11:1 過了一年,到列王出戰的時候,大衛又差派約押,率領臣僕和以色列眾人出戰。他們就打敗亞捫人,圍攻拉巴。大衛仍住在耶路撒冷。
11:2 一日,太陽平西,大衛從床上起來,在王宮的平頂上遊行,看見一個婦人沐浴,容貌甚美,
11:3 大衛就差人打聽那婦人是誰。有人說:「她是以連的女兒,赫人烏利亞的妻拔示巴。」
11:4 大衛差人去,將婦人接來;那時她的月經才得潔淨。她來了,大衛與她同房,她就回家去了。
11:5 於是她懷了孕,打發人去告訴大衛說:「我懷了孕。」
11:6 大衛差人到約押那裡,說:「你打發赫人烏利亞到我這裡來。」約押就打發烏利亞去見大衛。
11:7 烏利亞來了,大衛問約押好,也問兵好,又問爭戰的事怎樣。
11:8 大衛對烏利亞說:「你回家去,洗洗腳吧!」烏利亞出了王宮,隨後王送他一分食物。
11:9 烏利亞卻和他主人的僕人一同睡在宮門外,沒有回家去。
11:10 有人告訴大衛說:「烏利亞沒有回家去。」大衛就問烏利亞說:「你從遠路上來,為甚麼不回家去呢?」
11:11 烏利亞對大衛說:「約櫃和以色列與猶大兵都住在棚裡,我主約押和我主(或譯:王)的僕人都在田野安營,我豈可回家吃喝、與妻子同寢呢?我敢在王面前起誓(原文是我指著王和王的性命起誓):我決不行這事!」
11:12 大衛吩咐烏利亞說:「你今日仍住在這裡,明日我打發你去。」於是烏利亞那日和次日住在耶路撒冷。
11:13 大衛召了烏利亞來,叫他在自己面前吃喝,使他喝醉。到了晚上,烏利亞出去與他主的僕人一同住宿,還沒有回到家裡去。
11:14 次日早晨,大衛寫信與約押,交烏利亞隨手帶去。
11:15 信內寫著說:「要派烏利亞前進,到陣勢極險之處,你們便退後,使他被殺。」
11:16 約押圍城的時候,知道敵人那裡有勇士,便將烏利亞派在那裡。
11:17 城裡的人出來和約押打仗;大衛的僕人中有幾個被殺的,赫人烏利亞也死了。
11:18 於是,約押差人去將爭戰的一切事告訴大衛,
11:19 又囑咐使者說:「你把爭戰的一切事對王說完了,
11:20 王若發怒,問你說:『你們打仗為甚麼挨近城牆呢?豈不知敵人必從城上射箭嗎?
11:21 從前打死耶路‧比設(就是耶路‧巴力,見士師記九章一節)兒子亞比米勒的是誰呢?豈不是一個婦人從城上拋下一塊上磨石來,打在他身上,他就死在提備斯麼?你們為甚麼挨近城牆呢?』你就說:『王的僕人─赫人烏利亞也死了。』」
11:22 使者起身,來見大衛,照著約押所吩咐他的話奏告大衛。
11:23 使者對大衛說:「敵人強過我們,出到郊野與我們打仗,我們追殺他們,直到城門口。
11:24 射箭的從城上射王的僕人,射死幾個,赫人烏利亞也死了。」
11:25 王向使者說:「你告訴約押說:『不要因這事愁悶,刀劍或吞滅這人或吞滅那人,沒有一定的;你只管竭力攻城,將城傾覆。』可以用這話勉勵約押。」
11:26 烏利亞的妻聽見丈夫烏利亞死了,就為他哀哭。
11:27 哀哭的日子過了,大衛差人將她接到宮裡,她就作了大衛的妻,給大衛生了一個兒子。但大衛所行的這事,耶和華甚不喜悅。
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, 3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him. 9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.
10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,[a] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”
16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth[b]? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
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聖經的傳記不像中國人的傳記:中國人的傳記對於偉人的描述都是歌功頌德,只寫好的事情,不會記力不好的事情;然而聖經中的傳記並不是如此,不僅記錄豐功偉業,也會記錄見不得人的事件,一點也不會顧及情面,就是那麼公正!
就像大衛的傳記,描寫大衛的各樣成就、豐功偉業,也會擠路大衛的失敗與黑暗的一面。就如這裡,描寫他和拔示巴發生不倫的姦情,甚至要掩蓋這一份姦情,還讓拔示巴的先生烏利亞有些額外的福利。那知烏利亞是那樣忠貞的人,一點都不領情,大衛只好利用職務的便利,藉由敵人的手將烏利亞處理掉,大衛反而名正言順與拔示巴結婚。但是這件事,上帝全看在眼裡,聖經在這裡說:「但大衛所行的這事,耶和華甚不喜悅。」連《列王記上》15章5節也記上一筆:「因為大衛除了赫人烏利亞那件事,都是行耶和華眼中看為正的事,一生沒有違背耶和華一切所吩咐的。」
可見大衛也有失敗的地方,然而上帝看為嚴重的不是姦情,是他用計將烏利亞害死的這一件事,上帝看為非常不喜悅!可是,姦情卻是促成他殺人的動機,以致上帝紀念他殺人的事件!
然而講道的人常常沒有注意殺人事件,為了迎合人喜愛腥羶的口味,用盡辦法描述姦情,卻忽略了上帝看重人性命的事情。這樣的事情,我們要照上帝的心意在講台說明清楚,使人尊重人的生命,千萬不可以為了目的不擇手段,危害人的性命!