2 Samuel 11:15

15 He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die."

2 Samuel 11:15 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:15

And he wrote in the letter, saying
Giving the following orders to Joab:

set ye Uriah is the forefront of the hottest battle:
over against that part of the city where the enemy was strongest, and the battle the fiercest, and the stones and arrows were cast the thickest:

and retire ye from him;
leave him to himself to combat the enemy alone; who seeing him deserted, would sally out upon him, and the few that might be with him, and slay him:

that he may be smitten, and die;
thus he sought to add murder to adultery, and that in the basest manner, and which he accomplished; and this is often the case, that murder follows adultery, either by way of revenge for it, or in order to cover it, as here.

2 Samuel 11:15 In-Context

13 David invited him, and he ate and drank in his presence {so that he became drunk}, and he went out in the evening to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

14 And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah.

15 He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die."

16 {When Joab was besieging} the city, he put Uriah toward the place which he knew {there were valiant warriors}.

17 The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died.