My Rotary friend, Mark, brought something
to my attention that solved a long-standing mental quandary. Mark told me that
archeologists have now uncovered King David’s palace in Jerusalem. A visit
there wasn’t on the itinerary for the tour I led in October 2013. While
everyone else slept at the hotel, before sun up, I jogged to what’s known as the
City of David. It’s outside the walls around Jerusalem that Muslim ruler
Saladin ordered built. It sits on a narrow ridge running south from the Temple
Mount in the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem.
A sleepy guard, near the end of his
shift, let me in. That morning I finally came to see what really happened the
night that King David slept with the beautiful wife of one of his top generals
and set in motion a cruel line of events that tore his own household apart. You
can read the story in 2 Samuel 11. The chapter ends with: “the thing David had
done displeased the Lord.”
I was in my early teens when I first
heard the story. A king who wasn’t where he should have been gets some air by a
walk up on the roof of his palace. He sees a beautiful woman bathing. The Bible
says he asked who she was. The reply was that she was the wife of one of his
closest military men, Bathsheba of Uriah the Hittite. Huh? How could he NOT
know? He’d seen her many times. There would have been court functions where
Uriah and Bathsheba would have been present.
Back and forth the debate went in my head
for 40 years. He was up on the balcony. He glances down to one of the houses
and on that roof top is this lovely nude lady. Did she do it on purpose,
knowing that he wasn’t away with the army like he should have been? Did he just
pretend that he didn’t know her? Who
could blame a red-blooded man with great power under those circumstances? The
curves of her body and the lateness of the hour; I mean…
Many a sermon reduced it all to just two
people in the wrong place at the wrong time lost their moral compass and did a
reckless thing, a bit like two tired business colleagues at the end of a long
trip away find themselves in the hotel bar and…
The morning walk at the palace dispelled
all that. Uriah’s house would have been down in the valley. I mentioned the
king’s palace was up on a ridge. Bathsheba would have been but a tiny figure
down there on the roof top. I think David believed it was her and only asked to
be doubly sure. This was no unexpected enticement of the flesh. It dawned on me
that David had been giving Bathsheba the furtive glance for quite some time by
then.
All these years of pastoring has taught
me much about how temptation breeds sinful deeds. Almost always it starts
inside the imagination. Men look at women, maybe one gal in particular, with a
lustful glace. The glance breeds a day dream after a few hours. The daydream
very subtly becomes an ambition over a week or two. Next comes the desire to be
in her company more than the normal course of events allow. Lingering at the water
cooler. A “chance” meeting in town. It’s all about wanting her to notice him on
her radar. Smiles. Compliments. Little favors. Excuses for a phone call. This
is all part of the game.
But this kind of temptation is two way.
She starts to like it that this man, married or not, powerful or not, rich or
not, though the former of each of these sure helps, is reaching out to her. She
repays him with a happy glance. She lets her hand linger on his arm just a bit
longer than needed in an innocent conversation. She omits to mention that a
flirtatious remark of his, is inappropriate, should she already be married. At
last she agrees to “have coffee.” The train has now left the station! One or both may still be in denial, but
whenever either party has someone else with whom this new “friendship” would be
awkward to disclose all the details – the ride towards sin is under way.
They laugh. They play. Fingers touch
then entwine. A wink. A special shared joke or song. It’s all so happy until
the hammer falls and the sin happens. The Bible says sin brings forth death. It
never goes any other way. The next weeks are a heart struggle against truth. In
the end lives are ruined. Regrets pile up. Tears flow. The
next weeks are a heart struggle against truth. In the end lives are ruined.
Regrets pile up. Tears flow. Confession and repentance are now the only hope.
There will be consequences but at least the guilt can be faced and erased.
King David – run from the balcony! Get back to where you should be.
Temptation is the glistening skin of the brightly colored serpent gliding
towards the hand of the enthralled child. Its “run” or “ruin.” There are NO
other choices!
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