Bible Strands
2 Samuel 11:15
In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — David writes a sealed letter to his commander Joab and entrusts it to Uriah for delivery during the ongoing siege.
The words — הָב֣וּ (havû) translates as "set" or "place," and מוּל (mûl) means "the front of" or "opposite." These terms literally frame the tactical command to position Uriah at the fiercest point of the engagement.
The thread — The written order is directly confronted in 2 Samuel 12:9, where God questions David for putting Uriah to the sword, and is later acknowledged in Psalm 51:4 as a sin committed against God alone.
Why it lands — The text states a covert military directive that uses a written instrument to engineer a soldier's death while preserving the commander's deniability. It requires the reader to observe how institutional authority can execute lethal outcomes through delegated violence rather than direct action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 12:9 Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
- Psalms 51:4 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
- 1 Samuel 18:17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I need not raise my hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
- 1 Samuel 18:21 “I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”
- 1 Samuel 18:25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
- 2 Samuel 11:17 And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.
- Psalms 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.
- Jeremiah 20:13 Sing to the LORD! Praise the LORD! For He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of evildoers.