2 Samuel 11:23

23 He said, "The enemy was too much for us. They advanced on us in the open field, and we pushed them back to the city gate.

2 Samuel 11:23 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:23

And the messenger said unto David
The particulars of his account follow:

surely the men prevailed against us;
the men of the city of Rabbah, the besieged there, in one onset they made upon them:

and came out unto us in the field;
the besiegers that lay encamped there; they sallied out upon them:

and we were upon them, even unto the entering of the gate;
rallied upon them, and drove them back, and pursued them to the gate of the city.

2 Samuel 11:23 In-Context

21 say, 'And by the way, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.'"

22 Joab's messenger arrived in Jerusalem and gave the king a full report.

23 He said, "The enemy was too much for us. They advanced on us in the open field, and we pushed them back to the city gate.

24 But then arrows came hot and heavy on us from the city wall, and eighteen of the king's soldiers died."

25 When the messenger completed his report of the battle, David got angry at Joab. He vented it on the messenger: "Why did you get so close to the city? Didn't you know you'd be attacked from the wall? Didn't you remember how Abimelech son of Jerub-Besheth got killed? Wasn't it a woman who dropped a millstone on him from the wall and crushed him at Thebez? Why did you go close to the wall!" "By the way," said Joab's messenger, "your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead." Then David told the messenger, "Oh. I see. Tell Joab, 'Don't trouble yourself over this. War kills - sometimes one, sometimes another - you never know who's next. Redouble your assault on the city and destroy it.' Encourage Joab."