2 Samuel 12:11

11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes, and give [them] to thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

2 Samuel 12:11 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 12:11

Thus saith the Lord
For what he said was not of himself, but under a spirit of prophecy:

behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house:
that is, evil persons, who should be guilty of evil things, and that as a chastisement of him for the sins he had committed, and those out of his own family, as Amnon and Absalom:

and I will take thy wives before thine eyes;
which is so expressed, because it was done in his lifetime, and he knowing it, but not able to hinder it, though he did not, strictly speaking, see it with his eyes:

and give [them] unto thy neighbour;
or friend, meaning his son Absalom, as they were:

and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun;
pointing to the sun in the firmament, and which might be then shining in the room where they were: and which is represented by Homer F21 as seeing all things, "and eyes" are ascribed to it here in the original; the meaning is, that this fact should be done in the daytime, openly and publicly, and was fulfilled, when by the advice of Ahithophel a tent was spread on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel, ( 2 Samuel 16:22 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Odyss. 11. ver. 119. & 12. ver. 380.

2 Samuel 12:11 In-Context

9 Why hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife [to be] thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
11 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thy own house, and I will take thy wives before thy eyes, and give [them] to thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12 For thou didst [it] secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
13 And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said to David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
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