Focus Chapters:
- 1 Chronicles 20:1
- 2 Samuel 11
- 2 Samuel 12:1-14
- Psalms 51
- 2 Samuel 12:15-25
- 2 Samuel 5:14-16
- 1 Chronicles 14:3-7
- 1 Chronicles 3:5-9
Standout Verse(s):
2 Samuel 11:14-17 NLT
So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.” So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.
Observation (s):
- David asked Uriah to deliver his own death sentence.
So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver.
- Joab received instructions from his leader that went against God’s spiritual laws.
The letter instructed Joab, “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.”
- Joab executed the instructions that were given to him, becoming an accomplice in the murder of Uriah.
So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.
Application:
“If your ringleader asks you to jump off a bridge, would you jump?” is a variation of a common but serious question that is often raised to Jamaican children in response to them blindly following the ringleaders of their cliques while totally/partially disregarding their own beliefs and the consequences of their actions.
Joab’s actions are a primary example of blindly following the ringleader. In essence, Joab was asked by his king to coordinate the murder of a man. This was an act that was in direct violation of God’s laws. Instead of sticking to God’s commands, Joab chooses to obey his king, placing Uriah in the thick of battle where it is certain that he would be killed. By blindly following his leader, Joab disobeys God and orchestrates the premeditated murder of Uriah, an innocent man.
Blindly following your leaders should not result in you disobeying God.
