Oct30–Nov5: Uriah: Faith of a Foreigner

Teaching Points

1. Make a chapter outline of 2 Samuel 11.

ANSWER:

• 2Sa 11:1-5 David commits adultery with Bathsheba
• 2Sa 11:6-13 David tries to get Uriah to go to his house
• 2Sa 11:14-17 David sets up Uriah to be killed
• 2Sa 11:18-27 David learns of Uriah’s death and marries Bathsheba

OBSERVATION:

• This chapter is about David’s sin of adultery and murder.

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

• Look at 2 Samuel 12. Why do you think God would wait to send a message to David? Why not try to warn David beforehand, like Cain was warned?

2. Read 2 Samuel 11 and ask yourself, How could someone so honored of God stoop so deep into sin? What warning should this present to all of us?

ANSWER:

• 2Sa 11:1 “tarried still” – This phrase in Hebrew has the implications of “sitting still,” “ease self,” and to be “situated”—basically, to let your guard down.
• So it was at a time of ease that caused David to let his guard down and then to fall into sin.

3. What would make David to let his guard down and be at ease?

ANSWER:

• 2Sa 10:18 And the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there. 2Sa 10:19 And when all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.
• 2Sa 11:1 And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

OBSERVATION:

• 2Sa 11:1—the Ammonites have just been destroyed and their chief city surrounded.
• 2Sa 10:18, 19—but just before the destruction of the Ammonites, David obtained victory over the Syrians, even killing their captain.
• David has been obtaining victory after victory right before he came to “ease self,” become “situated,” and let his guard down.
• It seems to be that when experiencing his victories that he relaxed his efforts to stay his trust upon God. 

SPIRITUAL LESSON:

• It’s very easy to trust in our own ability when we experience great victories in our spiritual walk. But this spirit of trusting to ourselves will prepare us to fall.
• It is at our highest spiritual point when we need to be the most humble. When we are experiencing victory after victory, it is then that we need to stay our dependence upon God even more. 

SOP ON DAVID BEFORE HIS SIN:

• “David was surrounded by the fruits of victory and the honors of his wise and able rule. It was now, while he was at ease and unguarded, that the tempter seized the opportunity to occupy his mind…. But when in ease and self-security he let go his hold upon God, David yielded to Satan and brought upon his soul the stain of guilt.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 718.

APPLICATION QUESTION:

• What spiritual victories have you gained in the recent past? Did they lead you to feel better about yourself, or did you rely on God even more? 

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

• What could David have done in order to avoid his downfall?

4. What do we know about Uriah from 2 Samuel 11?

ANSWER:

• 2Sa 11:3 “Uriah the Hittite”
• 2Sa 11:7 “David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered”— Uriah was one of the “valiant men” of the army of Israel (see 1Ch 11:26, 41), he had military strength and intellect.
• 2Sa 11:8-13—Even though Uriah had two chances to stay at home to be with his wife, he decided to not take the comfort while the rest of his army was still in the battlefield.

OBSERVATION:

• There’s a definite contrast between Uriah’s conduct and that of David’s.
• Uriah would not take comfort or ease himself while the rest of his men were at war. Yet David took ease and comfort, and was thus led into sin.
• In the motives and character of Uriah lays a rebuke to David. David should have also been explicitly loyal to God in his conduct, as Uriah was loyal to him and Israel.

CONCLUSION:

• Pr 6:32 “But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.”
• “Had King David been engaged in some useful employment, he would not have been guilty of the murder of Uriah.”—Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, Volume 4, p. 412.

DISCUSSION QUESTION:

• What are some ways you or your church can help those who are in danger of becoming idle?