2 Sa. 11: David Humps Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:4 "She came to him, and he slept with her."

Well, this is the story about David's tryst with Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite. David, with his six or seven wives, lets his eyes wander over to the aptly named Bathsheba soaping herself up next door. He is immediately smitten, and has his people hook him up. David plows with Uriah's heifer, and she gets pregnant. Then the drama begins. David was not concerned until now with who her husband might have been. Now he wants to know about this guy whose wife is bearing David's fruit. He calls him from battle under the guise of wondering how everything was going. I imagine David probably had numerous messengers going constantly to tell him how it was going.

Eventually, he had Joab, the military commander, put Uriah in the place where the fighting was the fiercest, essentially killing him. And I think this is where it's most intriguing. Joab probably had no clue why David had this sudden interest in a random guy like Uriah. But this command, coming from the guy who had called down a curse on Joab for his misguided attempts to curry favor, was not to be ignored. But in his time, I'm sure Joab had seen requests before to throw cats into the fire. I'm sure it was an oft-used punishment, because later on, Joab knew David would want to know that Uriah had fallen.

David is kind enough to allow Bathsheba to mourn for her husband before taking her as his wife. This is the second...no, third time David has taken a married woman as his wife (Abigail, Michal) that we know of. God was not too happy with this. Displeased in fact. David, having everything, was not satisfied with the women already in his life. His libido gets the best of him here. Lust seems to trump all other vices, at least with David. I wonder if he'd step over Mephibosheth...