Integrity is more than just doing the right thing when no one is around - it's about doing the right thing from the heart in all situations. Uriah the Hittite exemplifies this aspect of integrity.
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses [that] of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” - Matthew 5:20
This principle is summed up by its paraphrase: “Demonstrate virtue and purity that exceeds those who are merely following external commands.”
A life of integrity is one that is not driven solely by a list of do’s and don’ts. Right actions should spring from a willing heart, not from a grudging sense of obligation. It’s not just a matter of doing the right thing, but doing the right thing for the right reasons, with the right attitude.
The example of Uriah the Hittite - 2 Samuel 11
Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing."
Once the heart is sincere and motives are pure, actions of true integrity will follow.
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Music in today's episode: Brittle Rille by Kevin MacLeod
Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3460-brittle-rille
License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license
Hello and welcome to another episode of the core of the Bible podcast.
My name is Steve and once again, I'll be your host as we explore the message of the Bible reduced to its simplest form.
It's my belief that the core of the Bible consists of seven main principles of conduct surrounding the topics of the Kingdom, integrity, vigilance, holiness, trust, forgiveness, and compassion.
Now in the last episode we had looked at the topic of the Kingdom in a very broad scope, looking at the kingdom of God as it came to be, what the structure is, and how that pattern is exhibited throughout the Bible. In this episode, were going to be looking at the topic of integrity and how that's illustrated for us in the Bible.
You know, if you were to ask anybody what the word integrity means, and I've done this with several friends of mine, and even our children, who would typically respond with something like, "Integrity is something you exhibit when no one is watching." And that's not an incorrect answer, I think that's absolutely the intent, which shows that you're doing things because in your heart you know its the right thing to do whether or not anybody is there to witness it, so you're not doing anything just to get praise or to do the right thing because someone else is watching.
However, I do think that the idea of integrity goes a little bit beyond that, and maybe in this little time that we have together today, I might be able to put a slightly different
spin on it for you. I'm going to draw out some additional meaning that maybe you haven't seen before.
So, lets get to our passages today to see exactly how the Bible represents this idea of integrity.
Now for those of you who have been over to the coreofthebible.org website, you'll see that there is information there laying all of these principles out and I'm just selecting excerpts to discuss on this podcast, and to go a little more in-depth into some of these topics.
So what I've done on the website is, I've taken some of the Bible verses that apply in all these different categories, and then I've paraphrased them to draw out some additional meaning. Now I know, some people can have issues with this type of thing. So, what I intend to do on this podcast is to is to read the actual scripture verse and then also the paraphrase. So, you can see how I've interpreted that passage. And and, you know, when you paraphrase, you're condensing or you're drawing out other meanings. So, paraphrasing is a form of interpretation and I don't mean to try and suggest anything differently. I recognize that anytime were talking about the Bible and how to apply it in our lives that there's a measure of interpretation that needs to take place. So hopefully you understand that and you're okay with that. If not, I hope that you'll at least listen through and see if this makes any sense to you.
So let's start with the actual Bible verse first. So in the Sermon on the Mount Yeshua speaks this, and this is in Matthew chapter 5 verse 20.
He says, "I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
So while Yeshua says this specifically about his context, which was the scribes and Pharisees, in my paraphrase, I read it this way: "Demonstrate virtue and purity that exceeds those who are merely following external commands."
You can see that by phrasing it this way, it kind of takes it out of its immediate context and universalizes the principles that are found within there. And that's what I want to talk about today, are these principles that are found within this passage. So, demonstrating virtue and purity, that exceeds those who are merely following external commands. That to me, is a good definition of integrity; it goes beyond just doing things when no ones around because its the right thing to do. The reason you do that is because you're motivated from the heart. There's something inside, you have a very strong conviction that no matter what is going on, or if people are around who don't agree with you, you're still going to do the right thing because you have a very deep conviction about that. And that's what causes you to act with integrity. You are motivated because of that deep conviction. It's stronger than anything else around you. And that is the core issue that I would like to discuss with you today.
So if we were to look at some actual definitions of the word integrity you come up with definitions, things like: "the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles or moral uprightness." Synonyms are honesty, uprightness, rectitude, honorableness. (I didn't even know that was a word, honorableness). Upholding integrity also goes along with unity and unification. Soundness, robustness, internal consistency. I think that's cool. That's a really good one.
So those are some of the man-made definitions for the word integrity based on how its used in our language. Now if we go to the word that's used here for righteousness in the passage that Yeshua is speaking in Matthew 5, the original Greek word that was used here for righteousness, that can give us a little different meaning, as well. and the Greek word is dikaiosyne. And, according to Strongs, it means "equity of character or action." The Outline of Biblical Usage, which is another tool that you can find online to look up meanings of words that are in the Bible. In this sense, the OBU uses the word for righteousness and says "in a broad sense, its the state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, which is
the condition acceptable to God." Its also "the doctrine concerning the way in which a man may attain a state approved of God. It's integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking and feeling and acting and in a narrower sense it's justice or the virtue which gives
each his due." So, from the OBU, those are some of the definitions they have there for this Greek word dikaiosyne.
I think its important we understand when we are talking about words at this level, certainly at this granular level, that we understand the root word of the meaning so that we can learn to apply it correctly.
So from these definitions that are given to us, we can see the life of integrity is a life that's not driven solely by a list of do's and don'ts. Right actions should spring from a willing heart and not from a grudging sense of obligation. It's not just a matter of doing the right thing, but doing the right thing for the right reasons with the right attitude and that's why its so difficult to pin down, and why we challenge ourselves when we do something or we have an action and we go, "Man, that wasn't the right thing to do." We look back and we say we could have done better or we could have done something differently because our attitude wasn't right. Attitude is everything when it comes to living a biblical life; I mean, God looks at our heart. He wants his torah to be in our
heart, he wants his instruction to be in there so that we act out of our heart without having to always reference a list of do's and dont's.
And there's a really good biblical example that helps set this up for us today, there are lots of them, but one that I'm going to focus on today is taken from the Old Testament. Of course, its a great passage of individual integrity in the face of unusual circumstances. So let's take a look at that passage.
The passage we're going to be looking at comes from 2nd Samuel chapter 11, and I'm reading out of the New American Standard Version. So if you have a different version it might read slightly differently.
This is the story about Uriah the Hittite. Now, in the time of the kingdom of David, and this is around 1000 BC, they were campaigning and by campaigning I mean they were warring with the nations around them in order to establish their sovereignty, and this kingdom was established well beyond the current borders of Israel. And, ultimately, by the time David had completed all of his campaigns, the kingdom extended from the border of Egypt all the way over to the river Euphrates. And it wasn't necessarily that all that land was Israel's. It's just that every group of those people and every nation within that territory was subject to the kingship of David, and then, of course, Solomon.
So these campaigns were going on and wars were going on as they were continuing to establish their sovereignty in the area. And this was by God's design, he had promised them all of this area of land and its a great fulfillment of prophecy when you look at that and I'm sure well be viewing that in passages and episodes in the future as we study the kingdom in more detail.
But this story's about Uriah the Hittite who had to come home from one of those campaigns. So let's see, it starts in chapter 11, verse 1.
2 Samuel 11:1-6 Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out [to battle,] that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant." Then David sent to Joab, [saying,] "Send me Uriah the Hittite."
Okay, so lets stop there for a second. So we see now that David had fallen in love with this, well, in lust, with this woman named Bathsheba, ended up sleeping with her and she got pregnant. And so in order to keep this thing from being known, David thought, hey, the quickest way to get this solved so that I'm not at risk here is to have her husband Uriah come home and if he's with her, then he'll just figure the baby's his and the only ones that'll know about this are me and Bathsheba. So, that's kind of what David's trying to set up. Now, David is not the example of integrity that we're looking at today; we're looking at Uriah. So so lets continue where it was. It says:
2 Samuel 11:6-13 Then David sent to Joab, [saying,] "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing." Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord's servants, but he did not go down to his house.
So In this passage, we see that Uriah has a great sense of loyalty for his compatriots, those who are fighting in battles Picture this in todays terms. This is a very sticky situation where people who go on business trips can take advantage of things because they're on a business trip and the company's paying for something or there's all these different ways we can apply this type of message.
But in this sense, when Uriah came back, I mean, think about it, from his perspective, Uriah has been in battle. He's been living in tents, he's been in war conditions, the king calls him from the front to come meet with him personally. So he feels honored, he comes before the king and he says, "Man, this is great; I get an opportunity to go back to Jerusalem. Hey, if I have to stay there for a couple days, I might as well just pop on home because that's where my wife is and I can have a good time with my wife and then I can come back out in the field, would be great. I get to see her." And so that's probably the way most people would think about this, and quite honestly how David thought that Uriah would think about it.
But Uriah is committed and loyal to those he was serving with in the army and he because of his loyalty said, my friends are sleeping in tents and why should I have the privilege of going to sleep in my own home and be with my wife when they can't? That doesn't seem fair to me. So Uriah had this intense sense of fairness that superseded anything else, even the word of the king. Because the king told him to go home. The king even got him drunk trying to get him to stumble home just out of habit if nothing else, and yet Uriah did not do so because of this inner compulsion, this inner integrity, that bound him to stay loyal to his friends so that he wouldn't violate that pact with his friends.
So this whole passage, I think, to me is a key passage that indicates the integrity of Uriah, and quite honestly, the disingenuousness of David, which, of course, we know he repents of later. But in this instance, looking at Uriah, the integrity that Uriah exhibits is definitely the type of integrity that we should be living and looking for, in our lives.
Now, you know, the entire Bible is an example for us and gives us examples of characters for us to emulate and those that we shouldn't. And while David is a great character and we should emulate, he was "a man after God's own heart," ultimately, he had these episodes where he didn't always do
what was right. And so that's an example for us. Uriah is an example for us on what we should do. If we have a deep conviction about something, we believe it's right in our heart, it doesn't matter if who's aound; it doesn't matter if anybody's around, we're going to act on on those convictions. So really, what I think integrity boils down to is having the convictions of knowing whats right and wrong. As believers where we get our basis for right and wrong comes from God's Word, the Bible. If we have any other source of rightness or wrongness, if it isn't based in the principles of God's Word then we could be off base so we could be judging our lives and having convictions about things that aren't necessarily the correct things, that aren't necessarily the right things to have.
So taking all of his back to our main verse in Matthew 5, let's just repeat that again, Yeshua said,
"For, I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
My paraphrase is "demonstrate virtue and purity that exceeds those who are merely following external commands." That is the goal of integrity, and that is the goal that God has for
us by following his Word and by acting on the correct instincts because we have those deep convictions. We can only have those deep convictions when we continue to study his word and when we continue to learn these truths so that we can apply them in our lives, in all these different areas, and therefore, and thereby, expanding the kingdom of God in this world today.
Well that's our episode for today. I'm hopeful that some of these thoughts and passages help and encourage you and maybe bring you some insights that you haven't seen before.
And again, if you haven't had an opportunity to review the episode on the Kingdom, I think that's important because it sets a basis for what this podcast is all about as far as the kingdom of God.
I do want to remind you to be sure to visit coreofthebible.org. You can join the conversation over there, access the show notes and also find free downloadable resources regarding the message of the Bible reduced to its simplest form.
So thanks again for your interest in listening today. Thank you for your time. I greatly appreciate it because I know how valuable your time is. I certainly hope to be invited back into your headphones in another episode to come. Take care!