One spring, David awoke from a nap and went out on the roof of his palace for a walk. Down below on her own terrace, a very beautiful woman named Bathsheba was taking a bath. David sent a servant to find out who she was. The servant returned and told him her name and that she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite. He sent a servant to bring her to him and he slept with her. She went back home and some time later David received a message that she was pregnant. David schemed to get Uriah to come home and sleep with her so he would think the baby was his. Uriah came to David, but he wouldn't go home and be comfortable while all his fellow soldiers were living in hardship. So David fell back on plan B, which was to have Uriah placed on the front lines where he would be sure to be killed. That's what happened. When Bathsheba found out that her husband was dead, she mourned him. When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and she became his wife and bore him a son. The Lord was displeased with what David had done.
God sent Nathan the prophet to tell David how displeased he was. Nathan told David a story about a man who took another man's only lamb to eat because he didn't want to kill one of his own. The story made David mad that the man would treat the other so unfairly. Nathan told David that he was the selfish man in the story. Because of this God told David that he and his family would never live in peace, someone from his own family would make a lot of trouble for him, and God would give another man David's wives and he would go to bed with them while everyone watched, and his newborn son would die. But the Lord would spare David's life. David's son became sick. David did everything he could think of to show God how sorry he was and thought maybe God would spare the baby's life after all. But it didn't work and the child died. David comforted his wife Bathsheba. Later they had a son named Solomon. Nathan the prophet told David that the Lord would call the baby Jedidiah.
Joab was about to conquer Ammon. He sent word to David that he'd better get down there to finish the war or everyone would remember that Joab had conquered Ammon rather than David. So David went and finished the job and put the people to work making bricks. Then he went home.
David had a beautiful daughter named Tamar. His son, Amnon, her half-brother was in love with her and wanted her. Amnon's friend, also his cousin, Jonadab was one of those people who always know how to get what they want and told him to pretend he was sick, ask David to have Tamar come and prepare him food and then seduce her. It went too far and Amnon raped Tamar. As if that weren't bad enough, the jerk threw her out of the house in disgrace afterward. When Tamar's brother Absalom heard what Amnon had done to Tamar he was very angry and hated Amnon. David would not discipline his son. Absalom bided his time and two years went by. Then Absalom hosted a party during sheep shearing time and invited David and his sons. David didn't go, but Absalom convinced him to have the boys come over. He prepared a banquet fit for a king and when Amnon got a little drunk he had his servants kill Amnon. The other boys hopped on their donkeys and went home. Gossip flew that all the sons had been killed, but Jonadab cleverly smoothed things over saying that only Amnon was dead; then the rest of the sons arrived. David mourned the death of his son.
Tomorrow read 2Samuel 14-16
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