2 Samuel 11:14

_AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE MORNING, THAT DAVID WROTE A LETTER TO JOAB, AND SENT IT BY THE HAND OF URIAH._ David wrote a letter to Joab ......

14-27 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. Le...

Verse 2 Samuel 11:14. _DAVID WROTE A LETTER_] This was the sum of treachery and villany. He made this most noble man the carrier of letters which prescribed the mode in which he was to be murdered. This case some have likened to that of Bellerophon, son of Glaucus, king of Ephyra, who being in the court of Proetus, king of the Argives, his queen Antia, or as others Sthenoboea, fell violently in love with him; but he, refusing to gratify her criminal passions, was in revenge accused by her to Proetus her husband, as having attempted to corrupt her. Proetus not willing to violate the laws of hospitality by slaying him in his own house, wrote letters to Jobates, king of Lycia, the father of Sthenoboea, and sent them by the hand of Bellerophon, stating his crime, and desiring Jobates to put him to death. To meet the wishes of his son-in-law, and keep his own hands innocent of blood, he...

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 11:1 AFTER THE YEAR WAS EXPIRED; Hebrew and Revised Version, _at the return of the year; _that is, as Josephus paraphrases it, "the next spring." It seems quite certain that the war with Hadarezer did not take place in the same year as the defeat of the Syrians at Medeba. For the gathering of his mercenaries by Nahash would occupy a long time, and it was done so leisurely, that not only did news of it reach Jerusalem, but David was able to collect his forces, and instead of awaiting the invasion, could deliver his attack on the enemy's ground. The battle at Medeba took place in the autumn, and, as it was impossible to keep the field with winter so near, Joab marched back to Jerusalem, intending in the spring to return to the siege of Rabbah. But David quickly had information that a more serious war was impend

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 cut off by the sword of the enemy. If Uriah suspected David's criminal conversation with his wife, he was so true and trusted a servant to him, that he would not open his letter to Joab, which had he, it would have betrayed the base design. No one that knows the story of Bellerophon can read this without thinking of that, they are so much alike; and indeed that seems to be founded upon this, and taken from it with a little alteration. Bellerophon rejecting the solicitations of Sthenobaea, who was in love with him, she prevailed upon her husband Praetus to send letters by him to Jobates (a nam...

III. DAVID'S SIN, CHASTISEMENT AND RESTORATION 1. David's Great Sin CHAPTER 11 _ 1. David's great sin (2 Samuel 11:1)_ 2. David sends for Uriah (2 Samuel 11:6) 3. The murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 11:14) 4. David makes Bath-sheba his wife (2 Samuel 11:26) We see the king once more in his house. He sent Joab, his servants and all Israel to battle again against Ammon. Was it not his business as king to go forth with Israel as he had done before? Instead he remains in ease and comfort at home. Evidently he rested all day on his couch, during the heat of the day, and when the

SAM 11. DAVID, BATH-SHEBA, AND URIAH (J). 2 SAMUEL 11:1. In the spring, at the beginning of the season suitable for military operations, Joab and the army set out to besiege Rabbah (Jeremiah 49:2 *); David stayed at home. He committed adultery with Bath-sheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was in the field with Joab. Uriah would be a _ger_ (2 Samuel 1:13 *); his name, Yahweh is light, shows that he was a worshipper of Yahweh. 2 SAMUEL 11:6. David makes an unsuccessful attempt to conceal the facts. Note that the Ark was taken into the field as a talisman ...

David's letter to Joab. Uriah's death 14. _sent it by the hand of Uriah_ So in the Greek story Proetus sent Bellerophon to Jobates with his own death-warrant. Cp. Hom. _Il._VI. 168, 169. "Slay him he would not, that his soul abhorred; But to the father of his wife, the king Of Lycia, sent him forth, with tokens charged Of dire import, on folded tablets traced, Poisoning the monarch's mind to work his death....

_Uriah Killed in Battle._ 2 Samuel 11:12-21 12 And David said to Uriah, Tarry here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. 13 And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at even he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house. 14 And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent _it_ by the hand of Uriah. 15 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. 16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men _were._ 17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell _some_ of

DAVID AND BATHSHEBA This narrative is of the greatest value. It shows the faithfulness and the high morality of the historian, who relates, without a single attempt at palliation, this scandalous chapter in the great king's history. Further, the position of the prophet, even in these early days, as the 'conscience' of the individual or the nation, is clearly described. What Nathan is to David, Elijah (with equal courage) is to Ahab. In other nations, even in much later times, such an act if committed by a powerful king would have gone unnoticed or unblamed....