2 Samuel 11

2Sa 11:1.

JOAB

BESIEGES

RABBAH.

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.

2Sa 11:2-12.

DAVID

COMMITS

ADULTERY WITH

BATH-SHEBA.

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.

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

(1Ch 3:5),

one of David's worthies

(2Sa 23:34),

and son of Ahithophel.

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

(1Ki 1:13, 15, 17, 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].

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

(Le 20:10).

8. David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house--This sudden recall, the

manner of the king, his frivolous questions

(2Sa 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.

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

(2Sa 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.

2Sa 11:14-27.

URIAH

SLAIN.

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.