My Thoughts on David's Illicit Affair with Bathsheba
As I was reading through the Spurgeon devotional - I thought of today's evening topic was on David and Bathsheba which is found in 2 Samuel 11. David himself was already a man in his late 40s. Remember that David was 70 years old (the very age that he died) when Solomon ascended the throne at probably 20 years old. David's very blemish was that not only he had many wives but he also took another man's wife to add to his harem.
The lesson that I can learn is that David didn't intend to backslide but he did. The problem was that it was a time of war and he should have been at war. Instead, he stayed at the roof of his castle. David's eyes were still good for a man in his late 40s. He didn't intend to backslide. Maybe, he wanted to have some devotion but he should have been in the battlefield. Then it happened that he saw the daughter of one of his men Eliam and note that Bathsheba's grandfather Ahitophel was one of his personal advisers. David by now had a couple of grown children and maybe some of them older than Bathsheba. In short, David was old enough to be Bathsheba's father!
The lesson that I can learn is that David didn't intend to backslide but he did. The problem was that it was a time of war and he should have been at war. Instead, he stayed at the roof of his castle. David's eyes were still good for a man in his late 40s. He didn't intend to backslide. Maybe, he wanted to have some devotion but he should have been in the battlefield. Then it happened that he saw the daughter of one of his men Eliam and note that Bathsheba's grandfather Ahitophel was one of his personal advisers. David by now had a couple of grown children and maybe some of them older than Bathsheba. In short, David was old enough to be Bathsheba's father!
This had me thinking about the problem of extramarital affairs with much younger women. The Bible doesn't state that Bathsheba already had children by Uriah. Perhaps they were just newly married. Others think that must have remarried and picked a much younger wife based on the parable of 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12 has Nathan mentioning that the poor man had but one lamb that dined with his children. Some even suggest that Uriah was a widower who remarried to a much younger woman since David is the man who stole the lamb.
Why did Bathsheba decide to go to the king when summoned? It was perhaps out of fear until she realized her guilt later on. David committed three sins that night when he lusted after her (covetousness), he stole his officer's wife and committed adultery with her. Then he wanted to cover it up by trying to get Uriah to sleep back at his house. When all else failed - he ordered his nephew Joab (son of his sister Zeruiah) to put Uriah at the front that he may die. He later took Bathsheba but the thing he did displeased God. God would later strike the child born of sin.
There's also the need to guard one's eyes especially in today's sin-laden world. David saw Bathsheba in her most private moments. Bathsheba carelessly bathed openly believing that everyone must have gone to sleep. Today, you've got a lot of nudity and sex on the media going on to arouse lustful imaginations. The struggle between men and lust isn't a battle that men can underestimate. A very devoted husband can also fall into serious adultery all because of lust. A Christian man can still fight against such thoughts especially if they were once sexually immoral prior to salvation or read tons of pornographic magazines prior to conversation. Then there's the midlife crisis which David may have had too - which resulted to his adultery with Bathsheba.
This would lead to the real problem of whether or not I am guarding my heart from such evil? If I let my guard down then surely the Devil and the flesh will return me back to my old bad habits all over again. The war is going to be constant and there's no time to relax when it comes to a daily battle with one's old flesh. David should've know better than to be too relaxed after too many victories in the battlefield.