”It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.“
II Samuel 11:1 NKJV
a. In the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle: In that part of the world, wars were not normally fought during the winter months because rains and cold weather made travel and campaigning difficult. Fighting resumed in the spring.
b. David sent Joab…. But David remained at Jerusalem: David should have been out at the battle, but he remained behind. In 2 Samuel 10 Joab and the army of the mighty men were preserved against the Syrians and the Ammonites, but they did not win a decisive victory. The decisive victory came when David led the battle at the end of 2 Samuel 10. Both through custom and experience God told David, “You need to be at the battle.” But David remained at Jerusalem.
i. The principle of Galatians 5:16 rings true: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If David’s attention had been where God wanted it, he would never have put it where God didn’t want it. “While Joab is busy in laying siege to Rabbah, Satan is to David, and far sooner prevailed.” (Trapp)
ii. Nevertheless, it is wrong to think that this began the chain of events David followed all the way down to adultery and murder. David showed his disregard of God’s plan for marriage many years before when he took more than one wife
(1 Samuel 25:42-43, 2 Samuel 3:2-5). David’s practice of adding wives showed a lack of sexual restraint and an indulgence of his passions. This corrupt seed, sown long ago, grew unchecked long enough and would bear bitter fruit.
iii. “As I think of what happened, of this I am sure, that it did not happen all at once. This matter of Bathsheba was simply the climax of something that had been going on in his life for twenty years.” (Redpath)
iv. Therefore, staying home from the battle merely provided an opportunity for the long-standing lack of sexual restraint and indulgence of passion to display itself. (Guzik)
Walk in the Spirit!
Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Many of us fall as David did! We are bombarded with sexual images everywhere we turn. Pornography is just a click away and Satan has brought down many with lust of the flesh!
If you have a problem with lust, turn off the internet, get rid of your smartphone and use a flip phone without internet. Seek help from godly people and find a solution.
Dear Heavenly Father, I lift up all of us that struggle with lust of the flesh, please help us overcome it and walk in the Spirit today. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.
Blessings
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