In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” – 2 Samuel 11:15

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 30, 2019): 2 Samuel 11

Abraham Lincoln said that “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” Power seems to change us in unfathomable ways. For one thing, once we achieve it, we don’t seem ever to want to be without it. We will do anything to keep it; we even commit to actions of which we would have had no idea we were capable before the advent of our power. And often our morality is one of the victims of our power.

This was true for David. When David was a servant of King Saul, he went out of his way to protect the life of the king, even though Saul had proven that he was David’s enemy. At least twice David held the king’s life in his hands and let him live. And when a soldier arrived at his doorstep claiming that he was the one who had killed the king, David had him executed. King Saul’s life was sacred, even if Saul was an enemy, and David would have nothing to do with his death. Instead, he was a protector of the King. At this moment, David experienced the high point of his morality and character. But the other reality is that, at this moment, David was a servant, not a king.

But David didn’t stay a servant. In some ways, it might have been better if he had. One day, David became king. And that one act changed him. He still did good things, but the power that laid within him released a darkness in David that he had never known while he was a servant. It started with the act of sleeping with the wife of one of his friends. But that was not the end of it. David, the one who refused to take the life of his king, murdered his friend and one of his most valiant warriors, all in the pursuit of power.

I know, David didn’t take a spear and kill him with his own hands, but David was still responsible for the death of Uriah the Hittite. Even though he did not do it with a sword, his action with a pen made him just as guilty. Uriah the Hittite did not die because the King had sent him on a dangerous mission in the midst of the battle. Uriah’s life was tossed away, not in the pursuit of a military goal, but because the King wanted him dead to hide his own sin and protect his power.

The protector of his enemy had turned into the murderer of a friend. And the sacrifice of David’s morality was made at the altar of power. 

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 12