Historical
11 In the springtime of the year, the season when most kings took their soldiers out to fight, David stayed in Jerusalem and sent Joab out as general in charge of David’s men and the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and put the city of Rabbah under siege.
2 Early one evening, David rose from his bed and was strolling on the palace roof when he saw a woman bathing on a roof below his. She was very beautiful. 3 David sent someone to find out who the woman was, and the answer came back that she was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah was one of David’s officers who had gone to war with the rest of David’s troops.
4-5 David couldn’t get her off his mind, so he sent messengers to bring Bathsheba to him. She came, and they had sexual relations. Soon after she returned home, Bathsheba realized she was pregnant, and she sent this news to David. Since their encounter occurred just after the purifying bath after her period, her husband Uriah could not have been the father. 6 So David sent a message to his general Joab.
David: Send me Uriah the Hittite.
Joab sent Uriah back to David. 7 There he was taken in front of the king; and David asked how Joab was doing, how the army was getting along, and how the campaign was progressing. 8 When they finished discussing the news from the front, David suggested that Uriah go to his own house to clean up, relax, and visit his wife.
David: Since I’ve called you back here, why don’t you go down to your house?
David sent a gift after him when he left, 9 but Uriah did not go down to his own house. Instead he spent the night at the entrance of the palace with all the king’s servants.
David is frustrated by this. If Uriah doesn’t have sexual relations with his wife, then everyone will know that Bathsheba has been unfaithful—and they might remember her secret trip to the palace.
Servants (to David): 10 Uriah did not go home last night.
David (to Uriah): You’ve just come home from a long trip. Why didn’t you spend the night in your own house?
Uriah: 11 The people of Israel and Judah and the covenant chest of the Lord are in tents; my general, Joab, and the king’s other servants are sleeping in the open fields. Do you think I would go to my home to eat and drink and sleep with my wife while everyone else suffers? As you live, good king, I will not do such a thing.
David: 12 Stay here with me today; tomorrow I will send you back to the battle.
Uriah remained in Jerusalem that whole day and the next day. 13 David invited him to eat and drink in the king’s royal company, and David got him drunk. After the party, Uriah fell asleep on a bed with the servants of the king, and again he did not return to his home.
14 So the next morning, realizing Uriah would not go home to be with Bathsheba, David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it back to the front with Uriah.
David’s seduction of the beautiful Bathsheba and the plot to murder her husband, Uriah, represent low points in David’s life. Even when someone has a reputation for good character—and David must have one, since he is beloved of God—temptation can lead him to act totally against his own values. David takes Bathsheba because he wants her and because he has the power to do so; he orders her husband into battle to be killed because he is unable to cover his lustful advances.
David’s Letter: 15 Put Uriah at the front of the battle, in a place where the fighting is most intense. Then pull back and leave him in front of the line so that the enemy will strike him down and kill him.
16 After he received this message, Joab laid out his attack plans and assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the enemy had put strong warriors. 17 When the warriors of the city came out to fight against Joab’s forces, some of David’s servants were killed, and Uriah the Hittite was one of them.
18 Joab sent a messenger to David with news of the battle.
Joab (to the messenger): 19 Give the king all of this news about the battle. 20 If he gets angry and asks you, “Why did the army go so near the city to fight? Didn’t you realize that they would shoot from the walls? 21 Wasn’t Abimelech, Jerubbesheth’s son, killed by a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall at Thebez?[a] Why were you so close to the wall?” then tell him, “Your servant Uriah the Hittite was also killed in the fighting.”
22 So the messenger went and told David everything Joab had instructed him to say. But he did not wait for the king’s reaction before telling him Uriah had died.
Messenger: 23 Their soldiers came out against us into the field surrounding the city. At first they had the advantage over us, but we drove them back to their gate. 24 Then their archers fired on us from the wall; and some of your servants were killed, including your servant Uriah the Hittite.
David: 25 Take this reply back to Joab: “Don’t let this trouble you. The sword kills indiscriminately. Continue to push forward against the city, and capture it.” And give him my encouragement.
26 When Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, heard the news of his death, she went into mourning for seven days. 27 When her appointed time of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her into his household. He made her his wife, and in time she bore him a son.
But the Eternal One was displeased with what David had done.
At first glance, David seems no different than many people who are given power and who use it without regard for what is right or what is fair. In this affair, David looks like the rich and powerful leaders the Hebrew prophets elsewhere in the Old Testament are constantly condemning. He has a moral and ethical failure as most of the kings who follow him also have. He exploits a loyal servant and wreaks havoc on his house.
12 The Eternal One sent the prophet Nathan to visit David. Nathan came to him and told him a story.
Nathan: Two men lived in the same city. One was quite rich and the other quite poor; 2 the rich man’s wealth included livestock with many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man owned only one little ewe lamb. He bought it and raised it in his family, with his children, like a pet. It used to eat what little food he had, drink from his meager cup, and snuggle against him. It was like a daughter to him.
4 Now a traveler came to the city to visit the rich man. To offer a proper welcome, the rich man knew he needed to fix a meal, but he did not want to take one of the animals from his flocks and herds. So instead he stole the poor man’s ewe lamb and had it killed and cooked for his guest.
Nathan stood back, waiting for the king’s verdict. 5 David grew very angry at the rich man. It was his royal duty to protect the poor and establish justice.
David: As the Eternal One lives, the rich man who did this deserves to die. 6 At the least, he will restore that lamb four times over because he acted without pity.
Nathan: 7 You are that man!
This is the message of the Eternal God of Israel: “I was the One who anointed you to rule over Israel, and I was the One who rescued you from the hand of Saul. 8 It was I who gave you Saul’s house, Saul’s wives, and dominion over both Israel and Judah; and if that were not enough, I would have given you as much again.
9 “So why have you despised the word of the Eternal and chosen to do evil in His sight? It was you who killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and stole his wife, even though you used the Ammonites to do the dirty work. 10 Now because he was killed with the sword, the sword will be your constant companion. It will hang over your household, bringing death and violence to your family, since you have despised Me by showing no regard for My law, and you have taken Bathsheba, the lawful wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife.”
11 This is the message of the Eternal: “I will bring trouble on you in your own household—right under your nose. I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will flaunt that he sleeps with them in the light of day. 12 You did your evil in secret, but I will do this out in the open, in front of all Israel.”
David (confessing to Nathan): 13 I have sinned against the Eternal One.
Nathan: Because the Eternal has put away your sin, it will not be your death. 14 But because you scorned the Lord by these acts, giving His enemies reason to mock Him, the child you conceived in deceit will die.
15 Then Nathan left the king’s presence and went down to his house.
The Eternal One struck the child born to Uriah’s widow and David so that he became very sick. 16 So David appealed to the True God for the life of his son. David went without food; he lay on the ground praying all night. 17 The elders from his household, the most highly honored of his servants, tried to pull him up off the ground and to make him eat, but he would not.
18 After seven days of this, the child died, and David’s servants were afraid to bring him the news.
Servants (to one another): If the king did not listen to us while his son was still alive, how can we tell him his son is dead? He may hurt himself in some way.
19 When David saw his servants whispering among themselves, he immediately realized the boy was dead.
David (to his servants): Is my son dead?
Servants: Yes, he is dead.
20 Then David stood up, washed, anointed himself with sweet-smelling oils, and changed his clothes. He went into the house of the Eternal and worshiped. Then he returned to his house and asked for food; and when it was brought to him, he ate.
Servants (to David): 21 We don’t understand. When your son was alive, you wept and you refused to eat; now that he is dead, it is as if nothing is wrong—you are up and about and eating.
David: 22 While my son was still alive, I wept and fasted with all my being because I thought to myself, “Who knows? There is still a chance that the Eternal One will have mercy on me and let my child live.” 23 But now that he is dead, why should I continue without eating? Will that bring my son back to life? Someday when I die I will go where he has gone, but he will never come back to me here.
24 David went in to console his wife, Bathsheba. In time they slept together, and she became pregnant. When their second son was born, David named him Solomon. The Eternal loved the boy 25 and sent word by the prophet Nathan that they should call Solomon “Jedidiah.”
The Israelites believe God punishes or rewards based on religious and ethical behavior, so David knows he deserves to be punished for the things he has done. But Nathan tells him that his punishment will come through the loss of the son conceived in adultery with Bathsheba and through the growth of conflict within his own family. The baby does die despite David’s prayer and fasting, and David’s children will soon display the kind of destructive behavior that will all but tear the royal house apart.
26 During this time, Joab was campaigning against the Ammonite city of Rabbah until he captured the royal city. 27 He sent messengers with word of the imminent victory to David.
Joab: I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply. The city is almost ours. 28 You should gather the rest of your forces and come yourself to lead the final conquest. If I take the city, then I will receive the credit for it.
29 So David gathered the people, led them against Rabbah, and captured it. 30 He took the crown from their king and had it placed on his own head to show who was now reigning in the land. It was so heavy with gold (weighing over 75 pounds) that it could scarcely be worn, and it had a precious stone mounted on it. He also brought home the vast treasures of the city. 31 Lastly David set the people of the city to work with axes or picks or saws and built kilns for making bricks. He did the same thing to all the cities of the Ammonites, and then he and his armies went home to Jerusalem.
13 Time passed, and David’s children grew older. David’s third son, Absalom, had a sister, Tamar, who was so beautiful that David’s oldest son and heir, Amnon, fell in love with her. 2 Amnon was actually sick with desire for his half sister Tamar. Because she was a royal virgin, there was no chance for him to be with her.
3 But Amnon had a friend, his cousin Jonadab (son of David’s brother Shimeah), who was very shrewd.
Jonadab: 4 Son of the great king, why do you look so tired and run-down every day? Won’t you tell me?
Amnon: It’s Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister. I’m in love with her.
Jonadab: 5 Listen, lie down in your bed, and pretend that you are really sick. When your father comes to check on you, ask him, “Could my sister Tamar come and make me something to eat here, where I can see it, and could she feed it to me?”
6 So Amnon did as Jonadab had suggested. He lay down and faked an illness, and the king came to check on him, just as Jonadab said he would.
Amnon: Could my sister Tamar come take care of me? Could she make me some cakes here, where I can watch her, and then feed them to me?
7 David sent word home to Tamar.
David’s Message: Come to your brother Amnon’s house, and fix him something he can eat.
8 Tamar came to Amnon’s house, where he waited in bed. She made dough, kneaded it, formed cakes, and baked them, all so that he could watch her. 9 Then she set the pan in front of him and served the food, but he would not eat.
Amnon: Send everybody away.
All the servants departed and left the two of them alone.
Amnon (to Tamar): 10-11 Bring the food over to my bed, so you can feed me.
When Tamar brought to him the food she had made as he lay in bed, he grabbed her.
Amnon: Oh, my sister! Come into my bed; I want to be with you.
Tamar (struggling against him): 12 No, my brother! Please don’t violate me. Don’t do anything so shameful. You know people don’t do such things here in Israel.
13 Think about me! Do you realize what this would do to me, my prospects, my reputation? Where could I go to hide my shame?
And think about yourself! People would say you were one of the most foolish men in Israel!
Please, speak to the king if you want me so badly. He loves you and won’t keep me from you.
14 But Amnon would not listen to her; and since he was stronger, he raped her.
15 After he was done, he was filled with disgust and hated her; his hatred was stronger than the love that motivated him to rape her.
Amnon (to Tamar): Now get out of my sight!
Tamar (clinging to him): 16 No, my brother. The shame you do in sending me away is even worse than the shame you brought on by raping me.
But again he would not listen to her. 17 He called for his manservant.
Amnon: Throw this woman out of my sight, and lock the door when she’s gone. Make sure she can’t come back inside my house.
18 Because Tamar had been a royal virgin, she wore a distinctive robe with long sleeves. When Amnon’s servant threw her out into the street and barred her return, 19 Tamar heaped ashes on her head and tore her long, beautiful robe in mourning for what had happened to her. Then she walked back toward her home wailing, one hand to her head, showing everyone that tragedy and shame had fallen on her.
20 Tamar’s brother Absalom found her.
Absalom: Has your brother Amnon raped you? For now, my sister, say nothing. He is your brother. Don’t let it affect you so much.
Absalom had begun to make plans for revenge. So Tamar remained a broken woman living in her brother Absalom’s house.
21 When King David heard of what Amnon had done, he was filled with anger, but he did nothing to punish his firstborn son.
22 For his part, Absalom would not talk to Amnon, either nicely or angrily; Absalom hated Amnon for raping his sister Tamar, but he waited patiently.
Oh the shame and intrigue within David’s family. The lust and deception Amnon exhibits is not greatly different from that of his father. It, in turn, poisons Absalom and David’s relationship. The eventual revolt and death of David’s son Absalom are the final fruits of David’s sins in desiring another man’s wife and sending that man to his death. Nathan has promised there would be discord in the royal household, and that discord rocks David’s family, leading to death and division among his children.
23 So two whole years passed. It was the time of year when Absalom’s sheep were to be sheared, and Absalom invited all the king’s sons to feast at his estate at Baal-hazor, near Ephraim. 24 He went to his father, the king, to ask for permission to invite his brothers.
Absalom: I have gathered my men to shear the sheep. Will the king and his servants please join me, your servant, in celebrating?
David: 25 No, my son. If we all go, we would just be a burden to you.
Absalom pressured his father. The king still refused to come, although he did offer his blessing. Absalom turned to go, but he stopped with a final request.
Absalom: 26 Then send my brother Amnon to be with us.
David (curious): Why would you want him to go?
27 But Absalom pushed and pressed him until finally David was persuaded to give his permission for Amnon and all of his sons to go.
[Absalom threw a kingly feast.][b] 28 But before it began, he gave his servants unusual instructions.
Absalom: Watch Amnon to see when the wine makes him drunk; and when I tell you, “Strike Amnon,” kill him. Don’t be nervous—this is my command from my own lips. Have courage and show your bravery.
29 So Absalom’s servants followed his command and killed Amnon when he became drunk, and the other royal sons rose from the feast and fled on their mules. 30 While they were on the road, a false report reached David’s ears that all of his sons had been slain by Absalom, and no one had survived. 31 The king tore his clothes and fell to the ground in mourning. All his servants who heard this news also tore their garments.
32 Then David’s nephew Jonadab (son of David’s brother Shimeah) told the king the truth.
Jonadab: My lord, don’t worry that all your sons are dead. Only Amnon has been killed by Absalom, and his fate has been certain since the day he raped his sister Tamar, for Absalom has known that he would repay Amnon for his terrible deed. 33 So, my lord, don’t grieve as though your line was extinguished, for only your son Amnon is dead.
34 Absalom fled.
When the young watchman at the palace looked up, he saw a group of people coming down the road behind him around the mountain.[c]
Jonadab (to David): 35 You see, my king? Here are your sons, just as your servant said.
36 When he had finished speaking, the sons of the king arrived. They shouted, they wept, and the king and all his servants joined them in bitter tears.
37-38 Absalom ran for his life. He sought sanctuary with his maternal grandfather, the king of Geshur (Talmai, son of Ammihud), and he stayed there for three years. Every day the king mourned for his lost son.
39 King David longed to pursue his son Absalom once he comforted himself concerning the death of his son Amnon.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.