YEARS LATER

To say that David was frustrated would be the understatement of the century. He was absolutely hot. Morning had come, and he had invited Uriah to eat and drink with him. As planned, the servants had given Uriah a much stronger drink that they’d given David, and David had gotten Uriah drunk by the end of the meal. David had attempted once again to send him home to his wife, but then Uriah had gone to sleep among the servants.

David knew that he could not keep Uriah much longer; the man clearly yearned to return to the battlefield. Men like him were not suited to stay home while the fight was elsewhere, and he would only become frustrated if he was not back to fighting soon.

It made him sad, but there was really only one thing left to do. He tried to get the man home sober, and then drunk, both to no avail. If he tried to force Uriah to go home, there would be suspicion as to why. David was king, but he had no say over whether or not another man lay with his wife. If he was going to take care of this problem, Uriah had to go.

He sent for a scribe and began to dictate a letter for Joab.

*****

YEARS AGO

Samuel got to Gilgal and found Saul reveling in his victory. Saul saw him approaching and was excited. He waited for Samuel to reach him, but did not see the anger on Samuel’s face.

“Servant of the Lord’s house, may the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

“If you have carried out the Lord’s instructions, what is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle I hear?”

Still excited, Saul replied,  “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites. They spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God. Everything else is destroyed-”

“Enough! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

Saul’s excitement dimmed a little, but he was still eager to hear what God’s next mission would be.

“Tell me, Samuel.”

“Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel, and he sent you on a mission. ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites. Wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

*****

YEARS LATER

David was in the morning room, looking over administrative matters when a messenger from the war was escorted in with a guard. David dismissed the guard and asked the servant of his message.

“Your Highness, I bring you word of the war from Joab. The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

David stood up from his seat. The servant had already been briefed by Joab to expect some level of pushback as to the tactics, and he already had his answer ready. But David’s response was completely different from his expectation.

“Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to Joab to encourage him.”

The servant couldn’t show it on his face, but he was surprised at the answer he got. Still, he bowed and left with the message. David called his servant in.

“I have just received word that Uriah the Hittite is dead. Now, when the period of mourning is over, bring Bathsheba to me.”

*****

YEARS AGO

“Why are you angry? I came out here and went on the mission the Lord assigned me. The Amalekites are completely destroyed, save Agag their king. The only things that remain are the best of the sheep and the cattle, which the men took in order to sacrifice them to God here in Gilgal. I did obey the Lord, Samuel.”

Saul had finally picked up on Samuel’s anger, and he was not having it. The previous incident with the burnt offerings had left him sore, and he was not about to receive another scolding from Samuel. He was a king, for crying out loud!

Unfortunately, Samuel could not care less.

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying Him? To obey is better than to sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.”

Saul finally started to realize the gravity of his problem, but Samuel was not done.

“Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”

*****

YEARS LATER

Months had passed since the death of Uriah. Bathsheba had now become David’s wife, and she had given birth to a son for him. He was still very much enamored with her, though a part of him still wished he didn’t have to put Uriah down.

He was relaxing in his courtyard when Nathan the prophet came to see him. Nathan had barely greeted when he began to speak what God had said.

“There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

David went from chilling to boiling. Within seconds, he was already issuing punishment decrees.

“As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

Nathan nodded his head and then looked David squarely in the eye.

“You are the man!”

Mmmm, both kings had a prophet slapping them in the face with the cold, hard truth. Well, let’s get to the end of this introductory season…