Uriah

David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah . . . 

 - From II Samuel 11

I'm going to assume that the reader is familiar with the account of David, Bathsheba, Joab, and Uriah the Hittite, so that I do not have to summarize it. 

It would be interesting to have some Bible students put together a list of the most infamous human deeds in all of Scripture. I would think that David's treatment of Uriah rises to the top three of such a list. 

Lust, sexual immorality, deception, and even pre-meditated murder. There's a sense that people rather enjoy focusing on this biblical episode. They get to say "Look at what David did, and yet he was a 'man after God's own heart!'" This statement is often delivered via a sly, slightly mischievous grin. "My, but I'm on the edge!"

The Uriah matter represents base, horrible human behavior. When you let it sink in, it becomes very difficult to see King David in a good light, at all. He would not make it through a 21st Century gauntlet of American public opinion, let alone the American criminal justice system.

And then the king goes and has Uriah himself deliver the order, that he be sent to the front lines, to the General, Joab. Why was Uriah chosen to be the messenger of his own fate?

 . . . Because Uriah had proven himself just, pure, and devoted to the king, and to the men in the field of battle. 

If one of the Bible's greatest heroes can sink to the level of such treachery, imagine what modern, ambitious, political characters are capable of.