2 Samuel 11:14

Contextual Overview

¹⁴In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁴Now it happened in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁴ Now in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.¹⁴ On the morowe Dauid wrote a letter to Ioab, and sent it by the hand of Urias. ¹⁴ The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and made Uriah carry the letter. ¹⁴ And it happened in the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁴ In the morning David wrote a letter to Jo'ab, and sent it by the hand of Uri'ah. ¹⁴ It happened in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁴ And it came to passe in the morning, that Dauid wrote a letter to Ioab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

wrote a letter: It was resolved in David's breast that Uriah must die - that innocent, valiant, and gallant man, who was ready to sacrifice his life for the honour of his prince; and, worse than all, by being himself made the bearer of letters to Joab which prescribed the mode by which he was to be murdered. This was the greatest treachery and villany on the part of David; while Joab appears to enter as fully upon the execution of the murder, being perhaps pleased to have this opportunity of further enthralling his king, and thus increasing his own power. 1 Kings 21:8-10, Psalms 19:13, Psalms 52:2, Psalms 62:9, Jeremiah 9:1-4, Jeremiah 17:9, Micah 7:3-5

Reciprocal: Genesis 37:27 - let not 2 Samuel 12:9 - despised 2 Samuel 14:19 - of Joab 1 Kings 21:14 - Naboth is stoned Job 24:14 - murderer

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 m.

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

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Samuel 11:14. David wrote a letter — This was the sum of treachery and villany. He made this most noble man the carrier of letters which prescribed the mode in which he was to be murdered. This case some have likened to that of Bellerophon, son of Glaucus, king of Ephyra, who being in the court of Proetus, king of the Argives, his queen Antia, or as others Sthenoboea, fell violently in love with him; but he, refusing to gratify her criminal passions, was in revenge accused by her to Proetus her husband, as having attempted to corrupt her. Proetus not willing to violate the laws of hospitality by slaying him in his own house, wrote letters to Jobates, king of Lycia, the father of Sthenoboea, and sent them by the hand of Bellerophon, stating his crime, and desiring Jobates to put him to death. To meet the wishes of his son-in-law, and keep his own hands innocent of blood, he sent him with a small force against a very warlike people called the Solymi; but, contrary to all expectation, he not only escaped with his life, but gained a complete victory over them. He was afterwards sent upon several equally dangerous and hopeless expeditions, but still came off with success; and to reward him Jobates gave him one of his daughters to wife, and a part of his kingdom. Sthenoboea, hearing this, through rage and despair killed herself.

I have given this history at large, because many have thought it not only to be parallel to that of Uriah, but to be a fabulous formation from the Scripture fact: for my own part, I scarcely see in them any correspondence, but in the simple circumstance that both carried those letters which contained their own condemnation. From the fable of Bellerophon came the proverb, Bellerophontis literas portare, "to carry one's own condemnation."