2 Samuel 11:6-10: a reflection

6David sent to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” Joab sent Uriah to David. 7When Uriah had come to him, David asked him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. 8David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah departed out of the king’s house, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and didn’t go down to his house. 10When they had told David, saying, “Uriah didn’t go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Haven’t you come from a journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?”

Having sinned grievously, King David tries to cover it up. He summons Uriah, the husband of the woman with whom he sinned, home from the battlefront, hoping to hide his wrong. But Uriah, out of solidarity with his comrades still fighting, refuses to go home to his own comfort while the army is in the field: he sleeps at the palace door with the servants. Uriah's simple integrity stands in stark contrast to the king's scheming to conceal his sin.

Notice the two things set side by side here: David's scheming to cover his sin, and Uriah's plain integrity. David, having done wrong, does not confess it, but schemes to hide it, drawing himself into deeper deceit and, as the story goes on, into greater sin. Uriah, meanwhile, acts with a simple, unselfconscious integrity, refusing comfort out of loyalty to his comrades. The one who schemes to hide his sin is entangled in deeper wrong; the one who simply does right is at peace.

That contrast holds a warning about how we handle our own sin. When we have done wrong, we are tempted to hide it rather than confess it, to scheme and cover up; but hiding sin rarely ends the matter. It draws us, as it drew David, into deeper deceit and further wrong, one cover-up leading to another. The way out is not to hide sin but to confess it; concealment only entangles us further. When you have sinned, do not scheme to cover it up, as David did, adding deceit to wrong; confess it, and deal with it honestly. The path of hiding sin leads only deeper into it; the path of confessing it leads to forgiveness and freedom. Do not follow David into the tangle of cover-up; bring your sin into the light, and be freed from the deeper entanglement that concealment brings.

Lord, having sinned, David schemed to cover it up, drawing himself into deeper deceit, while Uriah acted with a simple integrity; the one who schemed to hide his sin was entangled in deeper wrong, and the one who simply did right was at peace. Warn me by that contrast about how I handle my own sin. When I have done wrong, I am tempted to hide it rather than confess it, to scheme and cover up; but hiding sin rarely ends the matter. It draws me, as it drew David, into deeper deceit and further wrong, one cover-up leading to another. The way out is not to hide sin but to confess it; concealment only entangles me further. When I have sinned, keep me from scheming to cover it up, as David did, adding deceit to wrong; help me confess it, and deal with it honestly. The path of hiding sin leads only deeper into it; the path of confessing it leads to forgiveness and freedom. Help me bring my sin into the light, and be freed from the entanglement that concealment brings.