The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Samuel — Section 263

a.re thu■ oompelled to conclude that David when he l_eamed, as he certainly soon wonld, eent it, with its ottendant priests, with that David had me.de him bis tool, and Joab, thot he might oonsult the Deity oe.used him to murder one of" the mightiee" by its means. In the Talmud (' Shek. in order to cover the ebame of bis (l[iultery. Jerne.,' 9. 2) the idea. of there being an The only fa~r side of the picture is th£1t it inferior or second ark used for this purpose shows the high state of morality amonu the is oondemned, David, in his remonstrance people. Th~ crimes of kings and great°men with Urio.h, shows signs of displeasure, o.nd are usually hghtly pardoned, and especially the conduct of .the latter euggeets the idea. that of adultery. Even in our own and thnt his suspicions had been aroused. The other Christian countries thie ie the case ; war we.a going on prosperously ; he he.d hat David h8.8 to resort to extreme measures been summoned home on e.n honourable rather than face the indignation of his pretext to give the king e. report of it ; e.nd subjects. Unfortunately, the shedding of it is, to ae.y the least, strange the.t he should blood was not looked upon with equal horror, he.ve oared so little for a wife, to whom Possibly the leaving it to the relatives to apparently he had not long been married, requite it me.de the suppression of mnrder e.nd for hie domestic aff'e.irs, as not even to the business, not of the state, but of "the go to hie house, which was close by. The avenger of blood." At all events, Joe.b tone, too, of Urie.h's answer is excited, e.nd without much compunction carries out his military ardour too we.rm. David had David's orders, caring to know no more than assumed the.t, a.a a matter of course, he would tbat Uriah was out of favour. And what is ho.aten to visit his wife, e.nd Uriah's un- more extraordinary, David remains utterly expected refuse.I upsets his devices, e.nd callous for a whole twelvemonth (see eh. xii. leaves him with a.II hie difficulties increased 15), and his conscience does not even smite rather than done awe.y with. Very probably, him for the additional meanness of sending in the conversation in the guard-room, Uriah the order for Uriah's mnrder by the hand of had received hints that hie wife was too the injured man himself. high in the .royal favour. For "tents" the Ver.16.-When 1oab obsernd the city; Hebrew has " booths," and so the Revised Revised Version, kept watch upon the city. Veraiou; and for "fields" the singular, This does not mean, as some suppose, tb£1t "field." The Israelites still lived mostly in Joab sent a body of men to examine the tents, and in wo.r were content with very fortifications with a vfow to an assault, and slight e.nd temporary shelter, and if there so provoked a sally. The verb simply refers were any parka, or enclosures, they were to the ordinary operations of a siege, which called N aioth, while "the field" was the uane.lly resolved itself into a long blockade, open unenclosed land, which formed the continued until starvation compelled a mass of the country. The separate mention surrender; and to hasten this the people of of "Iernel and Judah" is no indication of the villages were forced into the town, by the book having been written after the the rule that all left outside were put to the disruption of the kingdom. Uriah had been sword. To maintain the blockade, men were in David's service when ha was king only posted at all fit points ronnd the city, and at Hebron, and had taken part in the long these were constantly asea.iled by the we.r between Judah and the house of Saul. besieged. Joab then placed Urie.hat a post Ver. 13.-Re made him drunk. David which we.a especially the object of attack; thus e.dde sin to sin, and, in order to accom- and when the usual sally took place and plish his vile end, he degrades the brave we.s repulsed, Joab seems to he.ve ordered soldier whom already he had dishonoured. Uriah to pursue them up to the very gate, But even when intoxicated Uriah kept to where they would be exposed to e. shower his determination; and though on this seoond of arrows from the walls. Others fell night there would not be the same pleasure besides Uriah, and that the loss was con- in chatting with old comrades sljen age.in siderable, and the result of bad genor&l.ship, after long absence, ,he still sleeps in the though designedly such, seems probable guard-room. And thus there were witnesses from the deprecation of the king's anger in. that he had not gone to his house. ver. 20. Ver. 14.-David wrote a letter. David Ver. 18.-Then Joab sent. Joe.b now per- now uses the knowledge he had acquired in forms another act in this iniquitous dre.me., the schools of the prophets for vicious and goes through the form of sending the purposes. For it to be a blessing, knowledge king a report of the disaster which had roust be sanctified to holy use. The letter followed upon his approaching too near the would oonoeul from Joab the truth, 1md walls. With well-feigned hypocrisy, he only let him know that Uriah, during his makes the messenger believe that David visit to Jerusalem, had incurred the king's will be displeased e.t the loss of life, and will serious :disple11sure; nod we may be quite blame him for his wont of caution. But it sure th11t Joab would be very indignant is curious that the meBl!enger is instructed 268 THE SEOOND BOOK OF SAMUEL, [on. xr. 1-27.