You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel. – 2 Samuel 12:12

Today's Scripture Reading (June 9, 2022):  2 Samuel 12

Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks (1608-1680) argued that "Secret sins commonly lie nearest the heart." Those sins that we keep secret are the ones that we know will hurt us if anyone ever finds out, yet we engage in the behavior anyway. The power that sin holds over our lives often seems too much for us to break. Or, at least, we can't break the power of sin easily. And so, we continue in the behavior, hoping that no one will ever find out.

David has made love to Bathsheba, a married woman. He has taken advantage of his position and power to place the object of his lust in a troubling situation. It was an action that David needed to keep secret. But then he learns that Bathsheba has become pregnant with his child. And that pregnancy will make his sin, committed in secret, become very public.

And so, David calls for Bathsheba's husband, Uriah the Hittite, to come home. The plan was that if Uriah would sleep with his wife when he was back in Jerusalem, he would maybe believe that the child she was carrying was his, and David's sin would remain a secret. But Uriah is too honorable a man to go home and spend time with his wife. Not while his colleagues are sleeping on the ground out on the battlefield. Uriah intends only to serve his King and then return to the battle.

But David still needs a way to keep his sin secret. So, he sends Uriah back to the battlefront carrying sealed orders for Joab, Israel's military commander. The instructions will place Uriah in danger. David has decided to kill Uriah using the weapons of his enemy. Uriah will be placed on the front line, and then the army will back away, leaving him an easy target. All because David has a sin that the King needs to keep out of the public knowledge. After the death of Uriah, the King can marry Uriah's widow, and no one needs to know the circumstances surrounding the birth of her child. At last, David's secret is safe.

Except that it isn't; David's sin is neither safe nor secret. God knows. And the ruler of the cosmos is not amused by the sins of his King. And a portion of David's punishment is that the sins he committed against God and Uriah in secret would soon be committed against him in full view of all of Israel. The fulfillment of this prophecy happened during the rebellion of Absalom, David's son. David and Absalom had had a strained relationship. And eventually, Absalom decides to wrest control of Israel from his dad. After David had been exiled, Absalom went to Ahithophel, Absalom's advisor, asking what he should do to solidify his hold on Israel. Ahithophel gave the young would-be King this advice -

Ahithophel answered, "Sleep with your father's concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute." So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel (2 Samuel 16:21-22).

Absalom might have believed that this was Ahithophel's idea, but in reality, this had been prophesied years earlier, in the aftermath of David's secret sin committed against Uriah and Bathsheba.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 51