Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 163
2S
| 11:17–12:10
S am u el – K I N G S
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strongest men were fighting. And when the enemy soldiers came out of
the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Is
raelite soldiers.
Then Joab sent a battle report to David. He told his messenger, “Report
all the news of the battle to the king. But he might get angry and ask, ‘Why
did the troops go so close to the city? Didn’t they know there would be
shooting from the walls? Wasn’t Abimelech son of Gideon killed at The
bez by a woman who threw a millstone down on him from the wall? Why
would you get so close to the wall?’ Then tell him, ‘Uriah the Hittite was
killed, too.’”
So the messenger went to Jerusalem and gave a complete report to
David. “The enemy came out against us in the open fields,” he said. “And
as we chased them back to the city gate, the archers on the wall shot arrows
at us. Some of the king’s men were killed, including Uriah the Hittite.”
“Well, tell Joab not to be discouraged,” David said. “The sword devours
this one today and that one tomorrow! Fight harder next time, and conquer the city!”
When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned
for him. When the period of mourning was over, Dav id sent for her
and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then
she gave birth to a son. But the Lord was displeased with what David
had done.
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There
were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich
man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing
but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up
with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup.
He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at
the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own
flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it
for his guest.”
David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man
who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to
the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of
Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power
of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms
of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given
you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the
Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the
Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this