“‘So why have you shown such contempt for the word of Adonai and done what I see as evil? You murdered Uriyah the Hitti with the sword and taken his wife as your own wife; you put him to death with the sword of the people of ‘Amon.”-2 Samuel 12:9
Verse 9 rightfully accuses David of murder.
The King James version says, “thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword.”
The NIV says, “You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword.”
However, these translations don’t do justice to what happened.
Uriyah was murdered…
The Hebrew word here is HARAG or הָרַגְתָּ.
To be clear, this word does not always mean murder or an unjustified killing.
For example, in 1st Samuel 17:51, David HARAG Goliath (he killed/slayed him).
So while the word harag itself doesn’t automatically mean “murder” in the legal or moral sense…
Context determines whether it’s righteous killing or murder.
The Complete Jewish Bible gets it right in using the word “murder” in this case.
What David did was an intentional and morally wrong killing.
Even though the execution was delegated to the battlefield…
God held David directly responsible.
Incidentally, HARAG is the same verb used to describe what Cain did to his brother Abel.
“While they were in the field,
Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.”
-Genesis 4:8
No doubt what Cain did to Abel was a cold-blooded murder.
Now, since David only ordered the killing and didn’t directly lay his hands on Uriyah…
He probably tried to rationalize things away in his mind.
But the Lord wasn’t going to let him sweep this sin under a rug.
Ordering someone’s death, even without physically doing it, is imputed as murder.
On top of that, in the Torah (see Numbers 35:31), no ransom or sacrifice can be accepted for a murderer.
The implication is that intentional bloodshed defiles the land and demands justice.
It was probably around this time that what David had done began to dawn on him.
He could sense he was a dead man walking and that divine judgment was just around the corner.
Not a nice place to be in mentally or spiritually.
The takeaway for today is clear.
You can’t hide or rationalize away your sin.
David might’ve tried to convince himself he wasn’t guilty of murder.
But God wasn’t having any of it.
Intentions matter, homie.
And accountability before the Lord runs way deeper than outward appearances.
My advice…
And I’m talking to myself as well.
Better to come clean before God now than be exposed by Him later.
Ya feel me?
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