Second Samuel 11-12 are plainly one story beginning and ending with the siege of the Ammonite city of Rabbah.  Consider how easily this story works without any mention of Uriah or Bathsheba:

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city.  And Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah; moreover, I have taken the city of waters.  Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name.” So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it.  And he took the crown of their king from his head. The weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone, and it was placed on David’s head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

So David is expanding territory and power against some Gentiles.  Presumably he has reason for doing so (I haven’t investigated the background yet), but the text makes it sound purely adventurous, especially since David doesn’t bother to go–which is what lands him in temptation and the resulting murders (several died, not just Uriah) to cover it up.

But in this story about conquering enemy Gentiles is sandwiched another story about how David treats a Gentile who has been his loyal hero.  Uriah was a Hittite, a Gentile, and was one of David’s mighty men.  Bathsheba was likewise the Granddaughter and daughter of men who had been loyal to David from his fugitive days.  That is probably how she ended up married to Uriah.

Here’s some food for thought:

Ahithophel was one of David’s chief counsellors, and Eliam was one of his chief soldiers. Eliam apparently had been with David from the time he was in the wilderness before he became king. This emerges from 2 Samuel 23. Verse 34 identifies Eliam as one of the thirty mighty men. Verse 13 says that three of these men brought David water while he was living in the cave of Adullam, after fleeing from Saul (1 Samuel 22:1-2). I am assuming from the wording of 2 Samuel 23:13 that the “thirty” were already in existence at this time; 1 Samuel 22:2 says that David had four hundred men with him then. We don’t know when this was exactly, but let us assume David was 27. Eliam would have been 19. Even if Eliam had not yet become part of the thirty at this time, clearly he became one early in David’s reign, for that was the time when the wars were fought, and only during such wars could he emerge as one of the mighty men.

What does this mean? It means that Bathsheba grew up around the palace of David. She was two years old, on our scheme, when David became king. Her father and grandfather were often at the palace. David knew them intimately. Did David bounce Bathsheba on his knee when she was a little girl? It is hard to imagine that he did not! Knowing David, I imagine he often got down on the floor and horsed around with the little kids of the court. I’ll bet David even burped Bathsheba on his shoulder when she was an infant.

Bathsheba grew up in awe of David, the man after God’s own heart, the author of the psalms, God’s anointed leader. All her life she had viewed him as one of Israel’s preeminent spiritual leaders. She had heard him speak of the Lord many times. She had heard her father and grandfather praise him. So, when David called for her, she came. (I doubt if she’d’ve come if Ahab had summoned her.)

Why did David have to ask who she was (2 Samuel 11:3)? At the age of fifty, his eyesight had doubtless begun to diminish. She was at some distance, and he could only see her general form. But note that she lived near enough to the palace to be espied, which again shows that she and her husband were closely associated with the court. Moreover, the form of the answer David received, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” (v. 3), indicates that the man assumed David knew her: “Oh, you know that is, David. That’s Bathsheba.”

What did David say to her? We can only imagine, but I suppose it went like this: “Trust me. This isn’t wrong. I’m the king, after all.” And Bathsheba trusted him. After all, unlike the ordinary Israelite, David had lots of wives and concubines. (He wasn’t supposed to, of course, but he did.) Kings, Bathsheba knew, were different from ordinary people.

So David then finds out Bathsheba is pregnant.  Summons Uriah and tries to get him to sleep with her so that he has plausible deniability, and then when that fails has Uriah send his own sealed orders to be murdered to Joab, who faithfully carries them out at the expense not only of Uriah’s life but of several unnamed others.

That is how David, the king, treats Gentiles.  It is not the only way.  Other Gentiles are converted by David’s testimony.

But one of the basic truths about Jesus is that he, as Israel’s king, is also the rightful king of the world.  And he would never treat a Gentile who entrusted himself to him the way David treated Uriah.

if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”  For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

And with Jesus, there are no foreigners reduced to servant class.  All are family.