Collateral Damage

This past Sunday I preached from 2 Samuel chapter 11, the story of David, Bathsheba, and Uriah. As I was reading the passage and chewing on the story there, I noticed something that I’d never really paid attention to before.

David, you might remember, decided to have Uriah killed when he couldn’t cover up Bathsheba’s pregnancy, so he sent a message to General Joab: “Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.” (11:15) Joab was a ruthless man, and he didn’t hesitate.

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. (11:16-17)

It was those last six words that I noticed this time: Uriah was dead, “along with several other Israelite soldiers.”

Joab and his messenger give a more detailed account of the fighting in verses 19-21 and 23-24. Uriah and the troops drove the Ammonites back to the gate of their walled city. Once Israel’s army was so near the city, though, the Ammonite archers could easily cut them down from the walls. That’s how Uriah and the others died. Those casualties weren’t a result of enemy strength or ingenuity. The general made a deliberate strategic mistake. His troops should never have been in that position—he intentionally made an unforced error for no other reason than to get Uriah killed.

And several other Israelite soldiers died with him.

They were just collateral damage. David and Joab decided that they were willing to sacrifice these other soldiers’ lives in order to eliminate Uriah.

All because of David’s lust for Bathsheba and his fear of being found out.

How often do your sinful choices leave collateral damage in their wake?

One spouse suffers because of another’s gambling habit.

A child is hurting after mom or dad’s sins wreck their marriage.

A stranger’s harmed because of someone’s impatient or distracted driving.

A friendship is soured because of one person’s pettiness, grudges, temper, or gossip.

So often, your sinful attitudes, words, and behavior—even if you insist, “It’s not hurting anybody!”—it sends out ripples (or shockwaves) that cause harm to bystanders in your life, people you may not have given any thought to before you acted or opened your mouth.

Because you weren’t thinking about collateral damage. If some things or people had to be sacrificed, well, you could worry about that later.

It’s easy to miss this detail in the big, ignominious mess of 2 Samuel 11, but David accepted that those men would have to pay the price for his deception.

Something that Christians, who love their neighbors as themselves (Luke 10:27), treat others the way they want to be treated (Matt 7:12), and look not to their own interests but to the interests of others (Phil 2:4), can never do.

Don’t make someone else pay the price for your brokenness today. Remember that your choices and actions impact more than just your own life. Or, if it’s too late for that, if you’ve already left collateral damage in your wake, if someone’s been harmed by the after effects of your sin, then there's only one question left to answer: What can you do to try to make things right?

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