16 And it cometh to pass in Joab's watching of the city, that he appointeth Uriah unto the place where he knew that valiant men `are';
17 and the men of the city go out and fight with Joab, and there fall `some' of the people, of the servants of David; and there dieth also Uriah the Hittite.
18 And Joab sendeth and declareth to David all the matters of the war,
19 and commandeth the messenger, saying, `At thy finishing all the matters of the war to speak unto the king,
20 then, it hath been, if the king's fury ascend, and he hath said to thee, Wherefore did ye draw nigh unto the city to fight? did ye not know that they shoot from off the wall?
21 Who smote Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast on him a piece of a rider from the wall, and he dieth in Thebez? why drew ye nigh unto the wall? that thou hast said, Also thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'
22 And the messenger goeth, and cometh in, and declareth to David all that with which Joab sent him,
23 and the messenger saith unto David, `Surely the men have been mighty against us, and come out unto us into the field, and we are upon them unto the opening of the gate,
24 and those shooting shoot at thy servants from off the wall, and `some' of the servants of the king are dead, and also, thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.
25 And David saith unto the messenger, `Thus dost thou say unto Joab, Let not this thing be evil in thine eyes; for thus and thus doth the sword devour; strengthen thy warfare against the city, and throw it down -- and strengthen thou him.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Samuel 11
Commentary on 2 Samuel 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
What David said of the mournful report of Saul's death may more fitly be applied to the sad story of this chapter, the adultery and murder David was guilty of.-"Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon.' We wish we could draw a veil over it, and that it might never be known, might never be said, that David did such things as are here recorded of him. But it cannot, it must not, be concealed. The scripture is faithful in relating the faults even of those whom it most applauds, which is an instance of the sincerity of the penmen, and an evidence that it was not written to serve any party: and even such stories as these "were written for our learning,' that "he that thinks he stands may take heed lest he fall,' and that others' harms may be our warnings. Many, no doubt, have been emboldened to sin, and hardened in it, by this story, and to them it is a "savour of death unto death;' but many have by it been awakened to a holy jealousy over themselves, and constant watchfulness against sin, and to them it is a "savour of life unto life.' Those are very great sins, and greatly aggravated, which here we find David guilty of.
2Sa 11:1-5
Here is,
2Sa 11:6-13
Uriah, we may suppose, had now been absent from his wife some weeks, making the campaign in the country of the Ammonites, and not intending to return till the end of it. The situation of his wife would bring to light the hidden works of darkness; and when Uriah, at his return, should find how he had been abused, and by whom, it might well be expected,
2Sa 11:14-27
When David's project of fathering the child upon Uriah himself failed, so that, in process of time, Uriah would certainly know the wrong that had been done him, to prevent the fruits of his revenge, the devil put it into David's heart to take him off, and then neither he nor Bath-sheba would be in any danger (what prosecution could there be when there was no prosecutor?), suggesting further that, when Uriah was out of the way, Bath-sheba might, if he pleased, be his own for ever. Adulteries have often occasioned murders, and one wickedness must be covered and secured with another. The beginnings of sin are therefore to be dreaded; for who knows where they will end? It is resolved in David's breast (which one would think could never possibly have harboured so vile a thought) that Uriah must die. That innocent, valiant, gallant man, who was ready to die for his prince's honour, must die by his prince's hand. David has sinned, and Bath-sheba has sinned, and both against him, and therefore he must die; David determines he must. Is this the man whose heart smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt? Quantum mutatus ab illo!-But ah, how changed! Is this he that executed judgment and justice to all his people? How can he now do so unjust a thing? See how fleshly lusts war against the soul, and what devastations they make in that war; how they blink the eyes, harden the heart, sear the conscience, and deprive men of all sense of honour and justice. Whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding and quite loses it; he that doth it destroys his own soul, Prov. 6:32. But, as the eye of the adulterer, so the hand of the murderer seeks concealment, Job 24:14, 15. Works of darkness hate the light. When David bravely slew Goliath it was done publicly, and he gloried in it; but, when he basely slew Uriah, it must be done clandestinely, for he is ashamed of it, and well he may. Who would do a thing that he dare not own? The devil, having as a poisonous serpent, put it into David's heart to murder Uriah, as a subtle serpent he puts it into his head how to do it. Not as Absalom slew Amnon, by commanding his servants to assassinate him, nor as Ahab slew Naboth by suborning witnesses to accuse him, but by exposing him to the enemy, a way of doing it which, perhaps, would not seem so odious to conscience and the world, because soldiers expose themselves of course. If Uriah had not been in that dangerous post, another must; he has (as we say) a chance for his life; if he fight stoutly, he may perhaps come off; and, if he die, it is in the field of honour, where a soldier would choose to die; and yet all this will not save it from being a wilful murder, of malice prepense.