Uriah the Hittite

Uriah the Hittite, a soldier in King David’s army, was the husband of Bathsheba whose murder David ordered by having the soldiers retreat away from him in battle. Uriah had kept refusing to see his own wife, as ordered by David, to hide the adulterous nature of her pregnancy by King David. As a result of this murder, David was rebuked by the prophet Nathan; furthermore, later turmoil in David's household and throughout the kingdom of Israel, including the death of Bathsheba's baby and the insurrection of prince Absalom, was contemporarily explained as punishment of these sins of adultery and murder.

Uriah was of the ethnic Hittite minority resident in Israel that had been in the region to the north of Israel (formerly known as “the Land of Canaan”) since after the collapse of the Hittite Kingdom in preceding centuries, before the establishment of the nation of Israel.

David's mighty men were a group of his best thirty-seven fighters (later expanded to around eighty). Although the lists of his mighty men (2 Samuel 23:8-39 & 1 Chronicles 11:10-47) are given after David has become king, it makes sense that many of them were the loyal followers who stayed with him when he was fleeing King Saul. At the very least, they fought side-by-side with him. Uriah's closeness to David is illustrated by how close he lived to the palace, and his position as one of the mighty men explains why he was at the front battle lines when David carried out his plot.

According to the biblical Second Book of Samuel, King David fell in love with Bathsheba upon seeing her bathe in her courtyard from the roof of his palace. He had her brought to his chambers and had sex with her, producing a pregnancy. Informed of the identity of her husband as Uriah, David summoned Uriah from battle to meet him, suggesting that he attend to his wife.

Uriah refused, claiming a code of honor with his fellow warriors while they were in battle. It was common for warriors in preparation for battle to abstain from sex, as a practice of discipline. After repeatedly refusing to see his wife Bathsheba, David orders Joab to put Uriah in the front of the battle and have the soldiers move away from him so that he would be killed.

Nathan’s prophecy

The prophet Nathan soon after confronted David about this murder, by first telling him a story of a rich man and a poor man: The rich man had many sheep, while the poor man had only one little ewe, whom he cared for greatly. A traveler approached the rich man for food, whereby the man took the poor man's ewe and dressed it to give to the traveler.

Hearing this story, David grew angry and replied: “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

Nathan replied, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah.

And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own.

You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ ” NIV[1]

Nathan then informs David that his child with Bathsheba must die. Indeed, their first child dies after seven days. David and Bathsheba later produce Solomon.

Texts mentioning Uriah the Hittite

• 2Samuel:23:8: These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: [...] 39: Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all.

• 1Chronicles:11:10: These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, and with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel. [...] 41: Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai,

• 2Samuel:11:3: And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4: And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house. ["Uriah the Hittite" named 4 more times in this chapter.]

• 2Samuel:12:9: [Nathan:] Wherefore 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 thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.

• 1Kings:15:5: Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

• "Kyle Baker, King David (DC Comics, 2002) ISBN 1-56389-866-7."