Who was Uriah the Hittite?

A Hittite in David's army, with whose wife, Bathsheba, David committed adultery. The simple faithfulness of Uriah foiled David in his endeavour to cover his sin. David added to his iniquity by securing Uriah's death, with the connivance of Joab, at the hands of the children of Ammon. 2 Sam. 11:3-27; 2 Sam. 12:9-15; 2 Sam. 23:39; 1 Kings 15:5; 1 Chr. 11:41. He is called URIAS in Matt. 1:6.

When David said to Uriah, "Camest thou not from thy journey? why then didst thou not go down unto thine house?" the noble reply of Uriah was, "The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing" (2 Sam. 11:10-11). What a solemn rebuke to the king from his faithful servant, though not intended to be so, for he was ignorant of what had transpired.

Uriah's first thought is concerning the ark of God. How could he think of resting in his house when God's ark was under a tent in the field of battle? He thought of Israel, of Judah, of Joab, and of the troops, but his first thought was of the ark. This brave man was not an Israelite by birth, but a Hittite, one by nature an enemy of Israel; yet he had come to Israel, and was loyal to the king of Israel, and evidently valued the ark of Jehovah above all else in the land of his adoption.

At the time of Uriah's death, king David had been unwilling to accompany the ark into the field of battle; but when David had to flee from Jerusalem in Absalom's conspiracy, the ark went with him, borne by the Levites, and accompanied by the priests Zadok and Abiathar and their sons. But David was unwilling to let the ark share his rejection, counting on the Lord, if it was His will, to bring him back to Jerusalem again to see the ark there.

The descendants of Heth, a son of Canaan, and hence descendants of Ham: a numerous race who inhabited Palestine. In God's covenant with Abraham their territory was to be possessed by his descendants. Gen. 15:20. On the death of Sarah, Abraham bought the field and cave of Machpelah from the Hittites. His intercourse and contract with them show that they were a civilised race, used to commercial transactions. Gen. 23:3-20. This was near or at Hebron in the south of Palestine, whereas other passages speak of them in the north, between the Lebanon and the Euphrates, which was probably where they originally settled, Joshua 1:4; and there are intimations that they continued a powerful and warlike race after Palestine was possessed by Israel. 1 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 7:6. Ahimelech and Uriah, eminent men in the time of David, were Hittites. 1 Sam. 26:6; 2 Sam. 23:39.

The sacred character of the ark was enshrined in the heart of Uriah the Hittite, and this was manifest when he refused the comforts and consolations of this life in the time of war. He was a loyal soldier of king David, but his loyalty was not returned by the king who, to gratify the lusts of the flesh, dishonoured the wife of the gallant and noble Uriah, and sought to cover up his evil deed. How brightly the nobility of Uriah's character shines against the dark background of David's sin. It was "the time when kings go forth to battle" that "David tarried still at Jerusalem" (2 Sam. 11:1), and his tarrying led him into the grave dishonour of the Lord's Name that clouded his life and testimony.

What happened with Bathsheba was not normal to the life of God's king, but it demonstrated that even a man after God's own heart is not proof against the desires of the flesh when removed from communion with God. It would seem from what Uriah said that the ark was in the battle area with the hosts of Israel, but the king was not in the company of the ark. Had David been with the ark, sharing the dangers and privations of his soldiers, he would have been spared the awful temptation that met him, and the very solemn and sad blot on his history by his dishonouring the Lord.

And afterwards, in the times of David, we have the stranger kept most honourably in view. This appears first in Uriah. He was a Hittite; but his fidelity to the God of Israel, and self-devoting zeal in the cause of Israel, shine out blessedly in contrast with even Israel's chiefest and noblest and best child in that day. This poor relic of the defiled Gentiles rebukes no less a son of Israel than king David himself.

We get the stranger again in these times of David, in Ittai the Gittite. 2 Sam. 15. He, with all his men, appears to have joined himself to David, and the language of such an act was what Ruth's had been before to Naomi, "Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." He was not of Israel, but more true to Israel's king than Israel; for when his people had revolted to Absalom, and the land was in rebellion, it was this stranger that clung to David whether for life or death.

Finally we find the “thirty,” less renowned than the six preceding men, although the Lord forgets none of His own. When David looked over the list of His servants, with what sorrow his eyes must have paused 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 in testimony against the one whom he had served. This single name of Uriah reminded David of all his past of shame and chastening; but condemning himself and exalting the grace that had restored him, he would never have dreamed of erasing his name from the book in which it was recorded.

On hearing this, David questioned Uriah as to why he did not go to his house when he had opportunity after some time of being away from home (v.10). Uriah's reply must have been a pointed lesson to David as to self restraint. He had decided that, since the ark and Israel were in temporary shelters, and that Joab and the army were camping in the open, engaged in serious combat for the sake of Israel, he was not going to relax and enjoy himself at home as though he was not a part of Israel defense: he would virtually remain "on guard."

When David failed to get Uriah to go to his home the first night, then he tried another tactic, telling Uriah to stay in Jerusalem for two more days, but having him eat and drink with him till Uriah became drunk, David thinking in this way to tempt Uriah to go to his home. But this plan failed too: Uriah again slept with the servants.

David's desperation then gave birth to the awful thought of plotting to have Uriah killed. Uriah was given a letter to carry to Joab that was intended to seal his own doom. This was the reward of his devotedness to the cause of Israel! David did not even try to veil his intentions concerning Uriah: he told Joab to place him in the front line of the fiercest battle, then have all others withdraw, so that Uriah would be left as the only target for the enemy, and thus 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 he ought to have had a conscience toward God that would not allow him to obey David.

He has Urijah brought from the camp and hypocritically asks him about Joab, the people, and the war (v. 7). Did he really care? Were not all his thoughts directed toward the single object of hiding his sin? Urijah, whom the king sent to his wife, instead slept with all the king's other servants at the palace door. “Why,” asks the king, “didst thou not go down to thy house?” What a beautiful answer Urijah gives: “The ark, and Israel, and Judah abide in booths; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields: shall I then go into my house!” (v. 11). 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 cedars, and the ark of God dwells under curtains”? This godly desire and this testimony on David's part had been received and had borne fruit among his attendants. Urijah speaks like the David of earlier days. What an unwitting reproach he addresses to his respected master! The man is simple and noble in heart. He says, God is calling me to perform a service, an activity for Himself, and as long as He does not rest I cannot rest.

David pays no attention to these earnest words; he is solely preoccupied with pushing Urijah to the act that will allow the king to cover up his sin. He gets his servant drunk, but in spite of this Urijah remains firm in his decision. Like a caged bird David struggles without resource against the hand that has shut him up. Satan suggests to him the only means of escaping public exposure of his fault; he becomes Urijah's murderer, responsible for the same sin that his people would later commit by putting to death “the just” who did not resist (James 5:6). 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 and so becomes the slave of the man who had every interest in bringing him into bondage.

U’ri - My light

U ri’ah My light is Jah

U ri’as - Greek for Uriah

Nor were "the sons of the stranger" overlooked at a time when the Lord so bountifully blessed Israel. For the Spirit of God, "when He writeth up the people," graciously includes in the list of David's mighty men, Zelek the Ammonite (1 Chron. 11:39), Uriah the Hittite (verse 41), and Ithmah the Moabite (verse 46). In this connection we would also mention the name of Ittai the Gittite, whose faithfulness to David, when a fugitive (2 Sam. 15:19-23), rebuked an ungrateful nation, and was rewarded by his being made one of the chief commanders of David's army (2 Sam. 18:2). Honourable mention is also made of Oman the Jebusite, who readily offered to give his threshing-floor, oxen, and implements, to his acknowledged sovereign lord the king of Israel (1 Chron. 21:18-28).