“Uriah said to David, ‘The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, 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? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing'” (2 Sam 11:11).
Do Uriah’s words mean more to David than they do to Uriah himself? Is Uriah merely proclaiming his loyalty or does he suspect something? Every word he utters carries the full force of prophetic insight meant to bring King David to his knees in repentance. He simultaneously convicts David of his betrayal by proclaiming his loyalty to the God of Israel. “While I was staying in temporary shelters in the open field to fight for the ark of Israel, YOU stayed home to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife!” By insisting “I will not do this thing” to my lord (i.e., Yoav) he is slapping David in the face with the very same words David had used when he refused to harm his lord Saul: “So he said to his men, ‘Far be it from me because of the LORD that I SHOULD DO THIS THING to my lord, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD’S anointed'” (1 Sam 24:6). And with these exact words, Uriah is also alluding to the words of Joseph who tried to speak Potiphar’s wife off the ledge of adultery: “How then could I do this great evil and sin against God?” (Gen 39:9).
Regardless of what Uriah knew or didn’t know, every word from his mouth was God’s word to David. David was clearly under conviction. Rather than respond to God’s word, however, David desperately tried to cover his tracks, and his sin of adultery snowballed into the sin of deceit and murder. We’re always far better off coming clean than being found out. The consequences of confessing our sin are never as bad as those of our hidden sin being discovered. To cover up one sin, one must sin more. And each new sin is always worse than the one before it. So when the Spirit of God convicts us of sin, we must see this as God’s gracious hand trying to keep us from making a bad situation far worse.
“He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion. How blessed is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity” (Prov 28:13-14).
