And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by Urijah.
David has already taken Bathsheba, and Uriah will not go home to his wife, so the cover-up has failed. Now the king reaches for the pen — and the man who carries the note is the man it condemns.
The horror of this verse is in who carries the letter. One sin now drives the next:
But the consequences follow, and to escape them sin follows sin. He sends for Uriah and plays the deceiver. Uriah's devotion and honesty stop him short, standing out so clearly against his own conduct here. At last the thought of his own shame, and of what may come of it, drives him to madness. So he sends the unsuspecting man back with his own death warrant in his hand. The unscrupulous man he knows so well is to carry it out, and to serve him by it.
Uriah's answer echoed words the king himself had once spoken about the ark:
He had learned this devotion in the school of David himself. In 2 Samuel 7:2 did not David say to Nathan, "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent"? His attendants had taken in this godly desire and testimony of David's, and it had borne fruit in them. Uriah speaks like the David of earlier days. What an unwitting reproach he addresses to his respected master!
The letter does not only kill Uriah; it pulls a second man into the murder:
Not only would David make himself guilty of the murder of Uriah, but he would implicate Joab and others in this too. Joab of course would say he had to obey his master. But in this case he ought to have had a conscience toward God that would not let him obey David.
And an accomplice who knows the secret does not stay a servant:
The same David who had said, "Let the blood of Abner fall on the head of Joab" (2 Sam. 3:28-29), now takes this Joab, a murderer himself, as his accomplice. So David becomes the slave of the man who had every interest in bringing him into bondage.
David uses the power of his throne to guard his own name:
It is not only that David sins in the matter of Bathsheba, but he uses his royal, God-given power to cover up the sin. He stood before no earthly court, but he has a reputation in the eyes of men, and he must keep it at all cost. How true it is, "The way of the treacherous is their ruin"! Lust conceives and gives birth to sin. Sin hurries him on, and so does the thought of his own reputation. He adds murder to it, in the vain hope of blotting it out. He succeeds; the power is in his hand — sadly, the power God had entrusted him with, and this is the use to which he puts it.
(Older translations of Proverbs 13:15 read "the way of transgressors is hard.")
David never strikes a blow himself. God's verdict ignores the distance:
There was no room for evasion or excuse. "You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword." But David had struck no blow. Uriah died as a soldier by the hand of the enemy. Had David covered over his sins with such an excuse? If he had, he could do it no longer. "You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites" were words whose truth he could not deny. In this case every distinction between legal guilt and moral guilt collapsed. David had signed no death warrant. The Ammonites who struck Uriah knew nothing of David's plot against the life of his faithful servant. Yet in God's eyes it was as much David's act as if he had put out his own hand and struck him dead.
David meant this to stay between himself and Joab. It did not:
This was a very great sin: David committed it in secret; God punishes it in the sight of all Israel. David did not know how to glorify God. While reigning in His name, he did not keep a true testimony to the nature of God's kingdom; instead he falsified its character. But God Himself will know how to retrace its features in the sight of all men. He will do it through the chastisement He sends on the man who has dishonoured Him — the man who had taken away the only witness to His government which God had set up before men.
- Cover-up. The letter exists only because a first sin needed hiding; sin follows sin, and David adds murder to hide the first.
- Courier. Uriah carries his own death warrant. The loyalty he learned from David is what marked him out as the target.
- Accomplice. Joab obeys when conscience toward God should have stopped him. The king who buys his silence becomes his slave.
- Clean hands. No blow struck, no warrant signed — yet God says, "You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites."
- Exposure. David acted in secret; God answered in the sight of all Israel.
And he wrote in the letter saying, Set Urijah in the front of the thickest fight, and withdraw from him, that he may be smitten and die.
David had already sinned with Bathsheba, and his efforts to send her husband Uriah home had failed. So the king wrote an order and handed it to the man it was written against.
The order went to Joab, the army commander. One commentator traces what it would achieve, and who else it would stain:
David did not even try to hide his intentions about Uriah. He told Joab to place him in the front line of the fiercest battle, then pull everyone else back. Uriah would then stand as the only target for the enemy, and so be killed. Not only would David make himself guilty of the murder of Uriah, but he would implicate Joab and others in this too. Joab, of course, would say he had to obey his master. But in this case he ought to have had a conscience toward God that would not let him obey David.
The letter travelled in the hand of the man it condemned. One sin now called for another to hide it:
But the consequences follow, and to escape them sin follows sin. He sends for Uriah and plays the deceiver. He is thwarted by the devotion and honesty that contrast so plainly with his own conduct here. At last, driven to madness by the thought of his own shame and what may come of it, he sends back the unsuspecting man with his own death warrant in his hand. The unscrupulous man he knows so well is to carry it out, and to serve him by it.
Uriah would not sleep at home while the army camped in the field. His reason echoed words David himself had once spoken:
What a beautiful answer Uriah gives: "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house?" He had learned this devotion in the school of David himself. In 2 Samuel 7:2 David said to Nathan: "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent." … Uriah speaks like the David of earlier days. Without meaning to, he rebukes the master he respects!
David held his crown from God. Here he turned royal power against one of his own soldiers, and ended up owned by his accomplice:
The nearer David was to God, the less his attempts to conceal his sin succeeded. Left to himself for a time as chastening, he adds a second transgression to the first… He forgets his position as king, and a king from God. Was it reigning in righteousness to take advantage of his royal power to oppress Uriah? He makes himself a slave to the wretched Joab by making him a partner in his crime. How degrading! How much happier he was when he was hunted like a partridge in the mountains, but had a living faith and a good conscience! Yet who can escape the eye of God? So God, who knows and loves him, does not fail to deal with his sin.
David wrote this letter to bury an earlier sin. That is where the deepest damage lies:
David was guilty of lying and of deceit of the most fearful kind. By it he tried to cover up an awful sin, and so made it twice as bad. How often some earlier sin is the cause of a long course of deceit and lying. Dear friends, let us above all things seek to be straight with God, with our fellow men, and with ourselves. And should we fall into a sin, never, never seek to cover it up by another, still worse than the first.
Joab obeyed, Uriah died, and the chapter closes with the one opinion David had left out of his planning:
At the end of this chapter, so full of corruption and shame, we find a little expression, the only thing David had not thought of and the only one he ought to have remembered: "But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD."
H. L. Rossier (an older translation reads "was evil in the sight of Jehovah")
That verdict is not the end of the story, and the commentators refuse to let readers stand above David:
The rest of this sad and shameful story of lying and murder might have been written about the writer or the reader, if we had stood in the same place. Only the grace of God kept us from it. But even such a sin can be forgiven. On the broken-hearted cry, "I have sinned against the LORD," comes the instant reply, "The LORD also has put away your sin."
- Concealment. David wrote the letter to hide an earlier sin. The cover-up, not the first fall, produced the murder.
- Corruption. The cover-up needed helpers, so David pulled Joab and other soldiers into his guilt. Orders from a king were no defence for Joab.
- Captivity. Concealment cost David his freedom: the king who made Joab a partner in crime became Joab's slave.
- Contrast. Uriah carried the order against his own life. He was living out the devotion he learned from David — the victim was the sharpest rebuke.
- Conviction, then grace. David forgot the eye of God. Yet the same record shows a broken-hearted confession meeting instant forgiveness.
And it came to pass as Joab watched the city, that he assigned Urijah to a place where he knew that the valiant men were.
David's letter has arrived, and Joab now carries it out. The siege becomes the cover for a killing. The test falls on two men: Uriah, who never learns what he carried, and Joab, who knows what David asked and does it anyway.
David's order was not disguised, and Joab had every chance to refuse it.
David did not even try to hide his intentions about Uriah. He told Joab to place him in the front line of the fiercest battle, and then pull everyone else back. Uriah would stand as the only target for the enemy, and so be killed (v.15). Not only would David make himself guilty of the murder of Uriah, but he would implicate Joab and others in this too. Joab of course would say he had to obey his master. But in this case his conscience toward God should have stopped him from obeying David.
Joab's silence was not loyalty. By saying nothing, he gained a permanent hold over the king he served.
Above all, Joab sought to make himself indispensable. The best way to achieve this was to cater to the king's weaknesses. When David rid himself of Uriah by placing him in Joab's hands, Joab did not speak a single word of reproach; he acted without hesitation. Guilty David had gained a discreet accomplice, but he is an accomplice who through this very discretion becomes David's master. From now on the king's reputation depends on Joab.
Another writer sees the same reversal as a loss of freedom. David was better off as a hunted man than as a king who owes Joab his secret.
He makes himself a slave to the wretched Joab by making him a partner in his crime. How degrading! He was far happier when men hunted him like a partridge in the mountains, but he had a living faith and a good conscience!
Joab did not pick that spot for military advantage. He picked it because it was deadly, and it cost more lives than the one he meant to take.
However, in besieging the city, Joab put Uriah in the greatest place of danger, evidently close to the wall. Men from the city saw an advantage in coming out to fight, since they had the protection of the city behind them. Joab's plan worked well — not for the good of Israel, but to have Uriah killed. Others also fell before the enemy. Joab knew this was a risk he must take to make sure Uriah died (v.17).
David commanded Israel's army because God had placed it in his hand. Now he uses that same power to remove an inconvenient man.
It is not only that David sins in the matter of Bathsheba, but he uses his royal, God-given power to cover up the sin. He stood before no earthly court, but he has a reputation in the eyes of men, and he must protect it at all cost. How true it is, "The way of transgressors is hard"! Lust conceives and gives birth to sin. That sin, and the thought of his own reputation too, drive him on to add murder to it, in the useless hope of wiping it out. He succeeds; the power is in his hand — alas! the power God had entrusted him with, and this is the use to which he puts it.
The arrangement gave David a perfect alibi. Uriah would die in war, killed by foreigners who knew nothing of any plot. God did not accept the distinction.
David had signed no death warrant. The Ammonites who struck down Uriah knew nothing of David's plot against the life of his faithful servant. Yet in God's eyes the act was as much David's as if he had signed a death warrant for Uriah's public execution, or had reached out his own hand and struck him dead. "You have struck down"! "you have killed"! Those words laid the whole affair bare. David had imagined, no doubt, that he had managed it quietly and successfully.
- Sin breeds sin. Lust gives birth to sin. Then the thought of his own reputation drives David to add murder on top of it, in the useless hope of wiping the first sin out.
- Silence is complicity. Joab's conscience toward God should have stopped him obeying David. Carrying out a wrong order does not move the guilt onto the man who gave it.
- The accomplice owns you. Joab never spoke one word of reproach, and by that discretion he becomes David's master. A shared secret is a leash.
- The cost spreads. Others fell at the wall beside Uriah. A private sin managed by public power kills people who were never part of it.
- The alibi fails. The Ammonites struck the blow, but in God's eyes the act was David's own. David arranged it quietly; God laid it bare.
And the men of the city went out and fought with Joab; and there fell some of the people, of the servants of David; and Urijah the Hittite died also.
Here David's letter does its work. Joab presses the siege of Rabbah. Some of the king's own soldiers fall at the wall, and Uriah the Hittite dies with them. Commentators ask how a king came to this, who else paid for it, and how God answered.
One writer traces the fall back further, to a king who dropped his own work.
It is well to be always on the watch, for we have a watchful enemy. "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour," says the apostle. Satan watches for his opportunity. When he finds a soul not busy with its proper service, he is sure to draw that soul into evil… When David lost his energy as the captain of Israel's armies, he became the slave of lust.
Uriah himself carried the orders that killed him. Trying to escape one sin drove David into a worse one.
But the consequences follow, and to escape them sin follows sin. He sends for Uriah and plays the deceiver. Uriah's devotion and honesty stop him short, for they contrast so plainly with his own conduct here. At last the thought of his own shame, and of what may come of it, drives him to madness. He sends the unsuspecting man back with his own death warrant in his hand. The unscrupulous man he knows so well will carry it out, and will serve him by doing it.
The verse says some of David's servants died, not only Uriah. Joab counted those deaths as part of the price.
However, in besieging the city, Joab put Uriah in the greatest place of danger, apparently close to the wall. Men from the city saw an advantage in coming out to fight, since they had the protection of the city behind them. Joab's plan worked well — not for the good of Israel, but to have Uriah killed. Others also fell before the enemy, but Joab knew this was a risk he must take to make sure Uriah died.
Uriah was a Hittite — a foreigner by birth, serving Israel's king. Commentators note how his character shows up David's.
And afterwards, in the times of David, the foreigner is kept in view with great honour. This appears first in Uriah. He was a Hittite. Yet his faithfulness to the God of Israel, and his self-giving zeal for the cause of Israel, shine out wonderfully. They stand in contrast with even Israel's chief and noblest and best son in that day. This poor leftover of the defiled nations rebukes no less a son of Israel than King David himself.
David could not do this without Joab. Sharing the crime changed who held power over whom.
God left him to himself for a time, as discipline. So he adds a second offence to the first… He forgets his position as king, and a king from God. Was it reigning in righteousness to use his royal power to oppress Uriah? He makes himself a slave to the wretched Joab by making him a party to his crime. How degrading! He was far happier when he was hunted like a partridge in the mountains! Then he had a living faith and a good conscience.
The killing at Rabbah looked like an ordinary loss in war. God called it what it was, and answered it in public.
See God's dealings with David, because of the matter of Uriah. "The sword shall never depart from your house… you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun." Here was judgment for David's sin. And we know that in his later life, the sword did not depart from his house.
Years later, Uriah's name still appears among David's mighty men. One writer pictures the king reading it.
When David looked over the list of His servants, how his eyes must have paused in sorrow at the name of Uriah the Hittite, which ends the list! He was among the mighty men and not the least of those hearts devoted to the king and his people. And David had had him put to death to satisfy his own lust! His name remained there as a testimony against the one whom he had served. This one name reminded David of all his past shame and discipline. But he condemned himself and honoured the grace that had restored him. He would never have dreamed of erasing Uriah's name from the record.
- Idleness starts it. David left his post as captain of Israel's armies, and an unoccupied soul gave the enemy his opening.
- Cover-up deepens it. Escaping the consequences of the first sin drove him to a second; Uriah carried his own death warrant.
- Others pay for it. Joab accepted the loss of more of David's men as the price of the plan — the sin of a leader never stays contained.
- Accomplices own him. Making Joab a partner in the crime turned the king into the slave of his own commander.
- God answers it. God dealt openly with what David did in secret. The sword never left his house — yet grace restored him, and Uriah's name stayed on the list of honour.