925
God sends David to Nathan. Nathan had to bend one tough cookie to go before

00:28:54.925 --> 00:28:57.692
the king and to tell him the truth. Because you know what?

00:28:58.058 --> 00:29:01.695
When you have something to say to the king and God gives it to you and you're

00:29:01.695 --> 00:29:07.485
called to be a prophet to the kings and leadership, you can't be missing your lips.

00:29:07.775 --> 00:29:12.210
You have to, your words, your lips, you have to say what God told you to say.

00:29:12.558 --> 00:29:17.597
This is important because David may have fooled people in the palace, but he did not fool God.

00:29:17.980 --> 00:29:22.733
David may have controlled the message, the military order, the public appearance,

00:29:23.116 --> 00:29:24.986
but heaven had a full record.

00:29:25.525 --> 00:29:30.465
Nathan tells a story about a rich man with many flock and herds who takes one

00:29:30.465 --> 00:29:32.944
little lamb that belongs to a poor man.

00:29:33.066 --> 00:29:38.135
David becomes angry at the injustice in the story, and he recognizes when he

00:29:38.135 --> 00:29:39.771
thinks someone else has done it.

00:29:40.113 --> 00:29:45.825
See how we can be kind of very hypocritical? David did it, didn't realize anything

00:29:45.825 --> 00:29:50.025
wrong, but when he heard about somebody else did it, he said, we got to kill him.

00:29:50.356 --> 00:29:55.145
And Nathan says, Yeah, you're that man. That sentence unmasks everything.

00:29:55.436 --> 00:30:00.196
David is the rich man. Uriah is the poor man. Bathsheba is the land who was taken.

00:30:00.474 --> 00:30:03.830
Nathan Parable does not frame Bathsheba as a seducer.

00:30:04.091 --> 00:30:10.383
It frames her as someone taken by a powerful man who already had more than enough.

00:30:10.743 --> 00:30:15.683
This is God's interpretation of the event. David abused power. David took.

00:30:16.020 --> 00:30:21.325
David killed. David despised the commandment of the Lord. When we think about the spy's myth.

00:30:22.326 --> 00:30:26.149
You got to understand, David became king because he was hunted by Saul,

00:30:26.149 --> 00:30:28.207
I think they said, 13 or 14 years.

00:30:28.445 --> 00:30:32.032
And during that time, David was honorable. He did not kill Saul.

00:30:32.207 --> 00:30:33.762
He had opportunity to kill Saul.

00:30:33.983 --> 00:30:36.508
He had a reason to kill Saul. Saul was trying to kill him.

00:30:36.769 --> 00:30:39.019
That probably would have worked out better in his favor.

00:30:39.339 --> 00:30:45.941
But he didn't kill Saul. He honored Saul because he said, I'm not going to touch the anointed of God.

00:30:46.220 --> 00:30:48.008
But yet you touch Bathsheba.

00:30:48.832 --> 00:30:54.109
She is one of God's children too. Let's continue. Nathan's rebuke makes it clear.

00:30:54.219 --> 00:30:56.448
This was not just a private moral failure.

00:30:56.866 --> 00:31:01.173
This was injustice. Nathan did not come to protect David's reputation.

00:31:01.406 --> 00:31:04.259
Nathan came to expose David's sin.

00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:09.411
Let's see what happened with David once his sin has been exposed.

00:31:09.823 --> 00:31:17.317
We're going to go to 2 Samuel 13. But before we do that, I want to see you know what God said to him.

00:31:17.594 --> 00:31:23.229
We don't want to skip that part. God said, because you have used a sword on

00:31:23.229 --> 00:31:28.055
another man, he said that sword is going to come to your own house.

00:31:28.322 --> 00:31:34.819
And your wives are going to be taken from you and slept with the sun,

00:31:34.819 --> 00:31:37.001
not in the night like you did Bathsheba.

00:31:37.285 --> 00:31:43.209
Your business, because you did that, is going to be exposed before all Israel,

00:31:43.209 --> 00:31:46.190
it says, and before the sun, S-U-N.

00:31:46.567 --> 00:31:51.472
I mean, everything you do is going to be exposed from now on because you uncover,

00:31:51.821 --> 00:31:53.690
because you try to cover up your sin.

00:31:53.934 --> 00:31:55.983
Everything you do, I'm going to expose it.

00:31:56.244 --> 00:31:59.065
And we probably don't have time to get into David's life story.

00:31:59.652 --> 00:32:07.099
But you'll find out that David's life story and his sons and his wives, it got really wild. Why?

00:32:07.401 --> 00:32:13.247
Because he did not, he tried to expose the sin. He forgot that God was watching.

00:32:13.618 --> 00:32:17.532
So now let's go to what happens, what David says. David, in verse 13,

00:32:17.532 --> 00:32:21.164
says, And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.

00:32:21.535 --> 00:32:25.784
And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin.

00:32:26.139 --> 00:32:30.347
Thou should not die. So right then, God knows us so well.

00:32:30.806 --> 00:32:36.663
Once he was exposed, not by Bathsheba, not by Joel, even though they tried,

00:32:36.988 --> 00:32:41.806
he was exposed by the prophet talking directly from the throne of God.

00:32:42.056 --> 00:32:45.132
Nathan, not Nathan, David repented.

00:32:45.458 --> 00:32:49.144
And then David said he thought he was going to die. He said, I repent.

00:32:49.504 --> 00:32:53.544
And then Nathan said, you're not going to die. God has put away your sin.

00:32:53.805 --> 00:32:58.066
Let's see what happens here. David confessed. He said, I have a sin against the Lord.

00:32:58.362 --> 00:33:03.132
Like, when did he realize that? David finally confesses, but confession does

00:33:03.132 --> 00:33:04.759
not erase consequences.

00:33:05.044 --> 00:33:11.708
This is important to teach carefully. David is forgiven, but the damage does not disappear.

00:33:11.888 --> 00:33:16.362
Some people confuse forgiveness with removal of all earthly consequences,

00:33:16.705 --> 00:33:18.214
but Scripture does not say that.

00:33:18.568 --> 00:33:22.892
You know, I work in a prison, and in the prison they have all kinds of different

00:33:22.892 --> 00:33:26.672
religious services, and one of those religious services is Christian.

00:33:26.846 --> 00:33:30.192
And because they go in there and they repent, I don't know what they do in their

00:33:30.192 --> 00:33:32.366
services. That's not part of my job description.

00:33:32.790 --> 00:33:37.040
But we know what happens in the church. Does that allow them to exit the house.

00:33:37.700 --> 00:33:39.732
The prison house? No, it doesn't.

00:33:40.133 --> 00:33:44.602
They still have to deal with their earthly consequences.

00:33:44.737 --> 00:33:48.823
Just like David, he had to deal with what he did.

00:33:49.079 --> 00:33:53.497
And when God reveals to you what you did, and you have to endure that,

00:33:53.733 --> 00:33:56.910
it's never pretty. We've all been there. It's not ever pretty.

00:33:57.164 --> 00:34:01.321
It's mostly embarrassing because when we try to hide our sin,

00:34:01.606 --> 00:34:05.814
God would definitely expose it. David's repentance didn't matter.

00:34:06.174 --> 00:34:08.142
God had mercy on him.

00:34:08.520 --> 00:34:11.950
And that doesn't matter. That shows the heart of God. As we journey through

00:34:11.950 --> 00:34:17.695
this story, even though it's about Bible history and mass, it's really about God being unmasked too.

00:34:17.990 --> 00:34:23.000
Because God has this mercy and this grace that he gives to his people.

00:34:23.331 --> 00:34:28.156
They do some horrific things, but God always comes forth with mercy.

00:34:28.364 --> 00:34:31.603
Sometimes he comes forth with death, and we know those stories.

00:34:31.922 --> 00:34:37.600
But Uriah is still dead. Even though David repented, he can't bring back Uriah.

00:34:37.949 --> 00:34:41.681
Bathsheba is still a widow. That doesn't bring back Uriah.

00:34:42.036 --> 00:34:46.702
The child is still in danger. The house of David is still shaken.

00:34:47.086 --> 00:34:52.490
So understand that repentance does not automatically mean that you would not

00:34:52.490 --> 00:34:54.341
have to face the consequences.

00:34:54.846 --> 00:35:00.745
On this earth. Forgiveness is real, but so is the harm that sin does in the

00:35:00.745 --> 00:35:04.454
lives of you and the people who you harm.

00:35:04.813 --> 00:35:08.854
We have to understand that because this is important about the abuse of power.

00:35:09.121 --> 00:35:15.006
A person in power can say, I have sinned, but the people harmed by that sin

00:35:15.302 --> 00:35:17.618
must still live with the aftermath.

00:35:17.995 --> 00:35:23.597
David's confession was necessary, but his confession did not undo the casualties.

00:35:23.713 --> 00:35:25.246
There's no shortcut with sin.

00:35:25.582 --> 00:35:30.911
When you sin, you have to deal with the consequence. How that's determined depends

00:35:31.266 --> 00:35:37.518
on God. 2 Samuel, let's go to chapter 12, verse 15 through 23.

00:35:38.528 --> 00:35:43.685
And Nathan departed upon his house, and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's

00:35:43.685 --> 00:35:48.321
wife bear under David, and it was very sick. Think about that.

00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:52.686
Right away, after the confession, what did God do?

00:35:52.970 --> 00:35:59.234
He said he struck the child. He said the Lord struck the child that Urea's wife feared.

00:35:59.975 --> 00:36:04.546
He didn't call it David's wife. It's not David's wife. It's Urea's wife.

00:36:04.911 --> 00:36:12.306
That should have been Urea's child. But no, it's David's child and a married man's wife's belly.

00:36:12.754 --> 00:36:17.720
But what did God do? God said, I struck the child. Sometimes sin bears on other

00:36:17.720 --> 00:36:20.097
people. Now, right now, David confessed.

00:36:20.416 --> 00:36:25.211
But look at what happens with his life. David therefore besought God for the child.

00:36:25.507 --> 00:36:29.211
And David fasted and went in and laid all night upon the earth.

00:36:29.571 --> 00:36:33.750
And the elders of the house arose and went to him to raise him up from the earth.

00:36:33.750 --> 00:36:37.320
But he would not. Neither did he eat bread with him.

00:36:37.674 --> 00:36:42.090
And it came to pass on the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David

00:36:42.090 --> 00:36:44.083
feared to tell him that the child was dead.

00:36:44.449 --> 00:36:48.410
For they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, he spake unto him that

00:36:48.410 --> 00:36:51.165
he would not hearken unto our voice.

00:36:51.508 --> 00:36:55.740
How would he have vexed himself if we tell him that his child is dead?

00:36:56.169 --> 00:37:00.219
But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child

00:37:00.219 --> 00:37:04.528
was dead. And therefore David said unto his servant, Is this child dead?

00:37:04.853 --> 00:37:11.779
And they said, He is dead. Then when David rose from the earth and watched and

00:37:11.779 --> 00:37:15.887
anointed himself and changed his apparel and came unto the house of the Lord

00:37:16.113 --> 00:37:19.010
and worshiped, then he came to his own house.

00:37:19.323 --> 00:37:23.190
And when he required, they set bread before him and he did eat.

00:37:23.520 --> 00:37:27.608
And then the servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done?

00:37:27.904 --> 00:37:32.299
Thou did fast and weep for the child while it was alive, but when the child

00:37:32.299 --> 00:37:35.160
was dead, thou didn't rise and eat bread.

00:37:35.438 --> 00:37:38.945
And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept.

00:37:39.344 --> 00:37:45.573
For I who can tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live.

00:37:45.893 --> 00:37:50.369
But now that he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again?

00:37:50.607 --> 00:37:54.752
And I should go to hell, but he should not return to me.

00:37:54.868 --> 00:37:58.641
Let's read the commentary here. It says, David punished by God.

00:37:59.036 --> 00:38:05.317
David, the prophet of God. Nathan, the prophet of God. Sent by God to tell David of his sin.

00:38:05.640 --> 00:38:09.668
He used a proverb to relate to his message. Proverbs are used,

00:38:10.046 --> 00:38:13.221
sought throughout Africa and related wisdom.

00:38:13.581 --> 00:38:18.279
The Akan people of West Africa say that the Proverbs contain the wisdom of the

00:38:18.279 --> 00:38:23.322
ages and a reflection of the philosophical and religious ideas of the Akanes.

00:38:23.635 --> 00:38:29.342
Some Proverbs tell us that the nature of God, while other Proverbs speak of the attributes of God.

00:38:29.620 --> 00:38:33.829
Nathan also told David that he will be punished by God for his sin.

00:38:34.287 --> 00:38:37.962
This punishment was not to occur in the here and after.

00:38:38.281 --> 00:38:43.149
It was to happen within David's lifetime. In African-American society,

00:38:43.149 --> 00:38:47.198
when punishment comes, it comes in the present life.

00:38:47.505 --> 00:38:51.969
Wow. When God spoke to him, it wasn't like it's going to happen a long time ago.

00:38:52.662 --> 00:38:56.497
It's going to happen now. What you did was now, and God's going to punish you

00:38:56.497 --> 00:39:03.379
now. And so we see here that Bathsheba had a baby, but the baby becomes ill and dies.

00:39:03.615 --> 00:39:06.957
This is one of the hardest parts of the story. This child, because we know that

00:39:06.957 --> 00:39:08.869
Bathsheba already grieving her husband.

00:39:09.200 --> 00:39:12.977
Now, you're grieving your husband. This man who has taken advantage of you,

00:39:12.977 --> 00:39:16.457
David, tells you to come in. You're going to marry him, and you're going to have this baby.

00:39:16.777 --> 00:39:21.147
And then the baby dies. But David fasts and prays. He lays on the ground.

00:39:21.147 --> 00:39:23.515
The elders try to lift him up, but he refuses.

00:39:23.898 --> 00:39:28.397
For seven days, he pleads with God for the child. Then the child dies.

00:39:28.397 --> 00:39:30.545
My question, I know this is going to be critical.

00:39:30.667 --> 00:39:32.677
David, why didn't you pray before this?

00:39:33.517 --> 00:39:36.997
He's fasting and praying right now. Why didn't you just go into a fast when

00:39:36.997 --> 00:39:38.437
you saw a baby she was naked?

00:39:39.057 --> 00:39:43.020
Why didn't you do that then? I'm not the judge or the jury, and I don't have any standard.

00:39:43.391 --> 00:39:48.567
But I'm asking that question. But then we see here why David is always after

00:39:48.567 --> 00:39:50.949
God's heart. David did something horrific.

00:39:51.437 --> 00:39:55.737
But yet, he didn't run from God. He did what he normally does.

00:39:55.965 --> 00:40:00.765
He went back to what he knows. He went back to praying. He went back to fasting.

00:40:01.073 --> 00:40:07.996
This is a David who slew the giant. This is a David who killed bears and lions with his hands.

00:40:08.327 --> 00:40:13.927
This is a David that doesn't run from anything. This is a David that was a shepherd.

00:40:13.927 --> 00:40:15.798
We got to remember, this was a David,

00:40:16.379 --> 00:40:19.629
When he was a child, now he's a man's wife.

00:40:19.925 --> 00:40:22.943
Think about this. Why did the child suffer?

00:40:23.233 --> 00:40:29.462
Why did the innocent child die? And why did that Shiva had to experience another loss?

00:40:29.701 --> 00:40:31.750
Remember, it wasn't her fault.

00:40:32.086 --> 00:40:36.313
We must be careful not to teach this any other way.

00:40:36.620 --> 00:40:39.957
The text connects this child's death to the consequences of David.

00:40:40.265 --> 00:40:41.519
That's why the baby died.

00:40:41.874 --> 00:40:45.106
Had nothing to do about Shiva. Had something to do with David's action.

00:40:45.328 --> 00:40:48.752
But that does not mean the child was guilty. The child was innocent.

00:40:49.154 --> 00:40:55.230
The child became part of the collateral damage because of David's action.

00:40:55.579 --> 00:40:59.841
You see here in this episode, we called it, I titled it, The Casualties of Crown.

00:41:00.153 --> 00:41:02.938
David's sin created suffering beyond himself.

00:41:03.269 --> 00:41:06.021
Bathsheba lost her husband. Bathsheba lost her child.

00:41:06.357 --> 00:41:11.129
Uriah lost his life. The army lost men in a manipulated battle.

00:41:11.257 --> 00:41:13.979
The palace lost moral authority.

00:41:14.351 --> 00:41:19.288
The house of David entered a season of turmoil. The story shows that leadership

00:41:19.288 --> 00:41:21.253
sin does not stay isolated.

00:41:21.561 --> 00:41:29.020
When people in power abuse authority, the consequences often fall on people who did not create them.

00:41:29.345 --> 00:41:35.078
The child was not guilty. The child was a casualty of a broken situation by

00:41:35.078 --> 00:41:37.013
David, by what David did.

00:41:37.280 --> 00:41:42.128
It was created from his sin. We learned about episode two, about how that sin

00:41:42.128 --> 00:41:46.017
causes so much damage and harm to everybody involved.

00:41:46.296 --> 00:41:51.067
We saw in episode two how David tried to hide and write orders and cover up,

00:41:51.382 --> 00:41:53.209
but his sin continued to grow.

00:41:53.500 --> 00:41:56.785
First, David abuses his power. Then he tries to hide the pregnancy.

00:41:57.058 --> 00:41:59.611
Then he manipulates Sariah. He uses Job.

00:41:59.959 --> 00:42:03.968
He arranges the death. He takes Bathsheba into his house. Then he acts as if

00:42:03.968 --> 00:42:07.256
the matter is settled, but God was not silent.

00:42:07.610 --> 00:42:11.929
This episode teaches us that sin in leadership is never just personal.

00:42:12.225 --> 00:42:15.145
David Action created Chain Reaction.

00:42:15.552 --> 00:42:21.140
The king's private desire became public destruction. Uriah became one of the

00:42:21.140 --> 00:42:23.504
clearest moral witnesses in the story.

00:42:23.824 --> 00:42:27.550
He is called a Hittite, but his loyalty is extraordinary.

00:42:27.910 --> 00:42:31.103
He refuses to go home while the ark and the army are in tent.

00:42:31.277 --> 00:42:34.360
His discipline exposes David's self-indulgence.

00:42:35.474 --> 00:42:39.712
His honor exposes David's dishonor. All in his death, I said everything.

00:42:39.944 --> 00:42:43.299
But she becomes a grieving woman inside a palace system.

00:42:43.619 --> 00:42:46.846
She is not just the woman David took. She is a widow.

00:42:47.177 --> 00:42:54.671
She is a mother. She is someone whose life has been altered by the decision made by men in power.

00:42:54.793 --> 00:42:57.555
Job shows how system can become complicit.

00:42:57.880 --> 00:43:03.412
He may not have created David's sin, but he carried out David's command.

00:43:05.690 --> 00:43:10.310
Corruption survives when people obey what they know is wrong because the order

00:43:10.310 --> 00:43:11.528
came from someone powerful.

00:43:12.016 --> 00:43:16.983
Nathan shows the role of a prophetic truth. He enters the palace and says that

00:43:16.983 --> 00:43:19.197
others may have been afraid to say.

00:43:19.528 --> 00:43:22.465
He does not flatter David. He does not soften the truth.

00:43:22.831 --> 00:43:28.276
He confronts the king. This is powerful because biblical prophecy is not prediction.

00:43:28.578 --> 00:43:32.241
It's correction. It's truth spoken to power.

00:43:32.531 --> 00:43:38.853
We understand the ethnicity and background for David in our last episode.

00:43:38.853 --> 00:43:43.160
I'm just going to do a quick review. We know that David was an Israelite from the tribe of Judah.

00:43:43.474 --> 00:43:48.243
He was the king of Israel, and his position gave him power, political power,

00:43:48.243 --> 00:43:51.810
military, political, and household authority.

00:43:52.141 --> 00:43:56.614
We know in this episode, David's identity as king matters more than his ethnicity alone.

00:43:57.015 --> 00:44:01.449
He's not acting as a private citizen. He's using his power of the throne.

00:44:01.751 --> 00:44:05.490
That's why I titled it Casualty of the Crown, because that matters.

00:44:05.623 --> 00:44:10.564
The crown gave David access to messengers, soldiers, commanders, and cover-ups.

00:44:10.917 --> 00:44:15.163
We see here that in Bathsheba, that Bathsheba appeared to have been an Israelite

00:44:15.163 --> 00:44:18.708
woman. Remember, these are not white people. These are people of color.

00:44:19.021 --> 00:44:21.023
And we see here that as an Israelite woman through Scripture,

00:44:21.023 --> 00:44:25.501
does not directly name her tribe, but she's a daughter of Elim and the wife

00:44:25.889 --> 00:44:30.092
of Uriah, Raya the Hittite. That one thing stays the same.

00:44:30.364 --> 00:44:35.165
And God never let David forget that that was a why that you, that you, um.

00:44:35.780 --> 00:44:39.389
He did this too. It was a wife. We see here in episode two that she became a

00:44:39.389 --> 00:44:42.236
grieving widow and a grieving mother.

00:44:42.405 --> 00:44:49.211
Her suffering is often discussed because the story is usually centered around David's sin.

00:44:49.537 --> 00:44:54.185
So we forget what she had to suffer in all this. She lost her husband.

00:44:54.428 --> 00:44:58.667
She lost Uriah. She grieved and mourned for her husband.

00:44:59.009 --> 00:45:02.178
You know, think about it. She doesn't probably know David that way.

00:45:02.497 --> 00:45:07.883
I don't know how she responded after she finds out that he was the one that killed her husband.

00:45:08.199 --> 00:45:13.567
She lost her first child. She lost the life that David had produced in her.

00:45:14.299 --> 00:45:19.499
So think about this. When a person goes through this much grief and this much

00:45:19.499 --> 00:45:23.360
mourning, they can come out really depressed or they can come out stronger.

00:45:23.661 --> 00:45:25.347
And that's what we're going to find out about.

00:45:25.745 --> 00:45:31.063
Bathsheba, and why she rises to be a queen's mother, that she married David,

00:45:31.377 --> 00:45:33.065
you know, in spite of all that.

00:45:33.269 --> 00:45:39.474
And her story survives this trauma, this drama, and it could not be erased.

00:45:39.642 --> 00:45:42.770
Let's talk about Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was called the Hittite.

00:45:42.770 --> 00:45:46.040
He kept saying Uriah the Hittite. That's important when God repeats himself.

00:45:46.237 --> 00:45:51.832
Connecting him to a non-Israelite people group known in the ancient Near Eastern world.

00:45:51.983 --> 00:45:54.717
Yet Uriah served loyally in David's army.

00:45:55.048 --> 00:46:00.046
His actions in episode two are so powerful, he shows a covenant loyalty,

00:46:00.191 --> 00:46:02.873
military discipline, and moral restraint.

00:46:03.175 --> 00:46:07.064
He refused to enjoy comfort while others remain in battle.

00:46:07.273 --> 00:46:11.476
Uriah ethnicity should not be used to make him seem less honorable.

00:46:11.841 --> 00:46:17.630
The test does the opposite. It presents Uriah the Hittite as more faithful than

00:46:17.630 --> 00:46:21.426
David the king. Joah. Joah was David's military commander.

00:46:21.762 --> 00:46:26.420
He was part of David's leadership system. In this episode, Joab became the person

00:46:26.420 --> 00:46:28.032
who carried out the deadly order.

00:46:28.293 --> 00:46:31.909
Joab's role shows how corruption moves through the system.

00:46:32.240 --> 00:46:34.760
David gives a command, but Joab implements it.

00:46:35.096 --> 00:46:39.253
This reminds us that injustice often requires more than one person.

00:46:39.554 --> 00:46:42.776
It requires cooperation, silence, obedience, and fear.

00:46:43.090 --> 00:46:47.281
The child, the first born to David and Bathsheba, is not named.

00:46:47.589 --> 00:46:51.488
The silence is playful. The child becomes a part of the grief.

00:46:51.842 --> 00:46:57.108
The child's death must be handled with tenderness. The child was not guilty of David's sin.

00:46:58.263 --> 00:47:03.789
Birth of this child was born into the consequences of David's action.

00:47:04.021 --> 00:47:08.111
Understanding some facts here, I'd like to just close it out with little facts.

00:47:08.349 --> 00:47:12.181
Uriah means Yahweh is my light or the Lord is my light.

00:47:12.494 --> 00:47:17.434
That meaning is powerful because Uriah becomes a light in a dark story.

00:47:17.759 --> 00:47:21.074
His behavior exposes the darkness of David's cover-up.

00:47:21.428 --> 00:47:26.037
Joab often appears in David's story as a complicated military figure.

00:47:26.432 --> 00:47:32.841
He is loyal to David in some ways, but he is also violent and politically calculating in this story.

00:47:33.160 --> 00:47:36.451
Job follows David's order and becomes part of the injustice.

00:47:36.626 --> 00:47:40.696
The letter. One of the most chilling details is Uriah carried the letter that

00:47:40.696 --> 00:47:42.355
contained his own death order.

00:47:42.640 --> 00:47:47.496
This shows how deeply David misused trust. Uriah was loyal enough to carry the

00:47:47.496 --> 00:47:51.630
king's message, not knowing the king has written his death. Nathan.

00:47:51.944 --> 00:47:56.016
Nathan's parable is a brilliant because it allows David to judge in justice

00:47:56.016 --> 00:47:58.573
before realizing he is judging himself.

00:47:58.915 --> 00:48:04.016
David's anger shows he still has a sense of justice, but he has become blind

00:48:04.016 --> 00:48:05.777
to his own abusive power.

00:48:06.067 --> 00:48:09.765
In Bathsheba mourning, the Bible says Bathsheba mourned for Uriah.

00:48:10.154 --> 00:48:14.392
This matters because it shows that Uriah's death was not just a plot in David's story.

00:48:14.688 --> 00:48:18.490
It was a personal loss to Bathsheba. Wow.

00:48:18.734 --> 00:48:24.916
So we end 2 Samuel 11, that the thing that David has done displeased the Lord.

00:48:25.282 --> 00:48:30.256
Remember our actions maybe not matter to anybody else. It should just matter

00:48:30.256 --> 00:48:33.171
to God. And God said, that displeased me.

00:48:33.467 --> 00:48:38.666
That displeased me. And so remember this, that this was not a private mistake.

00:48:38.666 --> 00:48:40.537
This was not a palace rumor.

00:48:40.868 --> 00:48:45.220
It was not a simple scandal. This was abuse of power followed by a cover-up.

00:48:45.563 --> 00:48:49.295
David tried to hide the pregnancy. He tried to manipulate Uriah.

00:48:49.463 --> 00:48:53.040
David uses Joab to arrange Uriah's death.

00:48:53.190 --> 00:48:58.021
David brought Bathsheba into his house, but God saw what David did.

00:48:58.311 --> 00:49:01.462
And the Bible says that the one thing that David did.

00:49:01.875 --> 00:49:05.768
Displeased the Lord. The capture of the crown was real. Uriah was killed,

00:49:05.768 --> 00:49:10.848
Bathsheba mourned, the child died, and the house of David was shaken because

00:49:10.848 --> 00:49:12.916
God told him what was going to happen in his house.

00:49:13.177 --> 00:49:17.293
But Bathsheba's story was still not over. She survived the rooftop,

00:49:17.589 --> 00:49:21.473
and she had survived the cover-up. She had survived widowhood.

00:49:21.770 --> 00:49:24.068
She had survived the loss of a child.

00:49:24.369 --> 00:49:27.307
In the next episode, we'll see Bathsheba in a different light.

00:49:27.674 --> 00:49:32.098
Not only as a woman who endured Pilate's power, with a woman who learned how

00:49:32.098 --> 00:49:37.321
to move within it. Episode three, we're introduced Bathsheba as a political matriarch.

00:49:37.680 --> 00:49:40.415
The women who partnered with the prophet Naaman.

00:49:45.011 --> 00:49:51.211
Confronted and attempted a royal takeover and helps to secure a throne for Solomon.

00:49:51.507 --> 00:49:57.027
When the crown tries to cover up corruption, innocent people become casualties.

00:49:57.242 --> 00:50:01.677
I'm your host Connie Morrison. And that's in episode two, Bathsheba,

00:50:01.864 --> 00:50:05.247
the Royal, the Casualties of an Affair.

00:50:05.468 --> 00:50:07.679
And I'll see you on the next episode.

00:50:07.999 --> 00:50:10.788
Thanks for joining me at Diary of Black Women's Podcast.

00:50:11.188 --> 00:50:14.825
Before we close today, I don't want to take for granted that everyone listening

00:50:15.098 --> 00:50:16.526
knows Jesus personally.

00:50:16.909 --> 00:50:22.296
If you have listened to this episode or any other episodes and felt something stirring in your heart.

00:50:22.732 --> 00:50:26.441
Maybe you know about God, but you're not sure you truly know him.

00:50:26.628 --> 00:50:30.812
Maybe you grew up in church, walked away, got hurt, became tired,

00:50:31.201 --> 00:50:33.546
and never fully surrendered your life to Jesus.

00:50:33.926 --> 00:50:38.356
I want you to know this. God loves you. He has not forgotten you.

00:50:38.356 --> 00:50:40.309
He is not waiting to shame you.

00:50:40.472 --> 00:50:43.437
He is calling you home.

00:50:43.611 --> 00:50:47.622
The Bible says in Romans 10, 9, if you declare with your mouth,

00:50:47.843 --> 00:50:55.093
Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

00:50:55.302 --> 00:50:57.723
Salvation is not about being perfect.

00:50:57.943 --> 00:51:00.834
It's about surrendering to the one who is perfect.

00:51:01.165 --> 00:51:08.567
Jesus died for your sins, rose again, and made a way for you to be forgiven, restored, and made new.

00:51:08.787 --> 00:51:12.212
So right where you are, you can pray this prayer with me.

00:51:12.369 --> 00:51:17.529
Lord Jesus, I come to you today with an open heart. I believe you are the Son of God.

00:51:17.924 --> 00:51:24.385
I believe you died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that God raised you from the dead.

00:51:25.622 --> 00:51:30.246
I confess that I need you. I repent of my sins. I ask you to forgive me,

00:51:30.246 --> 00:51:33.342
cleanse me, and make me brand new.

00:51:33.545 --> 00:51:35.461
Jesus, come into my heart.

00:51:35.780 --> 00:51:39.576
Be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, and my King.

00:51:39.956 --> 00:51:44.928
I surrender my life to you. I give you my past, my present, and my future.

00:51:45.206 --> 00:51:49.131
Teach me how to walk with you. Fill me with your Holy Spirit.

00:51:49.403 --> 00:51:53.356
Lead me in truth, healing, obedience, and love.

00:51:53.676 --> 00:51:56.216
From this day forward, I belong to you.

00:51:56.616 --> 00:52:00.607
In Jesus' name, amen. If you pray that prayer from your heart,

00:52:00.770 --> 00:52:05.089
I want you to know that heaven has heard you. This is not the end.

00:52:05.425 --> 00:52:10.313
This is only the beginning of your walk with Jesus. Find a Bible-believing church,

00:52:10.487 --> 00:52:15.665
begin reading the word of God, pray daily, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you grow.

00:52:15.944 --> 00:52:20.698
God is not looking for perfection from you. He is inviting you into relationship,

00:52:21.012 --> 00:52:24.558
transformation, and eternal life. through Jesus Christ.

00:52:24.756 --> 00:52:30.834
And remember, you are loved, you are not forgotten, and God still has a purpose for your life.

00:52:31.165 --> 00:52:34.050
Thank you for listening to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

00:52:34.247 --> 00:52:38.716
Until next time, keep walking in truth, faith, and freedom.

00:52:49.688 --> 00:52:52.864
Family, thank you for spending time with me today.

00:52:53.142 --> 00:52:56.799
To every woman listening who has ever felt hidden, overlooked,

00:52:56.799 --> 00:52:59.267
or pushed aside, hear me clearly.

00:52:59.528 --> 00:53:04.067
God has not forgotten you, and neither have I.

00:53:04.462 --> 00:53:09.222
Now let's go before the Lord and close this out with a word from God,

00:53:09.640 --> 00:53:14.069
because someone out there needs this reminder today.

00:53:14.336 --> 00:53:18.324
Jeremiah 29, 11, verses 11 through 14.

00:53:18.760 --> 00:53:23.609
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you

00:53:23.609 --> 00:53:27.514
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

00:53:27.804 --> 00:53:32.558
Then when you call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you,

00:53:32.814 --> 00:53:38.129
you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

00:53:38.129 --> 00:53:44.186
I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and bring you back from captivity.

00:53:44.551 --> 00:53:50.529
Father God, we thank you for your word, that it is true, that it is living, that it is for us.

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You said you know the plans you have for us, plans to prosper us and not to

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harm us, plans to give us hope and a future.

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So today we receive that, not just in our minds, but in our hearts.

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When we feel overlooked, remind us you still see us.

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When we feel forgotten, remind us you still have a plan. And when we feel hidden,

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remind us you are still working.

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Your word says that when we call on you, you will listen.

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So we call on you now. Hear us. Strengthen us.

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Guide us. Help us to seek you with our whole heart, not halfway,

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not sometimes, but fully.

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And as we seek you, let us find you in every season, in every place.

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Even the hidden one. Restore what was lost, renew what feels broken,

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and remind us that nothing in our lives is wasted in your hand.

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Lord, we trust you, we believe you, and we stand on your word. In Jesus' name, amen.

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This is Diary of a Black Woman podcast, and I'm your host, Connie Morris,

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and I'll see you on the next episode.