Uriah the Footnote

Uriah the Footnote
Ron DeBoer
7/10/2013

The story of Uriah is shorter than this devotional. A little over 500 words, the record we have of Uriah is a footnote to the epic story that is King David’s. But Uriah is one of my favorite characters in the entire Bible. While he was off risking his life for the king in a bloody war, that same king sleeps with his wife and she becomes pregnant. The king calls Uriah home from the war for a military update, all as a ruse to get Uriah to spend a night with his wife and obscure the fact that David is the father of her child. Uriah refuses the comforts of his bed and wife while his men are sleeping on the battlefield, and for his loyalty he gets sent to the front lines so he will be killed. David disposes of his most loyal soldier not because Uriah has sinned but because David himself had. Uriah died because of David’s sins.

That’s it. We never hear about Uriah again. You couldn’t ask for a more honorable man, could you? Uriah was the kind of guy who would have your back, no matter what. He was the loyal, trustworthy best friend who would lay down his life for you. What King David did to satisfy his lustful desire was despicable.

God thought so, too.

I love how God makes his point to David. He could’ve shown his displeasure in any number of ways. But he sets David up to realize his own folly. In 2 Samuel 12, God sends a prophet, Nathan, to tell David a story about two men in a town:

“One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”

David was furious. “As surely as the LORD lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man!”

Busted! Can you imagine David’s face at that moment? To his great credit, David confessed his sins (2 Samuel 12:13, NLT). You can read more of David’s confession in Psalm 51, where David poured out his heart of guilt in response to Nathan’s revelation. None of this brought Uriah back, however.

I always feel empty after reading the story of Uriah, Bathsheba, and David. Yes, David was duly punished. But Uriah, loyal Uriah, died in battle fighting for a king who stole his wife. He never even found out the truth. Just as David felt about the little lamb, we feel for Uriah in hearing this story.

Which brings my thoughts to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who was sinless, blameless, and perfect, and who died at the hands of his enemies. We can’t worship Uriah; he didn’t know us and didn’t die with you and me in mind. He was a small part of a larger story, and his experience shares some similarities with Jesus’ own sacrifice. But we can worship and bow down to Jesus Christ, who truly laid down his life for you and me. He knew us then, even though we didn’t yet exist. Isn’t that amazing?

I think the reason Uriah’s story resonates so strongly with me is that he dutifully followed orders from the king and went to the front lines. He didn’t know the whole thing was a setup. In literature class, we call this “dramatic irony”—the audience knows the truth about everything, but the character does not. He was wronged by those he trusted the most and never suspected a thing because of his goodness. We love characters like Uriah, and we feel deeply for them.

But Jesus knew what was in store for him. He knew he would suffer and die, yet he went through with it anyway!

Jesus knew something that most others did not: that he would rise from the dead. That’s the special knowledge we believers all have. We all will conquer death and go to Jesus after our pain and suffering on this earth, after our demonstration of lifelong loyalty to our King.

The song to end our devotion time today is You Are My King (Amazing Love) by Hillsong.