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Nach YomiII Samuel · שמואל ב׳Chapter 11

II Samuel 11

שמואל ב׳ פרק י״א

Section: נביאים · נביאים ראשונים | Book: II Samuel | Chapter: 11 of 24 | Day: 87 of 742

Date: May 9, 2026

קלאוד על הנ״ך

Chapter 11 is the moral hinge of the entire Davidic narrative, the chapter around which the books of Samuel pivot from ascent to descent. The opening verse is constructed with quiet narrative precision: “At the turn of the year, the season when kings go out to war” (לְעֵת צֵאת הַמְּלָאכִים), Yoav and the army and “all Israel” go out to besiege Rabbah, “but David remained in Jerusalem” (וְדָוִד יוֹשֵׁב בִּירוּשָׁלִָם). The verse is a deliberate structural inversion of the previous chapter, where David himself led the army into battle against Aram. Where chapter 9 showed David extending chesed to Mefiboshet and chapter 10 showed him acting decisively in the field, chapter 11 opens with a king who, having grown at ease in his palace, has allowed an idle moment to open the door to the yetzer ha-ra. Rashi already senses the irony in the phrase “the time when kings go out,” and the Netziv reads in the juxtaposition the spiritual physics that governs all of Sefer Shmuel’s tragic turns: even the greatest tzaddik, the moment he relaxes his vigilance, is exposed.

The seduction itself is told in a cascade of verbs that registers a moral emergency through pure syntax. “And he saw” (וַיַּרְא), “and he sent” (וַיִּשְׁלַח), “and he inquired” (וַיִּדְרֹשׁ), “and he sent” (וַיִּשְׁלַח) again, “and he took her” (וַיִּקָּחֶהָ), “and he lay with her” (וַיִּשְׁכַּב עִמָּהּ). Six verbs, no dialogue, no hesitation, no name spoken between them — Bat Sheva is referred to in the third person throughout, “the woman” (הָאִשָּׁה), even after she has been identified as Bat Sheva bat Eliam, wife of Uriah the Hittite. The very structure of the Hebrew prose mirrors the speed of the act, the way royal power, once unguarded by its bearer, accelerates into a momentum that ordinary judgment can no longer overtake. Bat Sheva’s two-word message a few verses later, “I am with child” (הָרָה אָנֹכִי), interrupts the narrative as starkly as a hammer-blow; it is the first time anyone other than David acts in this chapter, and what she sets in motion is precisely the consequence that the speed of the chapter’s opening did not pause to consider.

It is at this point that one must pause to recognize the remarkable theological frame within which Chazal read the entire chapter. The Gemara in Shabbat declares that kol ha-omer David chata eino ela toeh — anyone who says David sinned is nothing but mistaken — and constructs around the narrative a precise halachic defense. Every soldier in David’s army wrote a conditional get before going to war, so that should he die without witnesses his wife would not be left an agunah; from the moment Uriah marched to Rabbah, then, Bat Sheva was already, by the law of the kingdom, a divorced woman. Uriah’s reference to “my master Yoav” while standing in the king’s presence constituted, the Sages teach, mored b’malchut — rebellion against the throne, technically a capital offense. And the verb la’asot (“to do evil”) rather than va-ya’as (“and he did”) in Natan’s later rebuke is read by Rava as bikesh la’asot v’lo asah — David sought, but did not in the strict halachic sense consummate, the deed. The Gemara in Sanhedrin frames the entire trial as one David himself had requested: he asked Hashem to test him as the Avot were tested, and was warned that he would not stand. This defense is not apologetics. It preserves David’s stature as legitimate king and ancestor of Mashiach, and it insists that the entire affair was orchestrated from above for cosmic purposes the chapter itself does not yet disclose. And yet the meforshim who follow this Chazalic frame — Rashi and Radak prominent among them — do not allow the halachic argument to entirely absorb the moral weight of the peshat. The careful reader is meant to hold both registers at once: the technical exoneration that protects the throne, and the unrelieved language of the narrator that protects the prophetic critique to come.

The figure of Uriah (אוּרִיָּה — “my light is Yah”) then enters as a moral mirror that David, in this hour, cannot bear to look into. Summoned from the front under the pretext of a battlefield report, Uriah refuses every inducement to go home: he sleeps at the entrance of the king’s house with the servants, he refuses to wash his feet or eat his bread, and even when David plies him with wine on the second night he still does not descend to his house. His speech in verse 11 — “The Ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Yoav and the servants of my lord camp in the open field; shall I then go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? As you live and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing” (חַי וְחֵי נַפְשֶׁךָ אִם אֶעֱשֶׂה אֶת הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה) — is one of the most striking speeches in Tanakh, because every clause is, whether Uriah intends it or not, a hidden mirror to the king. Uriah, a Hittite ger, articulates a covenantal solidarity with the Ark and the army that the king himself has, in this hour, set down. Radak and Metzudat David note Uriah’s piety with reverence, even as they preserve the Talmudic reading that classifies his speech as mored b’malchut. The two readings are not alternatives but layers: halachically, Uriah’s words gave the king grounds; morally, the more loyal Uriah proves himself, the more piercing the contrast with the king’s lapse becomes, and the meforshim preserve both because the chapter itself preserves both.

When manipulation fails, David turns to a graver step, and the chapter accelerates into one of its most chilling details: David writes the sealed letter and sends it “by the hand of Uriah” (בְּיַד אוּרִיָּה), making the courier the bearer of his own death-sentence. The horror of the detail is precisely that it depends entirely on Uriah’s own incorruptibility — the plot works only because Uriah is too loyal to break a king’s seal. The instruction to Yoav — to place Uriah “in the front of the fiercest battle” and then to withdraw from him so that he is struck down — converts a private failure into a state action that requires accomplices. Yoav’s silent compliance is itself a turning point in the book: from this moment on, Yoav holds knowledge over David that will shape every subsequent confrontation between them, all the way through Avshalom’s rebellion and into the deathbed charge of Melachim Aleph 2. The grim economy of Yoav’s report — the messenger is coached to expect David’s anger about losses near the wall and then to add, almost as an afterthought, “your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also” (גַּם עַבְדְּךָ אוּרִיָּה הַחִתִּי מֵת) — and David’s composed response, “Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours one as well as another” (כִּי כָזֹה וְכָזֶה תֹּאכַל הֶחָרֶב), reveal how the language of war has been pressed into the service of a private failure. Bat Sheva mourns the prescribed period; the king sends and gathers her into his house; she bears him a son. The transaction appears closed.

Then comes the verse that breaks the narrator’s silence and from which the rest of David’s reign will unfold: “וַיֵּרַע הַדָּבָר אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה דָוִד בְּעֵינֵי ה’” — “But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of Hashem” (11:27). Throughout the entire chapter, the narrator has refused to comment, recording each verb of the descent without judgment, allowing the reader to feel the moral weight without being told. The single-line verdict at the end is therefore all the more shattering, because it gathers up every preceding verb — וַיַּרְא, וַיִּשְׁלַח, וַיִּקָּחֶהָ, וַיִּשְׁכַּב, וַיָּמֶת — into one divine subject and one divine assessment. The consequences will spool out across the next nine chapters: Natan’s parable of the poor man’s lamb, the death of the child, the rape of Tamar, the murder of Amnon, the rebellion of Avshalom, the flight from Yerushalayim, the rebellion of Sheva ben Bichri. The principle that “the sword shall never depart from your house” (12:10) is set in motion here.

And yet the same David who in this chapter discovers what royal power can reach for will, in the very next chapter, give Jewish history its eternal vocabulary of return. Chatati la-Hashem — four syllables in answer to atah ha-ish, no defense, no rationalization — begin precisely where these six verbs end. Chazal in Avodah Zarah teach that David was not the kind of man fit for such a deed, and that the entire affair was decreed l’tein pitchon peh l’ba’alei teshuvah, to give an opening to penitents in every generation that would follow. Read in that light, chapter 11 is not finally a chapter about a fall but the first half of a chapter about return — the descent that makes possible the mizmor of the fifty-first Tehillah and the seven months of teshuvah that Chazal describe in Yoma. The chapter’s surface tells of one woman taken and one soldier killed; its deep structure is the moment from which the deepest paradigm of Jewish return will eventually be drawn, by the very king whose stumble made it necessary.

פרק י״א · Chapter 11

פסוק א׳ · Verse 1

Hebrew:

וַיְהִי֩ לִתְשׁוּבַ֨ת הַשָּׁנָ֜ה לְעֵ֣ת ׀ צֵ֣את הַמְּלָאכִ֗ים וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח דָּוִ֡ד אֶת־יוֹאָב֩ וְאֶת־עֲבָדָ֨יו עִמּ֜וֹ וְאֶת־כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל וַיַּשְׁחִ֙תוּ֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י עַמּ֔וֹן וַיָּצֻ֖רוּ עַל־רַבָּ֑ה וְדָוִ֖ד יוֹשֵׁ֥ב בִּירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם׃ {ס}        

English:

At the turn of the year, the season when kings go out [to battle], David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him, and they devastated Ammon and besieged Rabbah; David remained in Jerusalem.

The chapter opens with structural irony: it is the season 'when kings go out to battle,' but the king himself stays in Jerusalem while Joab and all Israel besiege Rabbah. Rashi explains that this is the time of year when the land is full of crops and horses can graze in the fields, marking the proper military season. The narrator's juxtaposition of 'all Israel' at the front with David alone in his palace plants the moral seed of everything that follows.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
לְעֵת צֵאת הַמַּלְאָכִים. יֵשׁ עֵת בַּשָּׁנָה שֶׁדֶּרֶךְ הַחַיָּלוֹת לָצֵאת, כְּשֶׁהָאָרֶץ מְלֵאָה קָמוֹת, וְהַסּוּסִים מוֹצְאִים תְּבוּאָה בַּשָּׂדֶה לֶאֱכוֹל:
At the time [of year] when kings go forth. There is a time of year when it is the practice that troops go forth, when the land is full of growth and the horses find produce in the field to eat.

פסוק ב׳ · Verse 2

Hebrew:

וַיְהִ֣י ׀ לְעֵ֣ת הָעֶ֗רֶב וַיָּ֨קׇם דָּוִ֜ד מֵעַ֤ל מִשְׁכָּבוֹ֙ וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ֙ עַל־גַּ֣ג בֵּית־הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וַיַּ֥רְא אִשָּׁ֛ה רֹחֶ֖צֶת מֵעַ֣ל הַגָּ֑ג וְהָ֣אִשָּׁ֔ה טוֹבַ֥ת מַרְאֶ֖ה מְאֹֽד׃

English:

Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal palace; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,

At evening David rises from his couch and walks on the palace roof, where he sees a woman bathing; she is exceedingly beautiful. Metzudat David and Radak clarify the geometry: David sees from his elevated rooftop down into a private courtyard where Bathsheba is bathing in her own home. The verse moves in a chain of leisure verbs (rose, walked, saw) that contrast pointedly with the chain of action verbs the narrator will soon use to describe his sin.

פסוק ג׳ · Verse 3

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח דָּוִ֔ד וַיִּדְרֹ֖שׁ לָאִשָּׁ֑ה וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הֲלוֹא־זֹאת֙ בַּת־שֶׁ֣בַע בַּת־אֱלִיעָ֔ם אֵ֖שֶׁת אוּרִיָּ֥ה הַֽחִתִּֽי׃

English:

and David sent someone to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, “She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam [and] wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

David inquires about the woman and is told three identifying facts in a single breath: she is the daughter of Eliam, she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and her name is Bathsheba. Radak notes that Uriah was either a convert or an Israelite who lived among the Hittites and was thus called by that designation (compare 'Ittai the Gittite'). The verse functions as a moral warning the narrator places in David's path: the messenger explicitly names her husband, and David proceeds anyway.

פסוק ד׳ · Verse 4

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁלַח֩ דָּוִ֨ד מַלְאָכִ֜ים וַיִּקָּחֶ֗הָ וַתָּב֤וֹא אֵלָיו֙ וַיִּשְׁכַּ֣ב עִמָּ֔הּ וְהִ֥יא מִתְקַדֶּ֖שֶׁת מִטֻּמְאָתָ֑הּ וַתָּ֖שׇׁב אֶל־בֵּיתָֽהּ׃

English:

David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he lay with her—she had just purified herself after her period—and she went back home.

David sends messengers, takes Bathsheba, lies with her, and she returns home. The narrator's parenthetical 'she had just purified herself from her impurity' (Rashi: from her menstrual state) serves two purposes: it establishes that the resulting pregnancy could only be from David, and it underscores Radak's point that the sin was not one of niddah but of adultery. Radak also cites the rabbinic tradition (Shabbat 56a) that soldiers in David's army gave their wives conditional gittin before going to war, which is why David later engineered Uriah's death — to render the divorce retroactively valid; nevertheless the plain text and verse 27's verdict remain unflinching.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
מִטֻּמְאָתָהּ. מִנִּדָּתָהּ:
From her uncleanliness. From her menstrual impurity.

פסוק ה׳ · Verse 5

Hebrew:

וַתַּ֖הַר הָאִשָּׁ֑ה וַתִּשְׁלַח֙ וַתַּגֵּ֣ד לְדָוִ֔ד וַתֹּ֖אמֶר הָרָ֥ה אָנֹֽכִי׃

English:

The woman conceived, and she sent word to David, “I am pregnant.”

פסוק ו׳ · Verse 6

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח דָּוִד֙ אֶל־יוֹאָ֔ב שְׁלַ֣ח אֵלַ֔י אֶת־אוּרִיָּ֖ה הַחִתִּ֑י וַיִּשְׁלַ֥ח יוֹאָ֛ב אֶת־אוּרִיָּ֖ה אֶל־דָּוִֽד׃

English:

Thereupon David sent a message to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me”; and Joab sent Uriah to David.

Bathsheba's terse two-word message — 'I am pregnant' — sets the cover-up in motion. David sends to Joab requesting that Uriah be dispatched to him, and Joab complies. Rashi and Radak both make the strategy explicit: David intends for Uriah to sleep with his wife so that the child will be assumed to be his. The very mechanism that should have protected Uriah (his being summoned home from the front by the king) is the mechanism David weaponizes against him.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
שְׁלַח אֵלַי אֶת אוּרִיָּה. שֶׁהָיָה מִתְכַּוֵּין שֶׁיִּשְׁכַּב עִם אִשְׁתּוֹ, וִיהֵא סָבוּר שֶׁמִּמֶּנּוּ הִיא מְעֻבֶּרֶת:
Send me Urioh. [Dovid] intended that he [Urioh] lie with his wife in order that it be thought that from him [Urioh] she was pregnant.

פסוק ז׳ · Verse 7

Hebrew:

וַיָּבֹ֥א אוּרִיָּ֖ה אֵלָ֑יו וַיִּשְׁאַ֣ל דָּוִ֗ד לִשְׁל֤וֹם יוֹאָב֙ וְלִשְׁל֣וֹם הָעָ֔ם וְלִשְׁל֖וֹם הַמִּלְחָמָֽה׃

English:

When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab and the troops were faring and how the war was going.

When Uriah arrives, David inquires about the welfare of Joab, the troops, and the war itself — performing the role of concerned commander-in-chief. The triple inquiry (shalom Yoav, shalom ha-am, shalom ha-milchamah) is a hollow ritual whose true purpose is camouflage, not concern. The dramatic irony cuts deep: David asks about the 'peace' of others while plotting the destruction of one of them.

פסוק ח׳ · Verse 8

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר דָּוִד֙ לְא֣וּרִיָּ֔ה רֵ֥ד לְבֵיתְךָ֖ וּרְחַ֣ץ רַגְלֶ֑יךָ וַיֵּצֵ֤א אֽוּרִיָּה֙ מִבֵּ֣ית הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וַתֵּצֵ֥א אַחֲרָ֖יו מַשְׂאַ֥ת הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃

English:

Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” When Uriah left the royal palace, a present from the king followed him.

David tells Uriah to 'go down to your house and wash your feet,' and a royal gift follows him out. Metzudat David explains that 'wash your feet' is a euphemism for marital relations, the entire point being to make the pregnancy look like Uriah's; Rashi (citing Targum) identifies the gift as a royal meal designed to lift Uriah's spirits and incline him toward home. The verse strips David's manipulation bare — every detail is calculated, but Uriah will not cooperate.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
מַשְׂאַת הַמֶּלֶךְ. (תרגום:) ״סְעוּדְתָּא דְּמַלְכָּא״:
The king's meal. [Yonasan translates:] the king's meal.1Dovid sent men with provisions for Urioh to be eaten at his home.

פסוק ט׳ · Verse 9

Hebrew:

וַיִּשְׁכַּ֣ב אוּרִיָּ֗ה פֶּ֚תַח בֵּ֣ית הַמֶּ֔לֶך�� אֵ֖ת כׇּל־עַבְדֵ֣י אֲדֹנָ֑יו וְלֹ֥א יָרַ֖ד אֶל־בֵּיתֽוֹ׃

English:

But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace, along with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

Uriah does not go home. He sleeps at the entrance of the palace alongside his lord's other servants — refusing the comfort of his own bed and his own wife while the army sleeps in the open field. The verse pointedly calls them 'all the servants of his lord,' positioning Uriah as the loyal soldier whose conduct shames the master who sent for him.

פסוק י״ · Verse 10

Hebrew:

וַיַּגִּ֤דוּ לְדָוִד֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לֹא־יָרַ֥ד אוּרִיָּ֖ה אֶל־בֵּית֑וֹ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜ד אֶל־אוּרִיָּ֗ה הֲל֤וֹא מִדֶּ֙רֶךְ֙ אַתָּ֣ה בָ֔א מַדּ֖וּעַ לֹא־יָרַ֥דְתָּ אֶל־בֵּיתֶֽךָ׃

English:

When David was told that Uriah had not gone down to his house, he said to Uriah, “You just came from a journey; why didn’t you go down to your house?”

When informed that Uriah did not go home, David presses him with a question that almost begs for an excuse: 'You just came from a journey — why didn't you go down to your house?' Metzudat David notes the implied logic: a weary traveler should naturally seek the comfort of his home. David offers Uriah every social pretext to take the bait; instead, Uriah delivers the chapter's most devastating answer.

פסוק י״א · Verse 11

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אוּרִיָּ֜ה אֶל־דָּוִ֗ד הָ֠אָר֠וֹן וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֨ל וִיהוּדָ֜ה יֹשְׁבִ֣ים בַּסֻּכּ֗וֹת וַאדֹנִ֨י יוֹאָ֜ב וְעַבְדֵ֤י אֲדֹנִי֙ עַל־פְּנֵ֤י הַשָּׂדֶה֙ חֹנִ֔ים וַאֲנִ֞י אָב֧וֹא אֶל־בֵּיתִ֛י לֶאֱכֹ֥ל וְלִשְׁתּ֖וֹת וְלִשְׁכַּ֣ב עִם־אִשְׁתִּ֑י חַיֶּ֙ךָ֙ וְחֵ֣י נַפְשֶׁ֔ךָ אִֽם־אֶעֱשֶׂ֖ה אֶת־הַדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה׃

English:

Uriah answered David, “The Ark and Israel and Judah are located at Succoth, and my master Joab and Your Majesty’s men are camped in the open; how can I go home and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As you live, by your very life,aAs you live, by your very life Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “As GOD lives and as you live” (cf. 1 Sam. 20.3; 25.26; etc.). Lit. “as you live and as your being lives.” I will not do this!”

Uriah's reply is the moral peak of the chapter: 'The Ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in booths, my master Joab and my lord's servants are camped in the open field — and I should go to my house to eat and drink and lie with my wife? By your life and the life of your soul, I will not do this thing.' Metzudat David and Radak note that Uriah swears by David's life in this world and the next, sealing his refusal with the most binding oath available. The verse stages an unbearable contrast — the Hittite warrior's covenant solidarity with the Ark and the army shames the king who sits in Jerusalem and schemes against him.

פסוק י״ב · Verse 12

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜ד אֶל־אוּרִיָּ֗ה שֵׁ֥ב בָּזֶ֛ה גַּם־הַיּ֖וֹם וּמָחָ֣ר אֲשַׁלְּחֶ֑ךָּ וַיֵּ֨שֶׁב אוּרִיָּ֧ה בִירוּשָׁלַ֛͏ִם בַּיּ֥וֹם הַה֖וּא וּמִֽמׇּחֳרָֽת׃

English:

David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. The next day,

David asks Uriah to remain another day, planning a different tactic. Metzudat David explains David's calculation: if Uriah eats at the king's table and grows merry with wine, perhaps wine will overpower his moral resolve and he will go home to his wife. The narrative slows down deliberately — each day David delays is a day Uriah's death-warrant is not yet written, and a day Uriah survives by his own steadfastness.

פסוק י״ג · Verse 13

Hebrew:

וַיִּקְרָא־ל��וֹ דָוִ֗ד וַיֹּ֧אכַל לְפָנָ֛יו וַיֵּ֖שְׁתְּ וַֽיְשַׁכְּרֵ֑הוּ וַיֵּצֵ֣א בָעֶ֗רֶב לִשְׁכַּ֤ב בְּמִשְׁכָּבוֹ֙ עִם־עַבְדֵ֣י אֲדֹנָ֔יו וְאֶל־בֵּית֖וֹ לֹ֥א יָרָֽד׃

English:

David summoned him, and he ate and drank with him until he got him drunk; but in the evening, [Uriah] went out to sleep in the same place, with his lord’s officers; he did not go down to his home.

David deliberately gets Uriah drunk at the royal table — yet even drunk Uriah will not go home, sleeping again at the palace entrance with his lord's servants. Metzudat David observes that he returned to the same place he had slept the night before. The verse is a quiet hammer-blow: a man drunk on the king's wine retains more covenantal discipline than the king sober. With this scene David's coverup options are exhausted, and the chapter pivots to murder.

פסוק י״ד · Verse 14

Hebrew:

וַיְהִ֣י בַבֹּ֔קֶר וַיִּכְתֹּ֥ב דָּוִ֛ד סֵ֖פֶר אֶל־יוֹאָ֑ב וַיִּשְׁלַ֖ח בְּיַ֥ד אוּרִיָּֽה׃

English:

In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, which he sent with Uriah.

פסוק ט״ו · Verse 15

Hebrew:

וַיִּכְתֹּ֥ב בַּסֵּ֖פֶר לֵאמֹ֑ר הָב֣וּ אֶת־אוּרִיָּ֗ה אֶל־מוּל֙ פְּנֵ֤י הַמִּלְחָמָה֙ הַחֲזָקָ֔ה וְשַׁבְתֶּ֥ם מֵאַחֲרָ֖יו וְנִכָּ֥ה וָמֵֽת׃ {ס}        

English:

He wrote in the letter as follows: “Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he may be killed.”

The contents of the letter are chillingly precise: 'Place Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from behind him so that he is struck down and dies.' Rashi cites the talmudic tradition (Shabbat 56a) that David sought Uriah's death so the conditional gett of soldiers would render Bathsheba retroactively divorced; Metzudat David adds that David intended to marry her afterward so the pregnancy would appear to come after the marriage. Whatever halachic gloss one applies, the verse is the moral nadir — the king of Israel orchestrating the abandonment of his most loyal soldier to enemy archers, with the soldier himself unknowingly carrying the death-warrant.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
וְנִכָּה וָמֵת. כְּדֵי שֶׁתְּהֵא מְגֹרֶשֶׁת לְמַפְרֵעַ, וְנִמְצָא שֶׁלֹּא בָּא עַל אֵשֶׁת אִישׁ, שֶׁכָּל הַיּוֹצֵא לַמִּלְחָמָה, כּוֹתֵב גֵּט לְאִשְׁתּוֹ עַל תְּנַאי, אִם יָמוּת בַּמִּלְחָמָה (שבת נו א):
And he will be struck and killed. In order for [Batsheva] to be divorced [from Urioh] retroactively. the result would be that [Dovid] did not cohabit with a married woman. Because all [soldiers] who went out to war wrote a conditional divorce document for their wife should they die in battle.2Rashi in Kesubos 9b gives this same explanation. Tosafos there explains that Rashi means that the condition was not necessarily that the soldier dies, but even if he does not return at the end of the war, the divorce would be valid.

פסוק ט״ז · Verse 16

Hebrew:

וַיְהִ֕י בִּשְׁמ֥וֹר יוֹאָ֖ב אֶל־הָעִ֑יר וַיִּתֵּן֙ אֶת־א֣וּרִיָּ֔ה אֶל־הַמָּקוֹם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָדַ֔ע כִּ֥י אַנְשֵׁי־חַ֖יִל שָֽׁם׃

English:

So when Joab was besieging the city, he stationed Uriah at the point where he knew that there were able warriors.

Joab carries out the order with grim precision: while besieging Rabbah he positions Uriah where he knows the Ammonite warriors are strongest. Metzudat David identifies the 'men of valor' as Ammonites; Radak (citing Targum) clarifies that Joab was watching for the moment to advance on the city. Joab does not protest, does not refuse, does not warn — he becomes David's accomplice, a moral compromise that will define his relationship with David for the rest of the book.

פסוק י״ז · Verse 17

Hebrew:

וַיֵּ֨צְא֜וּ אַנְשֵׁ֤י הָעִיר֙ וַיִּלָּחֲמ֣וּ אֶת־יוֹאָ֔ב וַיִּפֹּ֥ל מִן־הָעָ֖ם מֵעַבְדֵ֣י דָוִ֑ד וַיָּ֕מׇת גַּ֖ם אוּרִיָּ֥ה הַחִתִּֽי׃

English:

Men from the city sallied out and attacked Joab, and some of David’s officers among the troops fell; Uriah the Hittite was among those who died.

פסוק י״ח · Verse 18

Hebrew:

וַיִּ��ְׁלַ֖ח יוֹאָ֑ב וַיַּגֵּ֣ד לְדָוִ֔ד אֶת־כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֖י הַמִּלְחָמָֽה׃

English:

Joab sent a full report of the battle to David.

פסוק י״ט · Verse 19

Hebrew:

וַיְצַ֥ו אֶת־הַמַּלְאָ֖ךְ לֵאמֹ֑ר כְּכַלּוֹתְךָ֗ אֵ֛ת כׇּל־דִּבְרֵ֥י הַמִּלְחָמָ֖ה לְדַבֵּ֥ר אֶל־הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃

English:

He instructed the messenger as follows: “When you finish reporting to the king all about the battle,

פסוק כ׳ · Verse 20

Hebrew:

וְהָיָ֗ה אִֽם־תַּעֲלֶה֙ חֲמַ֣ת הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וְאָמַ֣ר לְךָ֔ מַדּ֛וּעַ נִגַּשְׁתֶּ֥ם אֶל־הָעִ֖יר לְהִלָּחֵ֑ם הֲל֣וֹא יְדַעְתֶּ֔ם אֵ֥ת אֲשֶׁר־יֹר֖וּ מֵעַ֥ל הַחוֹמָֽה׃

English:

the king may get angry and say to you, ‘Why did you come so close to the city to attack it? Didn’t you know that they would shoot from the wall?

Joab anticipates that David's anger may flare at the news of casualties — an obvious tactical blunder, since approaching the wall exposes troops to archers above. Metzudat David explains that the king's expected complaint is precisely that men close to the wall are easily picked off. Joab is not actually worried about David's anger over casualties; he is staging a script that will let the messenger bury the real news — Uriah's death — at the end of his report.

פסוק כ״א · Verse 21

Hebrew:

מִֽי־הִכָּ֞ה אֶת־אֲבִימֶ֣לֶךְ בֶּן־יְרֻבֶּ֗שֶׁת הֲלֽוֹא־אִשָּׁ֡ה הִשְׁלִ֣יכָה עָלָיו֩ פֶּ֨לַח רֶ֜כֶב מֵעַ֤ל הַחוֹמָה֙ וַיָּ֣מׇת בְּתֵבֵ֔ץ לָ֥מָּה נִגַּשְׁתֶּ֖ם אֶל־הַחוֹמָ֑ה וְאָ֣מַרְתָּ֔ גַּ֗ם עַבְדְּךָ֛ אוּרִיָּ֥ה הַחִתִּ֖י מֵֽת׃

English:

Who struck down Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth?bJerubbesheth The earlier form is Jerubbaal (another name for Gideon), Judg. 7.1; on -bosheth/besheth for -baal, see note at 2 Sam. 4.4. For the event at Thebez described here, see Judg. 9.35ff. Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall at Thebez, from which he died? Why did you come so close to the wall?’ Then say: ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite was among those killed.’”

Joab scripts the messenger with a famous historical example: who killed Avimelech son of Yerubesheth at Tevetz? — a woman dropping a millstone from a wall (Judges 9:53). Rashi identifies Yerubesheth as Gideon, the substitution of 'besheth' (shame) for 'baal' being the same euphemistic pattern used elsewhere. The script's payoff is the punchline 'your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead' — Joab's coded signal to David that the mission has succeeded. Metzudat David notes that the messenger's instinct (verse 24) will be to skip the rebuke entirely and lead with Uriah's death, which is precisely what Joab knows will happen.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
בֶּן יְרֻבֶּשֶׁת. הוּא גִּדְעוֹן, שֶׁעָשָׂה מְרִיבָה עִם הַבֹּשֶׁת, הוּא הַבַּעַל:
The son of Yerubeshes. This is Gidon who fought with Boshes, which is the Baal.3See Shoftim 6:32. The name יְרֻבֶּשֶׁת is a contraction of the two words, יָרֶב and בָשֶת, fighting with Boshes. Avimelech's death, referred to here, is related in Shoftim 9:53.

פסוק כ״ב · Verse 22

Hebrew:

וַיֵּ֖לֶךְ הַמַּלְאָ֑ךְ וַיָּבֹא֙ וַיַּגֵּ֣ד לְדָוִ֔ד אֵ֛ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר שְׁלָח֖וֹ יוֹאָֽב׃

English:

The messenger set out; he came and told David all that Joab had sent him to say.cSeptuagint continues with a recapitulation of vv. 19–21.

פסוק כ״ג · Verse 23

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר הַמַּלְאָךְ֙ אֶל־דָּוִ֔ד כִּֽי־גָב��ר֤וּ עָלֵ֙ינוּ֙ הָאֲנָשִׁ֔ים וַיֵּצְא֥וּ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה וַנִּהְיֶ֥ה עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם עַד־פֶּ֥תַח הַשָּֽׁעַר׃

English:

The messenger said to David, “First their men prevailed against us and sallied out against us into the open; then we drove them back up to the entrance to the gate.

The messenger ignores Joab's elaborate script entirely and reports the bare military facts: the Ammonites prevailed at first, then we drove them back to the gate. Metzudat David parses the syntax: 'when they prevailed against us... and the end of the matter was that we drove them back.' The messenger sensed that delivering bad news cushioned by historical reproach was beside the point — he goes straight for the headline.

פסוק כ״ד · Verse 24

Hebrew:

וַיֹּר֨אוּ הַמּוֹרִ֤אים אֶל־עֲבָדֶ֙יךָ֙ מֵעַ֣ל הַחוֹמָ֔ה וַיָּמ֖וּתוּ מֵעַבְדֵ֣י הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וְגַ֗ם עַבְדְּךָ֛ אוּרִיָּ֥ה הַחִתִּ֖י מֵֽת׃ {ס}        

English:

But the archers shot at your men from the wall and some of Your Majesty’s men fell; your servant Uriah the Hittite also fell.”

The messenger ends with the casualty report: archers shot from the wall, some of the king's men died — and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead. Metzudat David offers a striking psychological insight: the messenger reasoned that there was no point waiting to deliver Uriah's death until after the king's anger flared, so he placed it at the climax of the report; Joab, in his shrewdness, foresaw exactly this. The narrative leaves it unspoken whether the messenger knew the truth or simply guessed Joab's intent — but the words 'gam Uriah ha-Hitti met' land on David's ear as a coded confirmation.

פסוק כ״ה · Verse 25

Hebrew:

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר דָּוִ֜ד אֶל־הַמַּלְאָ֗ךְ כֹּֽה־תֹאמַ֤ר אֶל־יוֹאָב֙ אַל־יֵרַ֤ע בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ אֶת־הַדָּבָ֣ר הַזֶּ֔ה כִּֽי־כָזֹ֥ה וְכָזֶ֖ה תֹּאכַ֣ל הֶחָ֑רֶב הַחֲזֵ֨ק מִלְחַמְתְּךָ֧ אֶל־הָעִ֛יר וְהׇרְסָ֖הּ וְחַזְּקֵֽהוּ׃

English:

Whereupon David said to the messenger, “Give Joab this message: ‘Do not be distressed about the matter. The sword always takes its toll.dalways takes its toll Lit. “consumes the like and the like.” Press your attack on the city and destroy it!’ Encourage him!”

David's response is among the coldest sentences in the entire David narrative: 'Do not let this matter be evil in your eyes, for the sword devours one as well as another' — press the siege and destroy the city. Metzudat David explains the chilling logic: war consumes its own, casualties are routine, even victors lose men. Rashi clarifies that 'and strengthen him' is David's private aside to the messenger, instructing him to fortify Joab's resolve. The verse exposes how thoroughly David has rationalized: a personally-engineered murder is dressed in the language of generic battlefield attrition.
▶Commentaries (1)
רש״יRashi
הַחֲזֵק מִלְחַמְתְּךָ אֶל הָעִיר וְהָרְסָהּ. עַד כָּאן דִּבְרֵי הַשְּׁלִיחוּת: וְחַזְּקֵהוּ. דָּוִד אָמַר לַמַּלְאָךְ, וְחַזְּקֵהוּ לְיוֹאָב בְּדִבְרֵי תַנְחוּמִין, שֶׁלֹּא יֵרַךְ לִבּוֹ:
Intensify your war [against] the city and destroy it. The words of the message4From Dovid to Yoav. [end] at this point. You should encourage him [Yoav]. Dovid [then] said to the messenger, "Encourage Yoav with consoling words so that his heart should not weaken.

פסוק כ״ו · Verse 26

Hebrew:

וַתִּשְׁמַע֙ אֵ֣שֶׁת אוּרִיָּ֔ה כִּי־מֵ֖ת אוּרִיָּ֣ה אִישָׁ֑הּ וַתִּסְפֹּ֖ד עַל־בַּעְלָֽהּ׃

English:

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she lamented over her husband.

פסוק כ״ז · Verse 27

Hebrew:

וַיַּעֲבֹ֣ר הָאֵ֗בֶל וַיִּשְׁלַ֨ח דָּוִ֜ד וַיַּאַסְפָ֤הּ אֶל־בֵּיתוֹ֙ וַתְּהִי־ל֣וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֔ה וַתֵּ֥לֶד ל֖וֹ ��ֵּ֑ן וַיֵּ֧רַע הַדָּבָ֛ר אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה דָוִ֖ד בְּעֵינֵ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃ {פ}

English:

After the period of mourning was over, David sent and had her brought into his palace; she became his wife and she bore him a son.But GOD was displeased with what David had done,

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