2 Samuel11
New American Standard
1Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they brought destruction on the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed in Jerusalem.
2Now at evening time David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king’s house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.
3So David sent servants and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
4Then David sent messengers and had her brought, and when she came to him, he slept with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.
5But the woman conceived; so she sent word and informed David, and said, “I am pregnant.”
6Then David sent word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.
7When Uriah came to him, David asked about Joab’s well-being and that of the people, and the condition of the war.
8Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the king’s house, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
9But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
10Now when they informed David, saying, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Did you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11And Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Should I then go to my house to eat and drink and to sleep with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.”
12Then David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the day after.
13Now David summoned Uriah, and he ate and drank in his presence, and he made Uriah drunk; and in the evening Uriah went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, and he still did not go down to his house.
14So in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15He had written in the letter the following: “Station Uriah on the front line of the fiercest battle and pull back from him, so that he may be struck and killed.”
16So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he stationed Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men.
17And the men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David’s servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.
18Then Joab sent a messenger and reported to David all the events of the war.
19He ordered the messenger, saying, “When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king,
20then it shall be that if the king’s wrath rises and he says to you, ‘Why did you move against the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?
21Who struck Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did a woman not throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you move against the wall?’—then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.’”
22So the messenger departed and came and reported to David everything that Joab had sent him to tell.
23The messenger said to David, “The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate.
24Also, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king’s servants died, and your servant Uriah the Hittite also died.”
25Then David said to the messenger, “This is what you shall say to Joab: ‘Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; fight with determination against the city and overthrow it’; and thereby encourage him.”
26Now when Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.
27When the time of mourning was over, David sent servants and had her brought to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 2 Samuel 11.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: David's adultery. (1–5). He tries to conceal his crime. (6–13). Uriah murdered. (14–27).
vv1-5
Observe the occasions of David's sin; what led to it. 1. Neglect of his business. He tarried at Jerusalem. When we are out of the way of our duty, we are in temptation. 2. Love of ease: idleness gives great advantage to the tempter. 3. A wandering eye. He had not, like Job, made a covenant with his eyes, or, at this time, he had forgotten it. And observe the steps of the sin. See how the way of sin is down-hill; when men begin to do evil, they cannot soon stop. Observe the aggravations of the sin. How could David rebuke or punish that in others, of which he was conscious that he himself was guilty?
vv6-13
Giving way to sin hardens the heart, and provokes the departure of the Holy Spirit. Robbing a man of his reason, is worse than robbing him of his money; and drawing him into sin, is worse than drawing him into any wordly trouble whatever.
vv14-27
Adulteries often occasion murders, and one wickedness is sought to be covered by another. The beginnings of sin are much to be dreaded; for who knows where they will end? Can a real believer ever tread this path? Can such a person be indeed a child of God? Though grace be not lost in such an awful case, the assurance and consolation of it must be suspended. All David's life, spirituality, and comfort in religion, we may be sure were lost. No man in such a case can have evidence to be satisfied that he is a believer. The higher a man's confidence is, who has sunk in wickedness, the greater his presumption and hypocrisy. Let not any one who resembles David in nothing but his transgressions, bolster up his confidence with this example. Let him follow David in his humiliation, repentance, and his other eminent graces, before he thinks himself only a backslider, and not a hypocrite. Let no opposer of the truth say, These are the fruits of faith! No; they are the effects of corrupt nature. Let us all watch against the beginnings of self-indulgence, and keep at the utmost distance from all evil. But with the Lord there is mercy and plenteous redemption. He will cast out no humble, penitent believer; nor will he suffer Satan to pluck his sheep out of his hand. Yet the Lord will recover his people, in such a way as will mark his abhorrence of their crimes, to hinder all who regard his word from abusing the encouragements of his mercy.
Key Words
תְּשׁוּבָה: a recurrence (of time or place); a reply (as returned)
שָׁנֶה: a year (as a revolution of time)
עֵת: time, especially (adverb with preposition) now, when, etc.
מֶלֶךְ: a king
יָצָא: to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proxim.
דָּוִד: David, the youngest son of Jesse
שָׁלַח: to send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications)
יוֹאָב: Joab, the name of three Israelites
עֶבֶד: a servant
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
Cross References
2 Samuel 11Nathan's direct indictment of David's plot: slaying Uriah with the sword of the Ammonites.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Joab directly cites the historical precedent of Abimelech's ignominious death by a woman's millstone.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Confirms Bath-sheba (Bathshua) as the daughter of Eliam (Ammiel), and mother of Solomon.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Lists Uriah as one of David's elite 'mighty men', compounding the betrayal of his loyalty.
Supported by JFB
The definitive divine verdict on David, noting his life was perfect except in this matter.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallels Jezebel's treacherous use of letters under royal seal to orchestrate Naboth's judicial murder.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Saul's plot to let the Philistines kill David parallels David's plot against Uriah.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The conclusion of the siege of Rabbah, which is finally captured later in chapter 12.
Supported by JFB
The parallel account of Joab's siege of Rabbah while David remained in Jerusalem.
Supported by JFB
Job's proactive covenant with his eyes contrasted with David's unguarded, wandering look.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Christ's exposition of the seventh commandment matches David's internal sin upon seeing Bath-sheba.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The ceremonial law requiring purification, confirming the timeline and certainty of Bath-sheba's pregnancy.
Supported by Matthew Poole
David's desperate prayer for deliverance from 'bloodguiltiness' after murdering Uriah.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Uses identical Hebrew phrasing for a human action that 'displeased the Lord'.
Supported by Matthew Poole