INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 11
This chapter begins with the destruction of the Ammonites, and the
siege of Rabbah their chief city, 2 Samuel 11:1; and enlarges on the
sins of David in committing adultery with Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 11:2; in
contriving to conceal his sin by sending for her husband ho... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT AFTER THE YEAR WAS EXPIRED,.... Or at the
end of the year, as the Targum, which concluded with the month Adar or
February, the spring of the year:
AT THE TIME WHEN KINGS GO FORTH [TO BATTLE]; in the month Nisan, as
the Targum on 1 Chronicles 20:1; adds, the same with Abib,... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS IN AN EVENINGTIDE,.... Some time in the afternoon,
when the sun began to decline; not in the dusk of the evening, for
then the object he saw could not have been seen so distinctly by him:
THAT DAVID AROSE FROM OFF HIS BED; having taken a nap in the heat of
the day after dinner;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SENT AND INQUIRED AFTER THE WOMAN,.... Who she was, what her
name, and whether married or unmarried; if the latter, very probably
his intention was to marry her, and he might, when he first made the
inquiry, design to proceed no further, or to anything that was
dishonourable; but it would... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SENT MESSENGERS,.... To invite her to his palace:
AND TOOK HER; not by force, but through persuasion:
AND SHE CAME IN UNTO HIM; into the apartment where he was:
AND HE LAY WITH HER; she consenting to it, being prevailed upon, and
drawn into it through the greatness and goodness of the m... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WOMAN CONCEIVED,.... Whereby the sin would be discovered, and
shame, and disgrace, or worse, would follow upon it:
AND SENT AND TOLD DAVID, AND SAID, I [AM] WITH CHILD; this message she
sent to David, that he might think of some ways and means to prevent
the scandal that would fall both upo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SENT TO JOAB,.... Who was with the army besieging Rabbah,
which, according to Bunting k, was sixty four miles from Jerusalem:
[SAYING], SEND ME URIAH THE HITTITE; the scheme David had contrived in
his mind was to get Uriah home to his wife for a few days, that it
might be thought the chil... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN URIAH WAS COME UNTO HIM,.... To David, to whom he came first,
before he went to his own house, desirous of knowing what was the
special business of the king with him:
DAVID DEMANDED OF HIM HOW JOAB DID, AND HOW THE PEOPLE DID, AND HOW
THE WAR PROSPERED; he asked of the welfare of Joab the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SAID TO URIAH, GO DOWN TO THY HOUSE, AND WASH THY FEET,....
For his refreshment, and to prepare for bed, which was what he wanted
to get him to:
AND URIAH DEPARTED OUT OF THE KING'S HOUSE; in order as it might seem
to the king to go to his own:
AND THERE FOLLOWED HIM A MESS [OF MEAT] FRO... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT URIAH SLEPT AT THE DOOR OF THE KING'S HOUSE, WITH ALL THE SERVANTS
OF HIS LORD,.... The bodyguards, which were placed there to watch the
palace in the night season; Uriah first fell into a conversation with
these as is highly probable, to whom he was well known, and who might
inquire of one and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THEY HAD TOLD DAVID,.... The next morning, either those that
went with the mess of meat, or the guards with whom he slept all
night:
SAYING, URIAH WENT NOT DOWN TO HIS HOUSE; as the king had ordered him;
which those persons being acquainted with, informed him of it, as an
act of disobedien... [ Continue Reading ]
AND URIAH SAID UNTO DAVID,.... As an apology for this conduct:
THE ARK, AND ISRAEL AND JUDAH, ABIDE IN TENTS; meaning not the people
of Israel and Judah in the land of Canaan; for they did not now dwell
in tents, though indeed the ark of the Lord did, 2 Samuel 7:2, which
some think is here referred... [ Continue Reading ]
AND DAVID SAID TO URIAH, TARRY HERE TODAY ALSO,.... In his court, when
he found he could not persuade him to go to his own house:
AND TOMORROW I WILL LET THEE DEPART: after he had tried one method
more with him:
SO URIAH ABODE IN JERUSALEM THAT DAY AND THE MORROW; not in his own
house, but the kin... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN DAVID HAD CALLED HIM,.... Invited him to sup with him:
HE DID EAT AND DRINK BEFORE HIM; very freely and plentifully:
AND HE MADE HIM DRUNK: this was another sin of David's, done in order
to make him forget his oath and vow, and that being inflamed with
wine, desires might be excited in hi... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MORNING,.... When David was informed that
Uriah did not go to his own house, but slept with his servants, Satan
put it into his head and heart to take the following wicked and cruel
method:
THAT DAVID WROTE A LETTER TO JOAB, AND SENT [IT] BY THE HAND OF URIAH;
to have him... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WROTE IN THE LETTER, SAYING,.... Giving the following orders to
Joab:
SET YE URIAH IS THE FOREFRONT OF THE HOTTEST BATTLE: over against that
part of the city where the enemy was strongest, and the battle the
fiercest, and the stones and arrows were cast the thickest:
AND RETIRE YE FROM HIM;... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN JOAB OBSERVED THE CITY,.... Where lay its
greatest strength, and where it was best defended; or besieged it, as
the Targum:
THAT HE ASSIGNED URIAH UNTO A PLACE WHERE HE KNEW THAT VALIANT MEN
[WERE]; who would not easily give way, and when they saw an
opportunity would sall... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN OF THE CITY WENT OUT,.... Made a sally out, as Joab
expected they would, when they appeared before them at that part of
the city where valiant men were:
AND FOUGHT WITH JOAB; at least with part of his army posted with
Uriah:
AND THERE FELL [SOME] OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SERVANTS OF DAVID:... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JOAB SENT,.... Messengers to David, as soon as Uriah was killed:
AND TOLD DAVID ALL THE THINGS CONCERNING THE WAR; how the siege had
been carried on; what success they had had, good or ill; what their
advantages and disadvantages; what men they had lost, and especially
in one sally of the enem... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CHARGED THE MESSENGER,.... Gave him a particular direction and
instruction what he should say at the close of his narrative,
according as he should observe the king's countenance to be:
SAYING, WHEN THOU HAST MADE AN END OF TELLING THE MATTERS OF THE WAR
UNTO THE KING; giving an account of all... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF SO BE THAT THE KING'S WRATH ARISE,.... Which might be seen in
his countenance, or expressed in his words:
AND HE SAY, WHEREFORE APPROACHED YE SO NIGH UNTO THE CITY WHEN YE DID
FIGHT? as to expose the king's troops to the enemy on the wall, who by
stones or darts greatly annoyed them, or sall... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SMOTE ABIMELECH THE SON OF JERUBBESHETH?.... The same with
Jerubbaal, who was Gideon, Judges 6:32; Baal, one part of his name,
was the name of an idol, and sometimes called Bosheth or Besheth,
which signifies shame, being a shameful idol; Gideon had a son called
Abimelech, who was smitten, and i... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE MESSENGER WENT,.... From Joab, from the army before Rabbah:
AND CAME; to David in Jerusalem, a course of sixty four miles:
AND SHOWED DAVID ALL THAT JOAB HAD SENT HIM FOR; all the events of the
war hitherto.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MESSENGER SAID UNTO DAVID,.... The particulars of his account
follow:
SURELY THE MEN PREVAILED AGAINST US; the men of the city of Rabbah,
the besieged there, in one onset they made upon them:
AND CAME OUT UNTO US IN THE FIELD; the besiegers that lay encamped
there; they sallied out upon th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SHOOTERS SHOT FROM OFF OF THE WALL UPON THY SERVANTS,....
Arrows out of their bows, or stones out of their engines; the
Israelites following them so closely to the gate of the city, came
within the reach of their shot from the wall:
AND [SOME] OF THE KING'S SERVANTS BE DEAD; killed in the s... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN DAVID SAID TO THE MESSENGER,.... Whom he dispatched again to Joab
upon the delivery of his message:
THUS SHALL THOU SAY TO JOAB; in the name of David:
LET NOT THIS THING DISPLEASE THEE; be not grieved, and cast down, and
intimidated at the repulse he had met with, and the loss of so many
brav... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE WIFE OF URIAH HEARD THAT URIAH HER HUSBAND WAS DEAD,....
The news of which were soon sent her by David, though it is very
probable she knew nothing of the plot to take away his life; and,
besides, David chose to have his death published abroad as soon as
possible, the more to hide his s... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE MOURNING WAS PAST,.... The seven days were at an end, or
sooner; for he stayed not ninety days from the death of her husband,
which the Jews in later times enjoined n, that it might be known
whether with child by her former husband, and so to whom it belonged;
and because David did not... [ Continue Reading ]