The Second Book of Samuel, otherwise called the Second Book of the Kings
2 Samuel 11
Chapter XI · Vol. II, pp. 690–691
1 While Joab besieged Rabbah, 2 David committeth adultery with Bathsheba. 6 Uriah, sent for by David to cover the adultery, cometh to David, but refuseth to go down to his house. 14 He carrieth to Joab the letter of his death. 18 Joab sendeth the news thereof to David. 26 David taketh Bathsheba to wife.
1 And it came to pass, aafter the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth1 to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah: but David tarried still at Jerusalem.
B.C. 1035.
a Heb. at the return of the year, Ex.12.2. 1 Ki.20.22,26. 2 Ch.36.10. 1 Ch.20.1. Ec.3.8.
1 In spring, when the grass and springing grain would afford forage for their horses, and the military retainers were most free from domestic engagements. Alas! that man's sin should disfigure nature's fairest and most hopeful season!—C.
2 And it came to pass in an evening-tide, that David barose from off his bed, and walked uponc the roof of the king's house:2 and from the roof he dsaw a woman ewashing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to flook upon.
b ch.4.5,7. Pr.24.33,34; 19.15.
c De.22.8. 1 Sa.9.27. Ne.8.16. Ju.16.27. Mat.10.27. Ac.10.9. Je.19.13.
2 It will be held in remembrance that the oriental roofs are generally flat; and that where houses are situated on hills, as in Jerusalem, one roof would frequently overlook another.—C.
d Ge.6.2. Job 31.1. Ps.119.37. Mat.5.28.
e Le.15.19. Pr.31.30. 1 Pe.3.2,3.
3 And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of gEliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
g 1 Ch.3.5. ch.23.34. Perhaps Ahithophel's son.
4 And David hsent messengers, and took3 her: and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; (for she was ipurified from her uncleanness;) and she returned unto her house.
h Ge.39.7. Le.15.17.? Ps.50.18. Job 31.9-11.
3 Here commences a most deplorable era in the life of David, but a remarkable example of that historical honesty which is to be found perfect in no book but the Holy Scriptures.—C.
A.M. 2969. B.C. 1035.
i Le.15.19-28; 12.2; 18.19.
6 And David sent to Joab, saying, lSend me Uriah the Hittite.4 And Joab sent Uriah to David.
l Ps.51.title,4,10,14. Job 20.12-14. Pr.9.17.
4 Here commences a practical illustration of the manner in which men, having forgotten God, try to hide their sins from the world, and in the attempt go on to commit new sins greater than the first. Even as Peter at first simply denied Christ, then went on to 'curse and to swear' to the falsehood.—C.
7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how5 Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
5 Heb. of the peace of, &c.
8 And David said to Uriah, mGo down to thy house, and wash thy feet.6 And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and nthere followed him7 a mess8 of meat from the king.
m Job 20.12. Ps.44.21; 55.21. Pr.10.18; 26.25.
6 i.e. 'Refresh thyself after thy journey.' David might be anxious for Bathsheba, who was in danger of death as an adulteress, but his chief anxiety was about himself. To screen the criminality of both, he endeavoured to prevail on Uriah to cohabit with his wife, that he might be considered the father of the child.—I.
n Ex.1.10. Pr.28.13. Ps.55.21; 12.2. Is.28.20.
7 Heb. went out after him.
8 This is a custom still observed in many parts of Asia, and is looked upon not merely as an act of hospitality, but as one of the highest compliments.—C.
9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?
11 And Uriah said unto David, oThe 9ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and pmy lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As qthou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here to-day also, and to-morrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow.
13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he rmade him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.
14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David swrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, tSet ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest1 battle, and retire ye from him,2 that he may be smitten, and die.3
t Heb. Bring Uriah over against the face of the strongest battle, Ps.51.4,14. ch.12.9. Je.10.23.
1 Heb. strong.
2 Heb. from after him.
3 Here was a complication of the basest and foulest crimes—lasciviousness, adultery, treachery, hypocrisy, murder. No excuse can be made for David, and he made none for himself. Lord! what is man? Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!—I.
16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that uhe assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
A.M. 2969. B.C. 1035.
u ver.15,17,21. 1 Sa.22.17. Ac.5.29. Pr.29.12.
17 And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite4 died also.
4 Uriah must of course have been a proselyte to the Jewish religion, else, as an Hittite, he could not have been employed in the service of David, or have had a Jewess to wife.—C.
18 Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
19 And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling5 the matters of the war unto the king,
5 Joab seems to have been at least comparatively illiterate, as he sends no written despatch, but merely a verbal message.—C.
20 And if so be that the king's xwrath6 arise, and he say unto thee, Wherefore approached ye so nigh unto the city when ye did fight? knew ye not that they would shoot from the wall?
6 Some suppose that by some rash attack on the enemy Joab had suffered loss about this time; and that he contrived to get rid of the odium by connecting the transaction with Uriah's death, which he knew would be so pleasing to the king. But the whole detail here seems rather to describe the stratagem Joab had laid for cutting Uriah off.—I.
21 Who smote yAbimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez?7 why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
22 So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for.
23 And the messenger said unto David, Surely the men prevailed against us, and came out unto us into the field, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate.
24 And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant8 Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
8 The remembrance that Uriah was his servant should have awakened David's conscience, yet he receives the message with indifference, or more probably with satisfaction. Such is the blinding and hardening influence of sin!—C.
25 Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease9 thee; for zthe sword devoureth one as well as another: amake thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it; and encourage thou him.
26 And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned1 for her husband.
1 The mourning may have been sincere—it more probably was feigned.—C.
27 And when the mourning was past, David sent and bfetched her to his house, and she became his wife,2 and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done cdispleased the LORD.3
b Heb. gathered her, 1 Sa.25.39-42, with ch.3.2-5; 5.13-16.
2 Not that God was displeased with David for making her his wife—for that was doing all he could to repair the injury—but the whole transaction in relation to Uriah was abominable both in the sight of God and man.—C.
c Heb. was evil in the eyes of, He.13.4. Ps.5.6. Mal.3.5.
3 The fall of David is one of the most instructive and alarming recorded in that most faithful and impartial of all histories—the Bible. The transgression of one idle and unguarded moment pierced him through with many sorrows, and embittered the remainder of his life.—I.
Notes
Reflections.—Lord, what is man when left to himself! On this side the grave no man is secure from presumptuous sin. The lusts of the flesh are most powerful and deceitful evils, and the last to be subdued; and such as make provision for the flesh, by sloth and sensuality, are prepared for every temptation. When we are out of God's way of duty, we cannot expect his protection. If our eyes be suffered to wander, our hearts and feet will soon follow. To indulge sinful lusts is but to increase its cravings. And a heart given up to lewdness will sacrifice honour, interest, friends, nay, God himself, to the idol of its hateful passions. Often it requires double care to conceal sin than what would have been necessary to prevent it. One sin ordinarily requires another to hide it. And such as have defiled their neighbour's bed will not stick to destroy his soul by drunkenness, or even his life by the sword. When sin has hardened the heart, the strongest warnings of providence are disregarded. When the devil has once got a soul before the wind of his temptations, he can drive it to the very brink of hell—to deliberate malice and murder. God, however highly displeased, may permit men for a time to prosper in their wickedness, till their particular branches of guilt have become almost innumerable. But stand still, my soul, and tremble to behold the man according to God's heart, the royal deputy of Heaven—negligent in business, indulgent of sloth, wandering in eye, and lustful in heart; in old age debauching a lady of good reputation, and the wife of a faithful hero; labouring to impose a spurious issue upon an injured friend; robbing his faithful servant of his senses by drink, to promote the base design; deliberately contriving murder, and making the intended victim the bearer of the murderous mandate; using Uriah's fidelity and valour as the means of his ruin, involving Joab, and the deserters of their post, and the Ammonites, as partners in his guilt: and, in fine, charging his murder on the providence of God! Oh! what fearful depths of corruption must be in my heart! How astonishing is it that Jesus and his Spirit should dwell in so polluted a residence! How much am I indebted to God for his restraining grace! Let me then daily commit the keeping of my soul to God; and, if overtaken in a fault, immediately apply to Jesus Christ for repentance and forgiveness of my sins.