Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Rea <bsr15 AT cantsl.it.canterbury.ac.nz>]

Kenneth wrote:-

>Also, people say that King David wanted to have Uriah go home in 2 Samuel
>11:8 to be with his wife to cover up her pregnancy by David. I think he
>wanted Uriah to become drunk and to go home to get him away from the
>other soldiers, so he could have him killed. I can't prove that,
>but it is a possibility.

The NASB translates 2 Samuel 11:8 this way:-

Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your house and wash your feet."

Which seems a pretty good translation to me. There are a number of
scholars who consider ``wash your feet" to be a euphemism for
sex. Of course, there are others who disagree, some list members
included. Given that ``feet'' is sometimes used a euphemism
for male genitals the context suggests David was simply trying
to cover up his act by sending Uriah home to be with Bethsheba
and presumably enjoying her womanly pleasures rather than
sending him home to he could be more easily murdered.

Also, I suggest you read the next chapter and try to understand
Nathan's parable about the rich man, poor man, and ewe if David's
``sin'' was that he killed Uriah for the wrong reason. Nathan
makes it quite clear that at least part of David's sin was
the adultery, the other part was that he had Uriah killed.

Here's the relevant portion (in English, but the translation
is good in my opinion):-

7 Then Nathan said to David, "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. 8 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. 9
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. 10 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.'

I find it very difficult to reconcile the words of Nathan with
your view that the sin was killing Uriah for the wrong reason.
There is no hint that I can see which suggests such a view. If
killing Uriah was supposedly right I would have expected a much
more nuanced theological explanation of the sin than what we're
given.

Bill Rea, ICT Services, University of Canterbury \_
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