2 Samuel 11:1-6
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. 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.
And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 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. And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.
And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The scheme David had contrived was to get Uriah home to his wife for a few days, that it might be thought the child she had conceived was his, whereby David’s sin might be concealed—“and Joab sent Uriah to David,” not knowing his business, and besides, it was his duty to obey David’s command.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Observe the occasions which led to this sin. First, neglect of his business. When he should have been abroad with his army in the field, fighting the battles of the Lord, David devolved the care upon others, and he “tarried still at Jerusalem”…When we are out of the way of our duty we are in the way of temptation.
JOHN GILL: It would have been well for David if he had gone forth with the army himself, then the sin he fell into would have been prevented.
MATTHEW HENRY: Second, a love of ease, and the indulgence of a slothful temper: “He came off his bed at evening-tide.” There David had dozed away the afternoon in idleness—he used to pray, not only morning and evening, but at noon, in the day of his trouble: it is to be feared he had, this noon, omitted to do so. Idleness gives great advantage to the tempter—the bed of sloth often proves the bed of lust. Third, a wandering eye: “He saw a woman washing herself.” The sin came in at the eye, as Eve’s did. Perhaps David sought to see her— but at least, he did not practise according to his own prayer, “Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity,” Psalm 119:37; either he had not, like Job, “made a covenant with his eyes,” or, at this time, he had forgotten it.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): Our Lord says, Even he who looks on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart, Matthew 5:28.
THE EDITOR: When Uriah arrived, David tried to persuade him to go home to his wife. Though Uriah knew it not, his answer was a rebuke to David’s slothful neglect of duty: “The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tent,” Uriah said, “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,” 2 Samuel 11:11.
MATTHEW HENRY: The consideration of the public hardships and hazards kept Uriah from lawful pleasures, yet could not keep David, though more nearly interested, from unlawful ones. Uriah’s severity to himself should have shamed David for his indulgence of himself.
THE EDITOR: The next day, David made Uriah drunk; but Uriah still failed to go home.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): Baffled in both attempts, David now proceeds to an act, at the very mention of which, nature shudders. To conceal his shame for adultery, that the world might know nothing of his sin with Bath-sheba, nor Uriah ever reproach him for it, he determines to have his brave and faithful servant murdered in the battle. Alas! how desperately wicked is the heart of man by nature.
ALEXANDER WHYTE (1836-1921): “It came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 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,” 2 Samuel 11:14,15. That dreadful letter shows us David’s desperation, indeed; but it shows us also David’s estimate of Joab.
THE EDITOR: When Uriah delivered David’s letter, Joab probably read the king’s hand-written message immediately, perhaps even in Uriah’s very presence. What were Joab’s thoughts as he dismissed Uriah from his tent? “What was the reason for this order? Was it a political intrigue? Or, perhaps it’s some deep plot to remove me as captain of the host? Is my position secure enough to disobey this order? How can I protect myself?” All Joab knew for certain was that David wanted this thing done secretly.
ROBERT HAWKER: What the thoughts of Joab were upon this occasion, is not said. But it is melancholy to observe how readily he fell in with David’s command.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): David did not slay Uriah by his own hand, but made Joab an accomplice.
ALEXANDER WHYTE: But how could Joab have the utter depravity and the cold blood to do it? How could he plan an attack, sham a retreat, and risk a defeat, all to murder a noble, spotless, unsuspecting comrade? It was not soldierly obedience.
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): Joab perhaps hoped to ingratiate himself, and to come off the better for the murder of Abner, which he had not yet answered, since David was now no less guilty than himself.
THE EDITOR: A perceptive calculating man, Joab would conclude that his best course of personal safety was to obey David’s order exactly as written; but he likely kept that hand-written letter as proof that he had only obeyed the king’s orders; such a defense has excused many a military crime; and, fearing that his letter might become public, now David could never attempt to remove him as captain of the host. After Uriah’s death, Joab was careful to write nothing down and precisely instructed a messenger on what to say in his verbal situation report, “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,” 2 Samuel 11:18-21.
ROBERT HAWKER: From the apprehension Joab expressed of the king’s displeasure, it seems he had no knowledge of David’s adultery and the motive why he wished the death of Uriah. From the king’s letter, indeed, he saw that Uriah’s death would be pleasing to him, and that the intelligence of this would soften his displeasure at the success of the Ammonites. The story of Abimelech, which Joab thought David would consider a similar case to Uriah’s death, is related in Judges 9:50-55.
THE EDITOR: David also replied to Joab verbally, with further orders, one veiled in a cryptic threat that he knew only Joab would really understand: “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,” 2 Samuel 11:25. Joab obeyed the king’s orders: he kept his mouth shut and attacked again.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): It is horrible when a man is determined to be dishonest, yet gets someone else to commit the sin for him!
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): From the merely human standpoint, the unutterable folly of the whole affair is evident, as David puts himself in Joab’s power by sharing with him the secret of his guilt.
