2 Samuel 11:14

14 And when the morning was come, David wrote a letter to Joab: and sent it by the hand of Urias,

2 Samuel 11:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:14

And it came to pass in the morning
When David was informed that Uriah did not go to his own house, but slept with his servants, Satan put it into his head and heart to take the following wicked and cruel method:

that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent [it] by the hand of Uriah;
to have him cut off by the sword of the enemy. If Uriah suspected David's criminal conversation with his wife, he was so true and trusted a servant to him, that he would not open his letter to Joab, which had he, it would have betrayed the base design. No one that knows the story of Bellerophon can read this without thinking of that, they are so much alike; and indeed that seems to be founded upon this, and taken from it with a little alteration. Bellerophon rejecting the solicitations of Sthenobaea, who was in love with him, she prevailed upon her husband Praetus to send letters by him to Jobates (a name similar to Joab), the general of his army, which contained instructions to take care that he was killed; who sent him upon an expedition for that purpose ^F13.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Apollodorus de Deorum Orig. l. 2. p. 70.

2 Samuel 11:14 In-Context

12 Then David said to Urias: Tarry here to day, and to morrow I will send thee away. Urias tarried in Jerusalem that day and the next.

13 And David called him to eat and to drink before him, and he made him drunk: and he went out in the evening, and slept on his couch with the servants of his lord, and went not down into his house.

14 And when the morning was come, David wrote a letter to Joab: and sent it by the hand of Urias,

15 Writing in the letter: Set ye Urias in the front of the battle, where the fight is strongest: and leave ye him, that he may be wounded and die.

16 Wherefore as Joab was besieging the city, he put Urias in the place where he knew the bravest men were.