Ex-friends
“Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.” II Samuel 11:25 KJV
His name was Richard. He was one of my best friends in high school. Notice I used the word “was.” He was good looking, confident and he knew how to talk to the girls. Me? I probably was only average in looks, not much confidence and was very nervous around girls. I guess what I saw in Richard was opposite of all the faults I saw in myself.
One day in high school, I was telling Richard about a cute girl I noticed. I was definitely not the type that could just walk up and talk to someone so cute. Usually I would admire from the sidelines, realize she was out of my league and distract myself with something else. But this girl kept my attention for quite a while and I regularly shared my interest in her with Richard. Maybe I was hoping Richard could give me some advice. A few weeks later Richard started dating this girl. I was so upset I didn’t speak to Richard for the longest time and even after that our friendship was never the same.
The strangest part of this story is that I don’t remember anything about the girl. I don’t remember her name, the color of her hair, or even what she looked like. But I have never forgotten Richard.
They both served in the US Navy at about the same time. They both served in the South Pacific, although they didn’t serve together. They were both elected to Congress in the same year and were sworn into Congress on the same day. They both thought Communism was evil. When one wrote a much acclaimed book he sent a copy to the other and added the greeting, “Your friend.”
The strangest part of the two friends was that they were from opposite political parties. Despite this fact, one of the friend’s fathers gave the other a $1000 campaign contribution to run against a member of his son’s own party.
When they were just beginning their Congressional careers they had a debate in Pennsylvania. After the debate they headed to a local diner and ate burgers together. Afterwards they boarded a sleeper car train, the Capitol Limited, and headed back to Washington. They had the same bunk and they drew straws to see who would get the top bunk.
His name was Uriah and it means “God is my light.” He was an officer in the army and was part of a famous group called the “Mighty Men.” As part of this group he probably fought right alongside the current king before he actually became king. This was a group of 37-80 elite fighting men. He was very loyal to the army and to his king.
Uriah married a beautiful young girl who was actually the granddaughter of one of the king’s chief advisors. They lived close to the king’s palace, so he must have been high up in rank.
One day the king sent his General on a mission to destroy those pesky Ammonites. The king, who usually was with his troops when they battled, decided to stay back at the palace this time. Uriah was probably one of the first soldiers in line to be by the General’s side. So off they went to battle.
Our two friends decided to run for president one day. One was from one party and the other was from the opposing party. Yet it was in the same election. Yes, they were going to run against each other. I can think of about 112,827 reasons why this wasn’t such a good idea.
Doing whatever he had to, one of the candidates decided winning was a lot more important than their friendship. There is powerful evidence that some voter fraud was probably used in a few of the big key states that turned the election his way. Of his friend, he would say, “I did the nation a favor by keeping him from the Presidency.”
The other friend knew how suspect the country was of his opponent’s religion, and he could have very easily brought it up, but he refused to even bring it into the discussion. This friend also knew his friend was in very poor health. Again, he never even brought up the issue. He made a promise when he started his Presidential campaign that he would visit all 50 states. With just two critical days to go before the election, he had one state left, Alaska, which would have very little influence on the election. His integrity was so high that instead of backing out of that promise, he visited Alaska at the end of the campaign. That 112,827 number was the number of votes he lost the general election by. Many pundits would argue that if he spent those two days in one of the keys states instead of Alaska, he would have won the election.
As Uriah was out in battle defending his much beloved king, King David was becoming a peeping Tom and Uriah’s bathing wife had caught his attention. She was summoned to “meet with the king.” In a little while came the news that Bathsheba, Uriah’s wife, was pregnant with David’s child. David would go into panic mode.
David would bring Uriah back to Jerusalem and try to have him sleep with his wife so it would appear that Uriah was the father of David’s child. Uriah, not suspecting a thing, would have none of that though. If his guys, out in the battlefield, couldn’t have time with their wives, he wasn’t going to either. He refused to go home and he slept in front of the palace so that he could at least protect the king. David tried to do the good old boy thing with him and got Uriah drunk in the hopes that would take him back to Bathsheba’s arms. That didn’t work either, for the next morning Uriah was laying in front of the palace again. Finally, David made the ultimate move and had the General put Uriah back in battle in a place where he knew he would be killed.
Richard Nixon is not often linked to political ethics, at least not in a positive way. But in the election of 1960 his friend, John F. Kennedy beat him by 112, 827 votes. He knew so much about Kennedy that he could have used and he would have probably won the election, but for some reason he never did. John F. Kennedy, on the other hand, decided he wanted to be President regardless of the cost.
Betrayal, to me, is one of the hardest parts of life to get over. Whether it is a trusted friend stealing the object of your affection, a king covering up his wrong doings, or a politician getting burnt when his friend doesn’t play by the same rules as he does, betrayal hurts.
Prayer: Dear Mighty Father, I’ve come across those times in my life when I have felt betrayed. Please help me, in those times, to realize that is probably how You could feel about me when I betray You by sinning. Please forgive me for causing You so much anguish. Amen.
