Costly Conviction
11 Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing." 12 Then David said to Uriah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, 13 David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk, and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house. 14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he
may be struck down and die." (2 Samuel 11:11-15)
David began his reign as a righteous leader - leading the troops in battle even before he was king, respecting the authority of Saul even in the midst of Saul's attempts on David's life. But at some point David got comfortable sending troops into battles he did not fight, and using his authority to abuse, manipulate, and kill according to his own desires. In the face of this corruption, Uriah's conviction stood in stark contrast. After David had used his power to knowingly take advantage of Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, she sent word to David that she was pregnant. David's response was to call Uriah back from the battlefield so that Uriah would sleep with Bathsheba himself, and believe that he had caused his wife's pregnancy. But, while Uriah could not refuse David's invitation to eat and drink with the king, Uriah did refuse to enjoy the company of his wife as long as his fellow soldiers could not enjoy the same comfort. David repaid Uriah's righteous conviction by sending a letter (by Uriah's own hand) to Uriah's commander with the instruction that Uriah be positioned on the battlefield in an area that
would ensure his death.
We are given no indication that Uriah suspected ill intentions on the part of the king, but it seems likely that Bathsheba would have understood the subterfuge that David was attempting. If Uriah had gone home, Bathsheba might have felt forced to be complicit in the deception - if only to save herself from even
more disastrous consequences.
Corruption in those holding powerful positions is, unfortunately, something we have come to expect. But, while it may seem that there's nothing we can do to change that dynamic, we do have the power to respond with righteous conviction. We can refuse to be manipulated into relaxing our personal standards just because "no one will know". We can refuse to be comfortable with the suffering of others. We can refuse to support those who use their power to benefit themselves at the cost of others, to sell false narratives, or to uphold inequity and injustice. Uriah paid, with his life, for his integrity and conviction. May God give us the courage to stand up to corruption with integrity knowing our lives are worth nothing compared to the cost of our soul.
34 Then he[Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:34-38)
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