14 Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah . 15 He had written in the letter , saying , "Place Uriah in the front line of the fiercest battle and withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die ." 16 So it was as Joab kept watch on the city , that he put Uriah at the place where e he knew there were valiant men . 17 The men of the city went out and fought against Joab , and some of the people among David's servants fell ; and Uriah the Hittite also died . 18 Then Joab sent and reported to David all the events of the war . 19 He charged the messenger , saying , "When you have finished telling all the events of the war to the king , 20 and if it happens that the king's wrath rises and he says to you, 'Why did you go so near to the city to fight ? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall ? 21 'Who struck down Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth ? Did not a woman throw an upper millstone on him from the wall so that he died at Thebez ? Why did you go so near the wall ?'-then you shall say , 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also .' " 22 So the messenger departed and came and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger said to David , "The men prevailed against us and came out against us in the field , but we pressed e them as far as the entrance of the gate . 24 "Moreover, the archers shot at your servants from the wall ; so some of the king's servants are dead , and your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead ." 25 Then David said to the messenger , "Thus you shall say to Joab , 'Do not let this thing displease e you, for the sword devours one as well as another ; make your battle against the city stronger and overthrow it'; and so encourage him." 26 Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead , she mourned for her husband . 27 When the time of mourning was over , David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife ; then she bore him a son . But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 2 Samuel 11:14-27
Commentary on 2 Samuel 11:14-27
(Read 2 Samuel 11:14-27)
Adulteries often occasion murders, and one wickedness is sought to be covered by another. The beginnings of sin are much to be dreaded; for who knows where they will end? Can a real believer ever tread this path? Can such a person be indeed a child of God? Though grace be not lost in such an awful case, the assurance and consolation of it must be suspended. All David's life, spirituality, and comfort in religion, we may be sure were lost. No man in such a case can have evidence to be satisfied that he is a believer. The higher a man's confidence is, who has sunk in wickedness, the greater his presumption and hypocrisy. Let not any one who resembles David in nothing but his transgressions, bolster up his confidence with this example. Let him follow David in his humiliation, repentance, and his other eminent graces, before he thinks himself only a backslider, and not a hypocrite. Let no opposer of the truth say, These are the fruits of faith! No; they are the effects of corrupt nature. Let us all watch against the beginnings of self-indulgence, and keep at the utmost distance from all evil. But with the Lord there is mercy and plenteous redemption. He will cast out no humble, penitent believer; nor will he suffer Satan to pluck his sheep out of his hand. Yet the Lord will recover his people, in such a way as will mark his abhorrence of their crimes, to hinder all who regard his word from abusing the encouragements of his mercy.