Spring dawn outside Jerusalem's plain stone gate on its narrow ridge: a long column of Israelite soldiers with spears and round shields winds away down the road eastward into the hills, small in the distance, the gate open and empty behind them, under a calm, clear sky.

The Book of

2 Samuel 11

In the spring, when kings go out to war, David stays home.

27 verses≈ 6 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–4King in HebronThe house of Saul falls
5–6JerusalemThe ark comes home
7–10A house foreverGod's promise to David
11–12David's sinBathsheba and NathanChapter 11
13–20The swordAmnon, Absalom and Sheba
21–24Last wordsSongs, heroes and an altar

David and Bathsheba

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Rabbah and Jerusalem

In the spring Joab and the whole army “besieged Rabbah,” the Ammonite capital (today’s Amman), about forty miles from Jerusalem across the Jordan, “but David remained in Jerusalem.” Uriah came from the siege to the king and carried the letter back; Joab’s messenger brought the news. Thebez, where Abimelech died under the wall, lay west of the Jordan (probably today’s Tubas).

In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.

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Dusk on the flat roof of David's cedar-and-stone house at the top of the ridge: the king alone, seen from behind, one hand on the low parapet, looking out over the flat rooftops of the small city fading into evening.

One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace.

And from the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.”

David

“Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?”

Uriah the Hittite

Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!”

David

“Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.”

So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.

The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field.

2 Samuel 11:11

Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.

Question

Quick question

David brought Uriah home from the siege and sent him to his house with a gift. Uriah would not go.

Where did Uriah sleep instead of going home?

David Arranges Uriah’s Death

Dawn at the gate of the king's house: a servant hands Uriah, armed for the road, a small folded letter tied with cord and sealed with a lump of clay; the road east falls away behind.

The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.

In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”

So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were. And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.

Joab sent to David a full account of the battle and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle, if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall?

Joab

Joab

Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”

Evening at Jerusalem's plain town gate: a dust-covered messenger kneels before King David, who sits on a bench in the shade of the gateway, listening, his face hard; townspeople keep their distance.

So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”

0:21

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.”

Reflect

“Do not let this matter upset you”

David covered one sin with another, then told Joab, “Do not let this matter upset you,” as if it were settled. Is there something you are hiding or explaining away? Write it down honestly before God, who sees what is done in secret.

David Marries Bathsheba

Lamplight in a plain room of a house in Jerusalem: a young woman in dark, coarse mourning clothes, her head covered and veiled, sits on the floor by a low lamp, seen from behind, her head bowed into her hands.

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

2 Samuel 11:27

Pray

Search my heart

Ask the LORD to search your heart and show you any sin you have hidden or excused. Pray for honesty to stop covering it and to come to Him, who forgives all who confess. Thank Him for people like Uriah, who keep faith where no one is watching, and ask for that faithfulness in your own life.

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2 Samuel 11

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A verse to carry with you

But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD.

2 Samuel 11:27

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