The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 262

her. David's fall 111eem1 BI! ■udden 1111 it wu made with the view of explaining whnt oomplete ; but we may feel l!Ul'e that there 1eemed to hlm strange, that a foreigner had been gradual preparation for it during should hold so distinguished a plaoo among the p'l'evious period of great prosperity. the oaptaina of Israel. David aends for hlm 1 David had alw&YII been a man of strong on the pretext that he wanted full information pa118ione, Rnd the large harem he hRd set up of Joab'a plans, and the atato of the army, at Jerm,alem, 80 far from BRtisfyin11; him, and the progresa of the siege of Rabbah. only intensified hi& lust. Aud now he who And so prompt ia Uriah, that he goea to tbe hnd previously shown himself so chi-.e.lroua king still soiled with travel, and without 11nd noble stoops to robbing one of his own calling at his house. And David makes his officers of his honour. And @tern e.nd ter- inquiries, listens with apparent intereat to rible we.s the punishment. When he sent the narrative of the war, and, ufter reoeiving those mesll8ngers, who were some of the vile a full report, bide Uriah go home e.nd rest people who hang e.bont grce.t personages, and refresh himself after the journey. He ready to minister to their sins, he W&S pre- sends him, moreover, a present, saoh probably paring the way for his danghter'e disgrace, as was usual after special service, but large for the muruer of Amnon, for Absnlom's and liberal, so a.a to put Uriah in good humour. rebellion and death, 11nd for the dooth of But the old soldier cared for war more than Adonijah. From that day his own house for plCl&SUre, and, instead of going to his was the scene of horrible crimes, feuds, house, spent the night in the guard-room,' scandals, and miseries of every kind; and with the eoldiers and others who were in tbe long interval after his repentance, be- attendance upon the king (see 1 Kings :i.iv; tween the birth of Solomon and David's 27, 28). All would be eager for news of death, is pMsed over in gloomy silence. No friends and relatives, and it was e. fnr greate~ act of the penitent king after his 'l'estoration delight to Uriah to chat with his old cqm- to the throne is deemed worthy of record. radee than to be resting luxuriously in his He wa.s pardoned, but his place henceforward own home. • wu not in the light of God's favour, but in Ver. 11.-The ark, and Israel, and Judah, shadow e.nd retirement. Men who fall so abide in tents. The presence of the· ark grievously must be content to be removed with the army in the field is puzzling, ond, into the outer court. Of Bathsheba it must shows us how little we know of the religious be snid that she remained a faithful wife, practices of the Jews, as, bat for this cbonce and bare David four sons besides the one mention of it, we should have affirmed that who wa.s the fruit of their adultery, and it we..s never taken out of its place in Zion, that she retained her influence over him and that in previous times the conduct of to the last (1 Chron. iii. 5; I Kings i. 15- Eli's sons in carrying it out of the sanctuary 31). :For llhewas pnrmed from herllllolean- to war W&S an irregular net. The Jew11 nllllll; Hebrew, and she purified her,elf from themselves feel the difficulty, and some of her uncleanness; that is, h.!Lving committed their rabbins affirm the.t this we.s not the on net of gross immorality, she nevertheless ark of the covenant, but a chest containing c11refully observed the ceremonial enactment the ephod whereby inquiries were made of commanded in Lev. xv.18. Sbe went home Jehovah. Certainly in l Sam. iv. 3, 4 it unrepentant, and with her conscience defiled, is expressly called "the ark of the cove- but we..s all the more scrupulous in perform- nant;" and in eh. vi. 2 "the ark of God." ing tbe rite that purified her outwardly. The use in our version of the special word Ver. 5.-The woman . . . told David. "ark" obliges us to think of the ark of the Her crime we..s one that made her liable to covenant, whereas really it is a general the penalty of death (Lev. :u:. 10), and word, rendered" chest" in 2 Kings xii. 9, 10, Uriah we..s a man likely to exact it; conse- It is &aid, too, that the we.r with Ammon quently she wa.s in great alarm, and the king was not e. holy war, nor we.s it of such shared her anxiety. Already we.a the pun- importance as to call for David's p1esence ishment beginning to be required from both at the head of his troops. But, on the the guilty sharers in the wickedness. other hand, if it was not the al'k of God, Ver. 8.-A meee (of meat); really, a royal why did Uriah lny so great stress upon its present (see Esth. ii.18; Jer. xl. 5; Amos v. presence in the field ? Moreover, we find 11, where it is translated burden, of wheat, but the ark with Saul in his war with the really means pruent. of u,hea.t, forced from Philistines (I Sam. xiv. 18), where it is the poor); though originally a portion of food expressly called " the ark of God," e.nd is sent to a guest from the table of the giver of used for the purpose of inquiring the will e. feast (Gen. xliii. 34). Uri11h, e..s one of of Jehovah. On comparing 1 Sam. vii. 2 David's thirty-seven heroes, wonld hold a with eh. vi. 3, we should have imagined high rank in the e.rmy, though the state- that the e.rk abode uncared for ot the hous1;1 ment given by Josephus, that he was Joab's of Abina.dab at Kirjath-jearim, did we no~ 11,rmour-uearer, ill probably a were co~jecture, plainly find it in attendance upon Saul. W, CH, Xf, 1-27.] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 267