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2 SAMUEL 11

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 11:1
  ¹Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem.

11:1 "in the spring" This is literally "at the return of the year." This was the traditional time for military activities (i.e., the rainy season just over, cf. 1 Kgs. 20;22,26; 1 Chr. 20:1).

The Jewish Study Bible, p. 636, offers the suggestion that the phrase means "a year after the war of chapter 10 took place."

▣ "when kings go out" Surprisingly the NOUN "kings" (BDB 572 I) is not in the MT but the spelling of a similar term, "messengers."

1. king ‒ מלך
2. messenger ‒ מלאך

Although the MT has "messengers," the Masoretic scholars suggested it be read as "kings" (Qere). The LXX has "Kings."

▣ "But David stayed at Jerusalem" This was very unusual. The king was expected to accompany his troops.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 11:2-5
  ²Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance. ³So David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" ⁴David sent messengers and took her, and when she came to him, he lay with her; and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house. ⁵The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant."

11:2 "when evening came David arose from his bed" How unusual that David was still in bed at twilight (i.e., probably about 3 p.m.). Possibly he took a daily nap.

▣ "walked around on the roof" The roof was

1. a place to sleep in the warm seasons
2. a place to socialize with neighbors

However, the king's palace was higher than the surrounding houses. As he walked on his roof he could look down into the backyard and rooms of the houses next to the palace.

▣ "he saw a woman bathing" This was not unusual.

1. a bath at the end of the day
2. a bath in one's
   1. back yard/courtyard
   2. a room of the house
3. a bath of purification after a woman's period (cf. Lev. 15:19; i.e., to show she was not already pregnant)

Just a word about ceremonial uncleanness. Any bodily fluid made one ceremonially unclean (cf. v. 4). This has nothing to do with morality but the Israelites' sense of "the holy/sacred." Sex is not an "unclean" act. Sex was God's design and will for mankind (cf. Gen. 1:28; 9:1,7).

SPECIAL TOPIC: HUMAN SEXUALITY

11:3 "Bathsheba" Her name could mean

1. "daughter of abundance" (BDB 987, possibly Canaanite origin)
2. "daughter of an oath" (BDB 989)
3. "seventh daughter" (BDB 987 I)

Bathsheba was from a prominent Israeli family.

1. grandfather Ahithophel was one of David's trusted advisers, 2 Sam. 15:12; 16:23
2. father was one of David's "mighty men," 2 Sam. 23:34

David sinned against both Uriah and Bathsheba's families!

▣ "wife of Uriah the Hittite" This person was a non-Israelite who was part of David's military (cf. 2 Sam. 23:39). From this account he was an honorable man.

David had many wives (as Nathan would later assert, 2 Sam. 12:1-4) but this was Uriah's only wife. This was a spur of the moment lust experience (cf. v 2c). This was abuse of power at the highest level (both political and spiritual).

One MS from the DSS characterizes Uriah as "the armor bearer of Joab," a very important position.

SPECIAL TOPIC: PRE-ISRAELITE INHABITANTS OF PALESTINE, C. 4.

11:4 "took her" Bathsheba had no choice or options. The king had ultimate power but in Israel it was from YHWH for righteous decisions. This was not one!

This sexual abuse/sin will manifest itself in David's family for many generations (i.e., Psalm 32; 51).

1. Tamar, rape (cf. 2 Samuel 13)
2. Absalom and David's concubines (cf. 2 Sam. 15:16; 16:21-22)
3. Solomon's sin with young idolatrous women in his old age (cf. 1 Kgs. 11:1-8)

The NIDOTTE, vol. 4, p. 102, mentions that the VERB (BDB 1011, KB 1486, Qal IMPERFECT with waw) denotes an illegal sexual act.

1. Lev. 20:11,12,13,18,20
2. Deut. 27:20,21,22,23

It denotes "rape" in Gen. 24:2 and Deut. 22:25 or seduction in Gen. 19:23,33 and 35:22.

11:5 Even in David's sin (i.e., which deserved death, cf. Deut. 22:22), YHWH had a redemptive plan. A child from Bathsheba will be the heir! Not the oldest son, not the rebellious son, but a child of adultery!

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 10:6-13
  ⁶Then David sent to Joab, saying, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷When Uriah came to him, David asked concerning the welfare of Joab and the people and the state of the war. ⁸Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uriah went out of the king's house, and a present from the king was sent out after him. ⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰Now when they told David, saying, "Uriah did not go down to his house," David said to Uriah, "Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" ¹¹Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing." ¹²Then David said to Uriah, "Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will let you go." So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³Now David called him, and he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his bed with his lord's servants, but he did not go down to his house.

11:6-13 What a shameful account of Uriah's honor and faithfulness vs. David's scheming to deflect the blame and responsibility.

1. call him home so he would have sex with his wife
2. get him drunk so he would go home
3. have him killed in battle as he fought bravely for David's kingdom
4. involved the Israeli army in betrayal, both
   1. the leadership
   2. elite soldiers

11:8 "wash your feet" There are two ways to view this phrase.

1. clean yourself and go home to your wife (i.e., a socially/culturally expected thing to do)
2. "feet" as a euphemism for male genitalia (cf. Exod. 4:25; Jdgs. 3:24; Ruth 3:4,7,8,14; 1 Sam. 24:3; Isa. 6:2; 7:20)

▣ "a present from the king" This would have been food and drink from David's table.

11:11 "the ark" This strongly implies the ark went into battle against the Ammonites.

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ARK OF THE COVENANT

▣ "lord. . .lord" The word adon (BDB 10) means "owner," "master," "lord," "husband." Here it denotes Joab and David.

The JPSOA footnote suggests an emendation, "As the Lord lives and as you live" from 1 Sam. 20:3; 25:26. The UBS Text Project, p. 229, gives the MT (NASB close) a "B" rating (some doubt). However, the oath formula in 1 Samuel fits the context best.

Apparently Uriah viewed this battle as "holy war" and knew the requirements of Deut. 23:9-11; 1 Sam. 21:5. He was a faithful convert to the Mosaic covenant of YHWH.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 11:14-21
  ¹⁴Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵He had written in the letter, saying, "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die." ¹⁶So it was as Joab kept watch on the city, that he put Uriah at the place where he knew there were valiant men. ¹⁷The men of the city went out and fought against Joab, and some of the people among David's servants fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died. ¹⁸Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war. ¹⁹He charged the messenger, saying, "When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king, ²⁰and if it happens that the king's wrath rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?'—then you shall say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.'"

11:15 This premeditated murder of Uriah also involved the death of other innocent Israeli soldiers (cf. 2 Sam. 11:17-20). Oh my, the sin of the king involved

1. the compromise of the army leaders and elite soldiers
2. the death of innocent men, in v. 16 they are called "valiant men"
3. compromise of the morality of the messengers
   1. 2 Sam. 11:4
   2. 2 Sam. 11:19-25

11:21 The death of Ahimelech by a woman throwing stones from the wall of a city is recorded in Jdgs. 9:50-54.

▣ "Jerubbesheth" The LXX and Vulgate have "Jerubbaal" (cf. Jdgs. 7:1, where it refers to Gideon), while the Peshitta has "Nedo-baal." This is another example of a Hebrew name which included the term "baal" (lord, owner, master), later changed to "bosheth" (shame) because of the word's later associations with the Canaanite male fertility god. However, earlier in Israel's history the word was used of YHWH.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 11:22-25
  ²²So the messenger departed and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell. ²³The messenger said to David, "The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field, but we pressed them as far as the entrance of the gate. ²⁴Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall; so some of the king's servants are dead, and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead." ²⁵Then David said to the messenger, "Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it'; and so encourage him."

11:24 "the archers shot" The MT has no NOUN but two VERBAL forms from the same root.

1. "shot" ‒ BDB 432, KB 432, Hiphil IMPERFECT with waw (Qere, BDB 434, KB 436)
2. "the archers" ‒ BDB 432, KB 432 Hiphil PARTICIPLE (Qere, BDB 434, KB 436, Hiphil PARTICIPLE)

11:25 "Do not let this thing displease you" This is a NEGATED IMPERFECT used in a JUSSIVE sense. David knew what he did was wrong and tried to rationalize it!

I think this message relates to the valiant soldiers who also died and not to the premeditated death of Uriah.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 11:26-27
  ²⁶Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband. ²⁷When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

11:26 "she mourned for her husband" In 1 Sam 25:39-42 the normal period was one week (i.e., for a father, also one week, cf. Gen. 50:10).

11:27 "the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord" The righteous king was not so righteous. David's abuse of power and lust cast a shadow on the character of YHWH who chose him as king (cf. 2 Sam. 12:10).

Uriah was a faithful follower of both YHWH and David. It was a sin against hesed.

SPECIAL TOPIC: LOVINGKINDNESS (hesed)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. List the sins of David.
2. Why is there no parallel in 1 Chronicles?
3. How are the actions and motives of Uriah and David contrasted?
4. Put in you own words what David said to Joab in v. 25.
5. Why is v. 27 theologically significant?

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