David Consumes Uriah

Most of us are familiar with the story that Nathan the Prophet spun to help David understand the severity of his sin.

In short, there was a rich man with many herds of sheep and a poor man with just one lamb. The rich man needed to prepare a meal for a visitor and took the poor man’s only ewe lamb and killed it and prepared a meal for his guest.

Nathan asks David what should be done. David replied that the rich man deserved to die but should be punished by giving the poor man four of his lambs. Nathan said… you are the man.

Remember that David committed two grievous sins… he committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah (one of the thirty mighty men) killed.

But wait the story only points at one sin… adultery with Bathsheba not the murder of Uriah… or does it?

The rich man with many sheep is David (he did have several wives). The poor man with one ewe lamb is Uriah the Hittite and the ewe lamb is Bathsheba.

Let me suggest that the ewe lamb is a double figure. The ewe lamb not only represents Bathsheba and the addition of her to David’s flock of wives but also represents Uriah because in Nathan’s tale the ewe lamb is killed and eaten… and so was Uriah the Hittite so David could have his wife.

Why didn’t Nathan just confront David and say you killed Uriah and had sex with his wife? Because the illustration in a story helped David understand the enormous magnitude of his sin and God’s enormous grace in forgiving him and not punishing him with taking his life… which he roundly deserved.

David never forgot his sin and probably remembered it every time he looked into the eyes of his wife Bathsheba. We should remember it too.