The joy over these great achievements remained, however, but for a short time unmarred. The happiness of a state, like that of individuals, is but seldom of long duration, and days of sunshine must be followed by periods of darkness, to prevent the enervation of the national vigour. By one false step David lost not only his own inward contentment and peace, but shook the very foundations of that state which it had cost him such exertions to establish. When David returned home from the Aramæan war, and was resting from the fatigues of battle, which Joab and his army were still undergoing in the land of Ammon, he beheld from the roof of his palace a beautiful woman, who was bathing. She was the wife of one of his most faithful warriors (the Hittite, Uriah), and her name was Bathsheba. The houses of the warriors were built on Zion in the vicinity of the king's palace, and thus he happened to see Bathsheba. Carried away by his passion, he sent messengers to command her to repair to the palace, and Bathsheba obeyed. When David, some time after, found that this violation of the marriage tie had not been without consequences, his only thought was to save his honour, and thus he involved himself in deeper sin. He commanded Uriah to return to Jerusalem from the camp at Rabbah. He received him in a friendly manner, and gave him permission to rest, and enjoy the company of his wife. Uriah, however, made no use of this permission, but remained with the guard, who slept at the entrance of the king's palace, and protected his person. David was disappointed. He sought an escape from the dilemma, and this led him into a heinous crime. As he could not save his honour, he determined that Uriah should lose his life. David therefore sent him to the camp with a letter to Joab, saying that the bearer should be placed in a post of extreme danger--nay, of certain death--during one of the sorties of the Ammonites. This command was fulfilled, and Uriah fell, struck dead by an Ammonite arrow. Bathsheba fulfilled the customary time of mourning for her husband, and was then received into the palace by David as his wife. In every other State the court circle would have discussed a king's fancy with bated breath; it would hardly have been blamed, and certainly it would soon have been forgotten. But in Israel there was an eye which could pierce this factitious darkness, and a conscience which declaimed in a loud voice against the crimes of even a royal wrong-doer. Prophetism possessed this clear sight which never failed, and this conscience which never slept. It was its foremost duty not to allow sin to grow into a habit by hushing it up and screening it, but to expose it in glaring colors, and brand it with the stamp of public condemnation.