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In Chapter XVII of Book II, Corporal Trip reads Yorick's sermon on Conscience to Tristram's father, his uncle Toby, and an obstetrician named Slop. It includes the following:

When David surprized Saul sleeping in the cave, and cut off the skirt of his robe, -- we read his heart smote him for what he had done: -- But in the matter of Uriah, where a faithful and gallant servant, whom he ought to have loved and honored, fell to make way for his lust, -- where conscience had so much greater reason to take the alarm, his heart smote him not. A whole year had almost passed from the first commission of that crime, to the time Nathan was sent to reprove him; and we read not once of the least sorrow or compunction of heart which he testified, during all that time, for what he had done.

I read the books of Samuel recently, and I noticed this same inconsistency in David's dealings with Uriah. The characters here: Saul is the first king of Israel, appointed by Samuel. David is a young man who slew Goliath in battle against the Phillistines; Saul then made him a member of his court. Soon, however, Saul became distrustful of David and tried repeatedly to kill him. Every time he tried, David had an opportunity to kill him which he did not take; in one case, Saul was sleeping in a cave when David found him -- he cut off part of Saul's robe as a way of saying, "I was here and could have killed you."

David would become the second king of Israel. Uriah is a Hittite and a member of David's court; his wife is Bathsheba, whom David lusts after. So David sets up Uriah to be slain in battle (or rather, he orders his general Joab to do so), and marries Bathsheba. Nathan is a prophet who shows up several times to communicate the Lord's word to David; he reproves David for killing Uriah, saying unto him (II Samuel 12:7-10),

Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I annointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover hav given unto thee such and such things.

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

However, David never really does get his; he goes on being king and eventually transfers power to his son (by Bathsheba) Solomon. The lesson of the story seems to me to be, Only Kill Your Subordinates.