Read 2 Samuel 11:11-17 – And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are encamped in the open fields. Shall I then go to my house to eat and drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Wait here today also, and tomorrow I will let you depart.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now when David called him, he ate and drank before him; and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. In the morning it happened that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die.” So it was, while Joab besieged the city, that he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew there were valiant men. Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also. (NKJV)
When we read the list of David’s mighty men, the last name on the list leaps off the page—Uriah the Hittite. This is the man we know as Bathsheba’s husband—the same man that David sought to kill after having taken his wife for himself. It’s a terrible story! Uriah was a great man! Even with the king’s permission to return from battle to spend the night in his own home, Uriah won’t sidestep the commitments of his own heart. Never mind that David’s intent is evil, Uriah won’t accept any offer of perceived blessing when he knows to always do what is right. Uriah is a man of excellence, and he won’t let even his king’s “generosity” become an excuse to steer him from that path.
– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.
National Men’s Leadership Conference: March 8-10, 2012 . Dallas, Texas . www.men.ag.org
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