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II Samuel
Chapter
11
{Verses
1-5: David's Sexual Arrogance}
1~~And
it came to pass,
'in
the spring'/'after the year was expired'
{the spring is the time for new military campaigns},
at
the time when kings go out to battle,
{David was a 'King-soldier' and he should be going out to battle
himself - instead he sends Joab}
that
David sent Joab
{Chief of Staff - David's nephew and great military genius also},
and
his 'general staff',
and
'the Jewish Army'.
{idiom: literally: 'all Israel' - but only the army goes out to fight}
Now
they 'annihilated {in battle}'
the
army of Ammon,
and
besieged Rabbah {their capital city}.
But
David 'remained and intended to stay' {yashab - Qal participle}
in
Jerusalem {with no intention of going to war again}.
{Note: David is now out of the geographical will of God. He now has no intention of risking his life in military campaigns anymore. At this point, he has turned coward and is abusing the authority that God has given him (the kings of Israel should be with their men and leading them into battle). That is what this verse is pointing out. David is again entrapped in the interlocking systems of arrogance. RBT says David entered the systems through sexual arrogance - in his case through polygamy.}
{The
Temptation}
2~~Now/'And
it came to pass'
when
evening came,
that
David got up from off his bed,
{David was lying around sleeping all day -
a defense mechanism for people who are on party binges}
and
he walked around
on
the roof of the king's castle.
And
from the 'roof battlements',
he
saw a woman in the middle of bathing herself . . .
and
the woman was extremely 'beautiful of appearance'.
{m@`od towb - fantastic face and body - top of the feminine
form}
{Note: David had a good eye for female beauty. He had a large number of wives and mistresses. In his sexual arrogance, he had to pursue this woman also. David was invading her privacy by watching her. She expected privacy on the top of Uriah the Hittite's officer quarters. Only the castle was on higher ground.}
3~~And
David sent and inquired after the woman.
{David sent out his G2 investigator to report back}
And
one {the G2 investigator} said,
"Is
not this Bathsheba . . .
the
daughter of Eliam . . .
{in II Samuel 23:34 we see that Eliam is the son of Ahithophel -
Ahithophel's viewpoint is said to be 'as of God' -
he becomes a great advisor to David but leads Absalom
in his revolt against David - probably because of David's
murder of Uriah to cover this crime coming up}
the
wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
{Uriah was one of David's great military commanders - he was listed
in David's dying thoughts of his great commanders in II Samuel
23:39}
{Note: The Hittites were a great warrior race. They built great fortifications. So, when they came to what is now Jerusalem, they recognized that Jerusalem could have a fortification that could not be penetrated. And, this was true for hundreds of years. While there, they took Canaanite woman as wives and took a new name for this integrated race of the Jebusites. David finally defeated the Jebusites. In doing so, Uriah and other great Jebusite warriors were allowed to live if they joined David's army. Uriah became a great commander for David.}
{Seduction
of Bathsheba}
4~~And
David sent messengers/'the court pimps',
and
{they} 'seized her violently' {laqach - Qal imperfect}
{Bathsheba did NOT come of her own free will - she loved her
husband Uriah and was not 'honored' by this request of the king};
and
when she was brought to him {David},
and
he copulated/'had intercourse' with her continuously.
{shakab im - Qal imperfect means the act occurred more than
once without her free will involved, this implies seduction and
part of David's divine punishment involved rape of his harem - so
this was most likely an act of rape - though she probably
submitted sometime along the way}
And,
when she had purified from her uncleanness
{indicates she was at least initially forced so she applies Leviticus
15:18 she would not enter her own home with Uriah in a state of
impurity}
then
she returned to her house/"officer's quarters".
{Note: Principal: A woman can be raped but that does not change her love for her husband. It should bring forth the tender part of any husband who is a real man. If the husband turns his back on her for what happened to her, then the male (not a man in any sense) destroys her as a woman and a wife. Another man can touch her body, but 'un-consensual sex'/rape does not touch her soul. And, if the husband is a loving man with integrity in his soul, it will not adversely affect their marriage.}
{Note: However, since Bathsheba did rebound her sin, she must have 'fallen for David' during this period of time so she was mentally unfaithful to her husband. So, she confessed her mental attitude sin.}
5~~Consequently,
the woman became pregnant,
and
she sent {a messenger}
and
advised David, and said,
"I
have become pregnant."
{idiom: literally "I am with child."}
{Verses
6-15: David's Conspiracy Arrogance}
{Verse
6: Impulsive Arrogance - Abuse of Authority}
6~~Then
David sent orders to Joab, saying,
"Send
me Uriah the Hittite."
Consequently, Joab sent Uriah to David.
{Note: Uriah was one of David's great battalion commanders. David's sexual arrogance has gotten him in trouble (trouble that even could demand the death penalty for adultery). To relieve himself of his own self-induced trouble, David has no concern for his army. He is going to conspire to trick Uriah into thinking he is the father of the child.}
{Verses
7-11: Uriah and His Great Honor Code}
{Hypocrisy
of the Commander and Chief (David)}
7~~When
Uriah reported to him {David},
then
David inquired about Joab's prosperity/welfare {shalowm},
and
about the morale of the troops,
and
about the status quo of the campaign.
{Note: David is pretending to still be interested in the war though he is not there! He is following the procedures of a good debriefing of a soldier who was in a campaign. First, how is the commander? Second, what is the morale of the troops? Third, what is the tactical condition of the siege of Rabbah? This is the façade of hypocrisy. He just wants Uriah back so he can sleep with his own wife!}
8a~~And
David said to Uriah,
"Go
down to your house, and wash your feet."
{idiom: civilized people had wash bins for washing their feet before
entering a home. for a man to 'wash his feet' meant to go to his
own home, see his family, and implied to copulate with his own
wife.}
{Note: Uriah is a very happy man. He was an enemy of David yet was enlisted and became a battalion commander and awarded the 'Third Order of Knights' (what RBT calls the third level down in awards given by David). Uriah is a mature believer and also has great happiness with his wife Bathsheba. So, the King orders him to go copulate with his own wife. He sure wants to! But, it is a choice between loyalty to the King and his own personal integrity. David set up the order that no man could copulate (with his wife or otherwise) while a campaign raged. Sex was a reward of freedom and was meaningless (ritual without reality) without freedom. Uriah follows his personal honor code and does not follow the King's command to go to his own house.}
8b~~And Uriah departed out of the king's castle.
{Note: But his code of honor says 'don't go home'. So he goes to the "Visitors Officers Quarters" without saying anything to the king.}
8c~~And
there followed him
{sent to where the king thought he went - to Bathsheba's address
probably surprised her greatly since Uriah did not come}
a
'present of meat'/'present of a great feast' {mas'eth}
from
the king.
{Note: David is setting up a very romantic setting. Great food. Man not seeing his wife for a while. Sure to entice Uriah to have sex with his own wife.}
9~~But
Uriah slept at the gatehouse of the king's castle
{the Visiting Officers Quarters}
with
'all the servants'/'brigade of guards' of his lord,
{Uriah stayed in the officers quarters with David's guards
and probably shared their meal of hash instead of a meal fit for a
king - but he STILL had his integrity so he did not care for what
he missed}
therefore,
he did not go down to his quarters.
{Note: The conflict Uriah had . . . was between loyalty and integrity. Integrity IS loyalty - but always loyalty to the right principal. It was wrong for him to violate the officer's code when his men were in the field. So, he had to decline David's order even though that was tough for a good military man to do.}
10~~Now
they reported to David saying,
{nagad - they brought an intelligence report - David had them
shadowing Uriah},
"Uriah
went not down unto his house".
Then
David said to Uriah,
"Have
you not returned from a march {from a campaign}?
{David is rationalizing - not saying the campaign is not over
trying to imply that Uriah should consider this as returning from a
march}
Why
therefore
{reprimand type of language},
have
you not gone down to your quarters?"
{David gave a direct order to Uriah to violate the officer's code -
this is Institutional Arrogance - David considers himself greater
than the very code he created - ordering Uriah to break faith with
his fellow officers and Uriah will not do so.}
11~~Consequently,
Uriah replied to David,
"The
Ark, and Israel, and Judah,
are
living in tents;
and
my lord Joab,
and
the 'general staff'/servants of my lord,
are
bivouacked in the open fields.
Shall
I therefore go to my quarters,
to
eat and to drink,
and
to 'make love'/lie {shakab} to my wife?
'By
your life'
{idiom: we would say 'As surely as you are standing there'}
and
by the life of your soul . . .
{relationship between your lifestyle and how you think - thinking is
in your soul - David's thinking was off right now due to Sexual
Arrogance}
I
will not do/manufacture
{`asah - manufacture out of something - it would be out of loss of
integrity}
this
word/thing {dabar}."
{Verses
12-13: 2nd Conspiracy and Its failure}
12~~And
David said to Uriah,
"Remain
here this day also,
and
tomorrow I send you back {to the campaign}."
Therefore,
Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day,
and
the next day {48 hours}.
13~~Now
when David had summoned him {Uriah},
he
{Uriah} did eat and drink before him {David}
{the imperfect tense says David was saying try this and try that -
while David and others proposed toasts - getting Uriah drunk on
purpose};
so
that he {David} made him {Uriah} drunk.
But
in the evening
he
{Uriah} went to lie on his bed
with
the servants/brigade of guards' of his lord {David},
with
the result that he did not go down to his own quarters.
{Note: David thinks that alcohol will break down Uriah's integrity and his sense of honor. So, David gets Uriah drunk. But, this second attack on Uriah also fails. And, the principal is 'drunkenness' is not excuse. If you are a gentleman, you can resist. But if you have no integrity, it sure will come out with alcohol.}
{Verses
14-15: Third Conspiracy - To Murder Uriah}
14~~And
it came to pass in the morning,
that
David wrote a letter to Joab,
and
sent it by the hand of Uriah.
{Uriah delivered his own death sentence}
15~~And
he {David} had written in the letter, saying,
{introducing the summary of the letter}
"Assign
Uriah
'in
front of the line of the most dangerous part of the assault'
{idiom: Literally; 'opposite the face of the strongest part of the
battle' - this is an order from King David - means to put him in the
most dangerous area}.
And
{after he has been committed to battle},
retreat
from behind him
so
that he {Uriah} may be 'struck down' and die."
{Note: This is beyond David's legitimate authority as king. This is a criminal act. It is a conspiracy to commit murder. Both Joab and David will receive strong discipline from God for this terrible sin. Not only Uriah will die, but so will all his great men with him. Many officers had to obey this evil order for this to happen. In this case 'loyalty' was opposed to their own integrity and they failed the test.}
{Verses
16-27: David's Conspiracy/Criminal Arrogance}
{Verses
16-17: Success of the Third Conspiracy of David}
16~~Now
it came to pass,
when
Joab made a reconnaissance of the city,
{as the chief of staff and leader in the absence of David, Joab was
in close touch with the tactical situation in the siege of Rabbah}
that
he assigned Uriah to a place
where
he knew that brave soldiers were stationed.
{in defense of Rabbah - where are the best Ammonite troops -
Joab will make a battalion strength attack in the enemy's
strongest point - Joab's assault platoon would lead the
way and the other three platoons would withdraw leaving
Uriah's flanks exposed and they would be wiped out}
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