Village Shepherd

We human beings so often spoil our lives by failing to speak the truth, or at least, failing to speak the whole truth, clearly and transparently. The reasons we fail to speak the truth often have to do with fear. We are afraid that someone will get hurt and so we try to shield them from what we imagine will be too painful for them to handle. Or we're afraid that we ourselves will be hurt because our reputation will be damaged and people will despise us or be shocked by our behaviour.

If we stand on the sidelines and watch, as we do with soaps on the television, we can see people on our screens digging holes for themselves. It's obvious as we watch, that through the little white lies which are told with the best of intentions, things will get worse not better. And we can see that's there's no escape from this terrible hole that our screen characters are digging and which grows deeper and deeper as the web of deceit escalates.

The solution, of course, is to find the courage from somewhere to actually admit the truth. But at the time, that often seems like the worse possible course of action and one which must be avoided at all costs.

This was the predicament King David found himself in when he first set eyes on Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.

David was resting between battles. With his coalition forces from both the north and the south of the country, he was fighting against the Ammonites who were supported in their turn by the Arameans. David was in Jerusalem, his new capital city while his troops were fighting on the front line. Uriah, although a Hittite, was a loyal supporter of the king and was out fighting for him.

It was spring. David was enjoying a breath of fresh air up on the roof of the palace, when he happened to notice a woman bathing in a nearby courtyard. She was so beautiful that David immediately and urgently wanted her and what the king wanted, the king had to have. So he sent messengers to "get" her - whether by force or whether she complied willingly we don't know - and David then had sex with her. It all sounds very brief and businesslike, for Bathsheba then returned home and the next thing we know is that she called David to tell him that she was pregnant.

Since adultery was punishable with death by stoning for both man and woman, the pregnancy put David in a difficult position. Stage two of the web of deceit is planned.

David sent for Uriah the Hittite and pretended to be a great friend and benefactor to him, praising him effusively for his exploits in war. He then made a magnanimous gesture. He gave Uriah some time off, telling him to go home and wash his feet. "Feet" in the Old Testament is a well-known euphemism for genitalia, so what David is actually suggesting is that Uriah should go home and make love to his wife. And David sent a gift to help him on his way.

But the plan went awry because intercourse was forbidden to soldiers in battle and Uriah would rather die than break the law of his king and master, David, whom he idolised. He didn't go home. Instead he lay at the entrance to the palace, still on duty protecting the king.

When David heard of the failure of his plan he again sent for Uriah. Uriah explained that there was no way he would dream of going home to good food and a soft bed and his wife's loving arms while all his garrison were still in the field, fighting for their lives and protecting the Ark of the Covenant. This was not a man who neglected his duty on any pretence.

So David was forced into stage three of his web of deceit. He again wined and dined Uriah, this time making sure Uriah get sufficiently drunk to lose his inhibitions. But again, Uriah failed to go home.

There was only one thing for it. Stage five of the web required David to murder Uriah so that David could legitimately marry Uriah's widow. Of course, the murder would not be by David's own hand and would not appear to be murder, so that no-one would know what had happened. Uriah would simply by killed by the enemy in the course of battle. With Uriah safely out of the way, no-one would ever know that David had broken the 7th commandment by committing adultery. And David himself might well appear to be very concerned, by taking care of his soldier's widow.

David dug himself deeper and deeper into trouble. His sin escalated with each stage until in the end, he wasn't above murder.

And this is the problem with sin. It starts by being so benign and harmless, just a little white lie, just a stolen kiss or relief of those intense longings. But sin is sticky like treacle. We can't get away from it. Once we deliberately choose it, we're ensnared in a web of deceit which gets worse.

But we are fortunate. We have a God who forgives sin and a saviour who overcame sin so that we need no longer be helpless in a sticky net, but can pick ourselves up, shake ourselves down and start all over again.

But that requires the courage of admitting our sin to ourselves and to God and having the humility to ask for forgiveness. And as David later found, that can be very painful indeed.