Samuel 11 -

When she returned to her house, she carried with her a secret. Weeks later, a message arrived for the king: “I am with child.”

He sent a runner to Joab. “Send me Uriah the Hittite.”

When Bathsheba heard that her husband was dead, she mourned. She tore her garments and wept for seven days. And when the days of mourning were over, David sent for her and brought her into his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. samuel 11

The evening air over Jerusalem was thick with the scent of jasmine and dust. From the rooftop of the royal palace, the city sprawled below like a patchwork quilt of shadow and fading gold. It was spring, the time when kings go to war. But King David was not with his army. He had sent Joab and the mighty men to besiege the Ammonite city of Rabbah, while he remained in the comfort of his house.

David felt the trap closing. He kept Uriah in Jerusalem another day, invited him to eat and drink at the palace, and plied him with wine until his eyes grew heavy. That night, David prayed the wine would loosen Uriah’s conscience. When she returned to her house, she carried

He wrote a letter. In it were these words: “Set Uriah in the front line, where the fighting is fiercest. Then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”

But the Lord saw.

A messenger rode back to Jerusalem with the news of the battle. “The enemy came out against us,” he reported. “Some of the king’s servants are dead. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”