Daily Devotional for Wednesday, December 27

David’s Treachery

“And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die,” 2 Samuel 11:14, 15.

I have a theory about why the old lady swallowed the fly: the song is a parable for sin and lying. We can start with a smaller sin or a smaller lie— this is the fly. But because she swallowed the fly, she also has to swallow something larger, a spider, to deal with her first sin or lie. And so it progresses until she gets to the horse, and by then she is dead, of course. She swallowed the fly because that is what we humans do—we sin and lie. What we do after that, though, helps determine what comes of the fly inside.

David sinned in a big way with what he did to Bath-sheba. It can be argued that multiple transgressions took place when David took Bath- sheba. It was an abuse of power as well as adultery. We read that he not only sinned in the original act but also sinned in the cover-up. He tricked Uriah into coming home, tried to cover-up his affair by having Uriah be with his wife Bath-sheba, and when this did not work, he sent Uriah to his death. One sin brought about another sin which brought about another sin, leading to even greater judgment and discipline from the hand of God.

David’s sin with Bath-sheba was a turning point in David’s life. Prior to this, the Scriptures showed David on the ascendancy. After this sin, the text shows David and the kingdom descending into defeat, rebellion and destruction. How different things could have been if he had dealt with the first sin immediately.

REFLECTION: Quick confession of sin is the surest way to minimize our judgment and our pain. When you swallow the fly, squash the spider.

Jason Rutherford