2 Samuel 11:2

2 Now, when evening came, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the royal palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and she was very pretty.

2 Samuel 11:2 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:2

And it came to pass in an eveningtide
Some time in the afternoon, when the sun began to decline; not in the dusk of the evening, for then the object he saw could not have been seen so distinctly by him:

that David arose from off his bed;
having taken a nap in the heat of the day after dinner; indulging himself more than he used to do to sloth and luxury, which prepared him, and led him on the more eagerly to the lust of uncleanness:

and walked upon the roof of the king's house;
to refresh himself after his sleep, it being the cool of the day, and the roof of the house being flat and fit to walk upon, as the houses of Judea were; see ( Deuteronomy 22:8 ) ;

and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself;
in a bath in her garden, or in an apartment in her house, the window being open:

and the woman [was] very beautiful to look upon;
of a fine shape and good complexion, and comely countenance; all which were incentives to lust, at which his eye was attracted to, and his heart was ensnared with her.

2 Samuel 11:2 In-Context

1 In the spring, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, his mercenaries, and Israel's army [to war]. They destroyed the Ammonites and attacked Rabbah, while David stayed in Jerusalem.

2 Now, when evening came, David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the royal palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and she was very pretty.

3 David sent someone to ask about the woman. The man said, "She's Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite."

4 So David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he went to bed with her. (She had just cleansed herself after her monthly period.) Then she went home.

5 The woman had become pregnant. So she sent someone to tell David that she was pregnant.