Other People Matter
As I read my devotions this morning in 2 Samuel 11, something caught my attention that I hadn’t noticed before (at least I don’t remember noticing it before). Many are familiar with this tragic story of David and Bathsheba. And when we read it, we tend to focus on a few main characters. They consume our attention. There is David who committed adultery with Bathsheba, there is Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband), there is of course Bathsheba herself, and then there is Joab who carries out David’s plot. But with our attention so fixed on these characters, we miss a key player. I’m not talking about the messenger sent by David or the Ammonites who actually fire the arrows that kill Uriah. I’m talking about “the servants of David among the people.” These men are mentioned in verses 17 and 24. These verses inform us that these men died as a result of carrying out David's plot to kill Uriah. It wasn’t only Uriah who died. After Joab carries out David’s plot, he sends a messenger back to Davi...