2 Samuel 11:16

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

2 Samuel 11:16 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:16

And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city
Where lay its greatest strength, and where it was best defended; or besieged it, as the Targum:

that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men
[were];
who would not easily give way, and when they saw an opportunity would sally out, Joab cannot be excused from sin, unless he thought that Uriah had been guilty of death, and that David took this way of dispatching him for some political reason; however David was king, and to be obeyed.

2 Samuel 11:16 In-Context

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.

18 Joab sent and told David all of the news of the battle.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "And it happened at the besieging of Joab"
• [b]. Literally "there [were] men of ability"