2 Samuel 11:26

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 11:26. _SHE MOURNED FOR HER HUSBAND._] The whole of her conduct indicates that she observed the _form_ without feeling the _power_ of _sorrow_. She lost a _captain_ and got a _king_ for her spouse; this must have been deep affliction indeed: and therefore: - _____ Lachrymas non sponte cadentes Effudit; gemitusque expressit pectore laeto. "She shed reluctant tears, and forced out groans from a joyful heart....

Bath-sheba’s mourning, like that of Abigail 1 Samuel 25:39, was probably limited to the customary time of seven days....

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 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 sin: SHE MOURNED FOR HER HUSBAND; expressed tokens of mourning by shedding tears, putting on a mourning habit, seeing no company, and this continued for the space of seven days, it may be, 1 Samuel 31:13; as little time as possible was spent in this way, and the marriage hastened, that the adultery might not be discovered....

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 ...

MOURNED. made lamentations....

Bath-sheba becomes David's wife 26. _she mourned for her husband_ Seven days was the usual period of mourning. See Gen 50:10; 1 Samuel 31:13; Jdt 16:24; Sir 22:12. In exceptional cases thirty days were observed. See Numbers 20:29; Deuteronomy 34:8. No special time seems to have been prescribed for widows. There is no indication that Bath-sheba's mourning was more than a formal ceremony....

_2 SAMUEL 11:26_. S_HE MOURNED FOR HER HUSBAND,_ &C.— This mourning is generally supposed to have been the keeping of a fast for seven days successively; eating nothing each day till the sun was set. It cannot be denied, that there was a manifest indecency in David's taking Bath-sheba to be his wife so soon after her husband's death; and some think her compliance a proof of her indifference and disregard for her husband. Alas! they were anxious to hide the infamy of their commerce; and to effect that, no time was now to be lost. REFLECTIONS.—1st, Dark and dismal are the contents of this chapter. David's sun suffers a dreadful eclipse; and in the midst of his victories abroad, he is worse than vanquished at home, fallen a slave under brutish lusts and passions. 1. In pursuit of the former victory, Joab presses hard on the deserted Ammonites (David bei