2 Samuel 11

While his army is at war, King David stays home and sins with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his loyal soldiers. He tries to cover the sin, and when that fails he has Uriah killed in battle. The chapter ends with one sober verdict: what David did was evil in the LORD’s sight.

2 Samuel 11:1

Spring was the usual time for war, and kings led their armies. David sends Joab instead and stays in Jerusalem. The danger begins with being out of place, at ease at home while his men are in the field. Even a great king is not safe from temptation.

BSA: remained (“dwelled, stayed”): David settles comfortably at home while others carry his burden.

See also: 1 Chronicles 20:1.

2 Samuel 11:2

Rising from his bed in the evening, David walks on the flat palace roof and sees a woman bathing. A look is not yet a sin. But he does not turn away, and what begins as a glance becomes a choice.

BSA: beautiful (“pleasant, lovely”): The text notes her beauty plainly; the failure lies in what David did with what he saw.

See also: James 1:14-15; Matthew 5:28.

2 Samuel 11:3

David could have stopped here. Instead he sends to find out about her. The answer should have warned him: she is a married woman, the wife of Uriah, and the daughter of Eliam, who may have been one of David’s own elite warriors. Her husband is a loyal Hittite soldier in David’s army.

See also: 2 Samuel 23:34; 2 Samuel 23:39.

2 Samuel 11:4

The king uses his power. He sends messengers, takes her, and sleeps with her. The note that she had purified herself shows the child is certainly David’s, not her husband’s. Everything is done quickly and quietly, and she goes home.

BSA: uncleanness (“impurity, sinful state”): This refers to the ritual cleansing after her monthly cycle, which shows she could not already have been pregnant.

Hebrew: וַיִּקָּחֶהָ (vayyiqqachehā, H3947) — “and he took her.” The related Hebrew verb in verse 4 describes David’s act as taking. It is the same kind of word Nathan later uses against him in his rebuke.

See also: 2 Samuel 12:9.

2 Samuel 11:5

Bathsheba’s message is only three words in Hebrew: I am pregnant. Sin that was meant to be secret now has a consequence that cannot be hidden. Unrepented sin does not stay private for long.

See also: Numbers 32:23.

2 Samuel 11:6-7

David’s first plan is to cover his sin. He calls Uriah home from the front, hoping he will sleep with his wife so the child will seem to be his. David asks about the war and the troops as though this were an ordinary report.

2 Samuel 11:8

Telling Uriah to wash his feet is a way of saying go home and rest. The king even sends a gift after him. A kindly face covers a hidden scheme, and the gift is meant to help the deception along.

BSA: gift (“tribute, offering”): The word suggests a portion from the king’s own table, meant to make his plan work.

2 Samuel 11:9-10

Uriah sleeps at the palace door with the king’s servants. When David asks why, he only questions the man who has done right. The honest soldier is more faithful than the king who is trying to use him.

BSA: go down (“descend, lower himself”): Going home would have felt, to Uriah, like stepping down from his duty.

2 Samuel 11:11

Uriah’s answer shames David. The ark, the army and his commander are all in tents, so how can he enjoy home comforts? He even swears by the king’s life. A foreigner shows more devotion to God’s people than the anointed king.

BSA: ark (“a box or chest”): The ark was the sacred chest marking God’s presence; Uriah feels the weight of that holy presence on the battlefield.

See also: 1 Samuel 4:3-4.

2 Samuel 11:12-13

David tries again. He keeps Uriah another day, feeds him, and gets him drunk, hoping drink will weaken his resolve. Even then Uriah goes to sleep among the servants. David’s scheme is meeting a man whose conscience is stronger than wine.

See also: Habakkuk 2:15.

2 Samuel 11:14-15

Now the sin turns to murder. David writes a letter ordering Joab to put Uriah where the fighting is fiercest, then pull back. The tragedy is deepened because the man carries his own death sentence to the commander himself.

BSA: withdraw (“retreat, turn back”): The other soldiers must leave Uriah alone so he cannot survive.

See also: Exodus 20:13.

2 Samuel 11:16-17

Joab carries out the order. He places Uriah near the strongest enemy fighters, and Uriah dies, along with other Israelite soldiers. David’s sin has cost more than one life, and good men die as a result.

BSA: assigned (“put, placed”): Joab deliberately positions Uriah where he is most likely to die.

2 Samuel 11:18-21

Joab sends the messenger with a careful report. He expects the king to be angry at the foolish tactics, and he gives the messenger a line to use. He recalls Abimelech, killed at Thebez by a millstone thrown by a woman. The cover story is built on a known lesson from Israel’s past.

BSA: millstone (“a heavy stone, a rider”): The upper stone of a hand mill was heavy enough to kill a man when dropped from a wall.

See also: Judges 9:50-54.

2 Samuel 11:22-24

The messenger reports the battle and does not need the warning. He gives the facts and then adds, almost in passing, that Uriah is dead too. The great deed of the plan is mentioned as a small detail, and a man’s life is reduced to a casualty.

BSA: overpowered (“prevailed, were stronger”): The enemy gained the upper hand in the fight, and that gives cover for Uriah’s death.

2 Samuel 11:25

David’s reply is calm and cold. Do not let this trouble you, he says, for the sword takes one as well as another. A man’s death that David arranged is now spoken of as the ordinary way of war. Sin can harden a heart into talking like this.

BSA: devours (“eats, consumes”): War is pictured as a mouth that swallows without choosing, which David uses to excuse his own act.

See also: Isaiah 5:20.

2 Samuel 11:26

Bathsheba hears that her husband is dead and mourns him. Her grief is real. The text gives her this dignity, and it reminds us that there is a human cost to what has been done to her and to Uriah.

BSA: mourned (“lamented, expressed deep sadness”): The word describes real, open grief for the husband she lost.

2 Samuel 11:27

When the mourning period ends, David takes her into his house as his wife, and she bears a son. To everyone else it looks resolved. But the final sentence gives God’s view. What David had done was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the story is not over.

BSA: evil (“wicked, displeasing”): God’s judgment on the whole matter is stated plainly, whatever others thought.

Hebrew: וַיֵּרַע (vayyēra‘, H7489) — “and it was evil, it displeased.” The Hebrew says the thing was bad in the eyes of the LORD. The same verb family was used of David’s word to Joab in verse 25, where the matter should not seem bad in Joab’s eyes. What David waved away, God did not.

See also: 2 Samuel 12:1-9; Psalm 51:1-4.