2 Samuel 12:9

9 Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what I consider[a] evil?[b] You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife-you murdered him with the Ammonite's sword.[c]

2 Samuel 12:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 12:9

Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do
evil in his sight?
&c.] The commandment referred to is the law of God, particularly the sixth and seventh precepts of it, ( Exodus 20:13 Exodus 20:14 ) ; which David had shown no regard unto, and by his breaking them had slighted and despised them:

thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword;
and so had despised and broken the sixth command, ( Exodus 20:13 ) ; for though he had not taken away his life with his own hand, he had plotted and contrived it, and had given orders to put him in such a position as would issue in it:

and hast taken his wife [to be] thy wife;
after he had defiled her, being another man's wife, and had taken such unlawful methods to make her his wife, whereby he had despised and broken both the sixth and the seventh commands, ( Exodus 20:13 Exodus 20:14 ) :

and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon;
though he had not put him to death with his own sword, he had done that which was as bad or worse in some respects, he had exposed him to the sword of the Ammonites, by which it was taken away; and not his only, but that of some of the Israelites also, which gave that uncircumcised people reason to triumph over the children of Israel, and even to blaspheme the God of Israel.

2 Samuel 12:9 In-Context

7 Nathan replied to David, "You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master's house to you and your master's wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more.
9 Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife-you murdered him with the Ammonite's sword.
10 Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own wife.'
11 "This is what the Lord says, 'I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them publicly.

Footnotes 3

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