2 Samuel 11:1-13·~2 min

David and Bathsheba

The chapter opens with David absent from the battle, then follows his gaze, inquiry, and taking of Bathsheba until her message makes the hidden act impossible to keep hidden.

I¹n 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. ²One 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. ³So 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.” ⁴Then 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. ⁵And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

David recalls Uriah from the field and tries to send him home, but Uriah refuses the comfort of his house while the ark, the army, and his commander remain in tents. Even when David makes him drunk, Uriah still does not go home.

⁶At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. ⁷When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. ⁸Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” ⁹So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house. ¹⁰And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” ¹¹Uriah 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!” ¹²“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. ¹³Then 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.

Section summaryWhile the army besieges Rabbah, David stays behind, sees Bathsheba, takes her, and learns she is pregnant. He then calls Uriah back from the war and tries, first by courtesy and then by drink, to send him home to his wife.

Role in the chapterThis opening section sets the chapter’s fall in motion. It moves from David’s desire to his first efforts at concealment, while Uriah’s restraint exposes the distance between the king’s conduct and the loyalty of his servant.