2 Samuel 11:9

_BUT URIAH SLEPT AT THE DOOR OF THE KING'S HOUSE WITH ALL THE SERVANTS OF HIS LORD, AND WENT NOT DOWN TO HIS HOUSE._ But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house. It is customary for servants, especially the porters or doorkeepers, to sleep in the parch or long gallery outside the doors-sometimes on a stone bench, sometimes on a form made of palm-fronds, and very often, indeed for the most part, on the ground, having nothing but a stone for a pillow; and the guards of the Hebrew king did the same. Whatever his secret suspicions might have been, Uriah's refusal to indulge in the enjoyment of domestic pleasure, and his determination to sleep "at the door of the king's house," arose (2 Samuel 11:11) from a high and honourable sense of military duty and property....

6-13 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....

Verse 2 Samuel 11:9. _SLEPT AT THE DOOR_] That is, in one of the apartments or niches in the court of the king's house. But in Bengal servants and others generally sleep on the verandahs or porches in face of their master's house....

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

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 another of their friends in the army; and he being weary, laid himself down among there, and slept: AND WENT NOT DOWN TO HIS HOUSE; whether the trifling questions David asked him, or the information the guards might give him of his wife being sent for to court; made him suspect something, and so had no inclination to go to this own house; or however so it was ordered by the providence of God, which directed him to act in this manner, that the sin of David and Bathsheba they studied to hide might 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 ...

DOOR. entrance....

Uriah summoned to Jerusalem 7. _David demanded_, &c. David sent for Uriah ostensibly to bring him word about the progress of the war. Uriah, as one of the "mighty men," no doubt held some command in the army. _demanded_ Rather, ASKED. The use of _demand_, like Fr. _demander_, meaning simply -to ask," is an archaism....

_David's Attempt to Cover His Sin._ 2 Samuel 11:6-11 6 And David sent to Joab, _saying,_ Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 And when Uriah was come unto him, David demanded _of him_ how Joab did, and how the people did, and how the war prospered. 8 And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess _of meat_ from the king. 9But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house. 10 And when they had told David, saying, Uriah went not down unto his house, David said unto Uriah, Camest thou not from _thy_ journey? why _then_ didst thou not go down unto thine house? 11 And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joa