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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Samuel 11:14 - 11:27
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David's Murder of Uriah
v. 14. And it came to pass in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. His first plan having failed, his sin-darkened heart now made ready to add murder to adultery.
v. 15. And he wrote in the letter, saying, set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, opposite the place where the most bitter attack might be expected, and retire ye from him, falling away from behind him while he was busily engaged in warding off the blows of the attacking enemies, that he may be smitten and die. His own bravery being of a kind to he relied upon at all times, and his retreat cut off, the supposition was that Uriah would surely fall.
v. 16. And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, literally, "watched, found out the place where the fiercest sallies might be expected," that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were, namely, on the part of the enemy.
v. 17. And the men of the city, accepting the challenge, went out and fought with Joab; and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah, the Hittite, died also. Thus Joab carried out the command of the king in permitting a man to be killed whose seemingly accidental death was desired for some special reason.
v. 18. Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war, with a report of this special engagement;
v. 19. and charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king, the general circumstantial report,
v. 20. and if so be that the kings wrath 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? Joab felt that such a real or simulated outburst of anger on the part of the king might be expected.
v. 21. Who smote Abimelech, the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall that he died in Thebez? Cf Jdg_6:32; Jdg_9:53. Why went ye nigh the wall? Then say thou, thy servant Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also. Joab was sure that this information would have the desired effect in taking away the king's anger.
v. 22. So the messenger went, and came and showed David all that Joab had sent him for, his report being even briefer than that outlined by Joab.
v. 23. And the messenger said unto David, Surely The men prevailed against us, proved too mighty at the point of attack, and came out unto us into the field, in a sharp sally, and we were upon them even unto the entering of the gate, in repulsing the sally.
v. 24. And the shooters, the archers stationed on the ramparts, shot from off the wall upon thy servants, as the pressed so near the gate; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah, the Hittite, is dead also.
v. 25. Then David said unto the messenger, apparently with the quiet of a commander whom such evil news could not disturb in his equanimity and in his certainty of eventual victory, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another, literally, "so and so devours the sword," that is the fortune of war: make thy battle more strong against the city and overthrow it, the siege should be pressed until the city was taken; and encourage thou him, for the messenger evidently himself was one of the officers in the army. He indicated his confidence that the courage and ability of the soldiers of Joab would surely bring the campaign to a successful close.
v. 26. And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned for her husband, probably the usual seven days, Gen_50:10; 1Sa_31:13.
v. 27. And when the mourning was past, David, still with the same passionate desire for the woman as before, sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son, the child begotten in adultery. The two guilty ones wanted it to appear that the interval between their marriage and the birth of Bathsheba's child was long enough to make its birth in wedlock seem possible, an evil plan still resorted to by fornicators or adulterers to hide their sin. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. He took note of the transgression and prepared to punish it in due time. Sins of adultery and murder are of a nature to take faith out of the hearts of the believers and to make them children of wrath and damnation.