And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth 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.
1. at the time when kings go forth
to battle—The return of spring was the usual time of commencing
military operations. This expedition took place the year following
the war against the Syrians; and it was entered upon because the
disaster of the former campaign having fallen chiefly upon the Syrian
mercenaries, the Ammonites had not been punished for their insult to
the ambassadors.
David sent Joab and his
servants . . . they destroyed the children of Ammon—The
powerful army that Joab commanded ravaged the Ammonite country and
committed great havoc both on the people and their property, until
having reached the capital, they besieged Rabbah— Rabbah
denotes a great city. This metropolis of the Ammonites was situated
in the mountainous tract of Gilead, not far from the source of the
Arnon. Extensive ruins are still found on its site.
. DAVID COMMITS
ADULTERY WITH BATH-SHEBA.
And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
2. it came to pass in an
eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed—The Hebrews,
like other Orientals, rose at daybreak, and always took a nap during
the heat of the day. Afterwards they lounged in the cool of the
evening on their flat-roofed terraces. It is probable that David had
ascended to enjoy the open-air refreshment earlier than usual.
And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
3. one said—literally, "he
said to himself,"
Is not this Bath-sheba?
&c.—She seems to have been a celebrated beauty, whose renown
had already reached the ears of David, as happens in the East, from
reports carried by the women from harem to harem.
Bath-sheba, the daughter of
Eliam—or Ammiel (1 Chronicles 3:5),
one of David's worthies (1 Chronicles 3:5), and son of Ahithophel.
And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
4. David sent messengers, and took
her—The despotic kings of the East, when they take a fancy for
a woman, send an officer to the house were she lives, who announces
it to be the royal pleasure she should remove to the palace. An
apartment is there assigned to her; and if she is made queen, the
monarch orders the announcement to be made that he has made choice of
her to be queen. Many instances in modern Oriental history show the
ease and despatch with which such secondary marriages are contracted,
and a new beauty added to the royal seraglio. But David had to make a
promise, or rather an express stipulation, to Bath-sheba, before she
complied with the royal will (1 Kings 1:13;
1 Kings 1:15; 1 Kings 1:17;
1 Kings 1:28); for in addition to her
transcendent beauty, she appears to have been a woman of superior
talents and address in obtaining the object of her ambition; in her
securing that her son should succeed on the throne; in her
promptitude to give notice of her pregnancy; in her activity in
defeating Adonijah's natural expectation of succeeding to the crown;
in her dignity as the king's mother—in all this we see very strong
indications of the ascendency she gained and maintained over David,
who, perhaps, had ample leisure and opportunity to discover the
punishment of this unhappy connection in more ways than one [TAYLOR,
Calmet].
And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
5. the woman conceived, and sent and
told David—Some immediate measures of concealing their sin were
necessary, as well for the king's honor as for her safety, for death
was the punishment of an adulteress ().
And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded of him how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered.
And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king.
8. David said to Uriah, Go down to
thy house—This sudden recall, the manner of the king, his
frivolous questions (2 Samuel 11:7),
and his urgency for Uriah to sleep in his own house, probably
awakened suspicions of the cause of this procedure.
there followed him a mess of
meat from the king—A portion of meat from the royal table, sent
to one's own house or lodgings, is one of the greatest compliments
which an Eastern prince can pay.
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.
9. But Uriah slept at the door of
the king's house—It is customary for servants to sleep in the
porch or long gallery; and the guards of the Hebrew king did the
same. Whatever his secret suspicions might have been, Uriah's refusal
to indulge in the enjoyment of domestic pleasure, and his
determination to sleep "at the door of the king's house,"
arose from a high and honorable sense of military duty and propriety
(2 Samuel 11:11). But, doubtless,
the resolution of Uriah was overruled by that Providence which brings
good out of evil, and which has recorded this sad episode for the
warning of the church.
2 Samuel 11:11. URIAH SLAIN.
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?
And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my 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 thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing.
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.
And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made 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.
And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
14, 15. David wrote a letter to
Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah . . . Set ye Uriah in the
forefront of the hottest battle—The various arts and stratagems
by which the king tried to cajole Uriah, till at last he resorted to
the horrid crime of murder—the cold-blooded cruelty of despatching
the letter by the hands of the gallant but much-wronged soldier
himself, the enlistment of Joab to be a partaker of his sin, the
heartless affectation of mourning, and the indecent haste of his
marriage with Bath-sheba—have left an indelible stain upon the
character of David, and exhibit a painfully humiliating proof of the
awful lengths to which the best of men may go when they forfeit the
restraining grace of God.
And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
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 Hittite died also.
Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war;
And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters of the war unto the king,
And if so be that the king's 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?
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? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
So the messenger went, and came and shewed David all that Joab had sent him for.
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.
And the shooters shot from off the wall upon thy servants; and some of the king's servants be dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
Then David said unto the messenger, Thus shalt thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devoureth one as well as another: make thy battle more strong against the city, and overthrow it: and encourage thou him.
And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
