Bathsheba's Bath (the sin of a King)

2 Samuel 11

Bathsheba's Bath - the sin of a King

(chalk pastel on cartridge)

David and Bathsheba

1 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king's men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah.

But David remained in Jerusalem.

2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace.

From the roof he saw a woman bathing.

The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"

4 Then David sent messengers to get her. {My notes - He was the King - she had to obey him - to not do so would have meant death}

She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.

5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, "I am pregnant."

6 So David sent this word to Joab: "Send me Uriah the Hittite." And Joab sent him to David.

When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.

8 Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet." So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.

But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master's servants and did not go down to his house. {My notes - David was trying to get him to sleep with his wife so they could say the baby was his - it had been conceived while he was away at war and if he didn't have intercourse with his wife he would know it was someone elses. David's sin would remain hidden if he thought he was the father}

When David was told, "Uriah did not go home," he asked him, "Haven't you just come from a distance? Why didn't you go home?"

Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my master Joab and my lord's men are camped in the open fields.

How could I go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!" {My notes: this was an honourable man}

Then David said to him, "Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next.

At David's invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk.

But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master's servants; he did not go home.

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, "Put Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die." {My notes - what a JERK!}

So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David's army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

Joab sent David a full account of the battle.

He instructed the messenger: "When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, the king's anger may flare up, and he may ask you, 'Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn't you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? Who killed Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth ? Didn't a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If he asks you this, then say to him, 'Also, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.' "

The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, "The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance to 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."

25 David told the messenger, "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 encourage Joab."

26 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.


But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

Wanting to buy a ferry, a home, and a future Wishing I had the finances.

Frustrated at lack of funds when something as ideal as this would be comes along and you realise you have not been able to buy toothpaste this week let alone buy a ferry no matter how ideal it would be.

When I saw it I knew how ideal it would be and I felt quite deeply the gulf betweeen wanting somthing and not having the means to obtain it.

It's the kind of thing I would make come alive, and would be deeply appreciated and cared for,
It would give me a future and a hope. It would give me a means to be able to financially support myself whilst still following the call God has on my life.

Oh - I just looked it up on trade me and found it is operating as a restaurant so it MUST have a certified kitchen. I really really really want this! It's just so ME. It would give me a very 'me' home and a gallery and a teaching space and a legal kitchen for producing food for sale for a gallerycaf and a means of supporting myself all in one as well as a teaching space.

One of the times I wish I had a financial supporter who could turn to me right now and say ; yes , I'll to buy that for you and here's the land to put it on - let me organise it all for you...
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Boats-marine/Yachts-sail-boats/Moored-boats/auction-204350890.htm

less than a day before the auction closes.