Bible Strands
2 Samuel 11:21
Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joab instructs the royal messenger on how to answer King David’s anticipated anger regarding Uriah’s death. The commander prepares the messenger to deflect blame by citing a past siege incident.
The words — The Hebrew מִֽי (mi) asks “who?” while הִכָּ֞ה (hikkah) specifies “did he strike down,” framing the historical reference as a direct, fatal blow. אֲבִימֶ֣לֶךְ (Abimelech) and אִשָּׁ֡ה (ishshah) identify the slain commander and the woman who killed him.
The thread — The passage echoes Judges 9:50, where a woman kills Abimelech at Thebez with a millstone, and Judges 6:32, which explains Jerubbaal as Jerubbesheth. Joab uses this parallel to justify his tactical withdrawal.
Why it lands — The verse demands a reader to recognize how easily historical precedent can be weaponized to conceal present violence. It asks the reader to trace the gap between reported battlefield facts and hidden political motives.
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
Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? did not a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died in Thebez? why went ye nigh the wall? then say thou, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.
Cross-references
- Judges 7:1 Early in the morning Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the men with him camped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was north of them in the valley near the hill of Moreh.
- Judges 9:50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, encamped against it, and captured it.
- Judges 6:32 So on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he had torn down Baal’s altar.
- 2 Samuel 3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
- 2 Samuel 3:34 Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. As a man falls before the wicked, so also you fell.” And all the people wept over him even more.
- Psalms 39:8 Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of fools.
- Isaiah 14:10 They will all respond to you, saying, “You too have become weak, as we are; you have become like us!”
- Ezekiel 16:51 Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous.