Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 11:6-13
Uriah, we may suppose, had now been absent from his wife some weeks, making the campaign in the country of the Ammonites, and not intending to return till the end of it. The situation of his wife would bring to light the hidden works of darkness; and when Uriah, at his return, should find how he had been abused, and by whom, it might well be expected, 1. That he would prosecute his wife, according to law, and have her stoned to death; for jealousy is the rage of a man, especially a man of honour, and he that is thus injured will not spare in the day of vengeance, Pro 6:34. This Bath-sheba was apprehensive of when she sent to let David know she was with child, intimating that he was concerned…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 2 Samuel 11:8
David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house--This sudden recall, the manner of the king, his frivolous questions (Sa2 11:7), and his urgency for Uriah to sleep in his own house, probably awakened suspicions of the cause of this procedure.
there followed him a mess of meat from the king--A portion of meat from the royal table, sent to one's own house or lodgings, is one of the greatest compliments which an Eastern prince can pay.
Adam Clarke on 2 Samuel 11:8
Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet - Uriah had come off a journey, and needed this refreshment; but David's design was that he should go and lie with his wife, that the child now conceived should pass for his, the honor of Bath-sheba be screened, and his own crime concealed. At this time he had no design of the murder of Uriah, nor of taking Bath-sheba to wife.
A mess of meat from the king - All this was artfully contrived.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 11:8
And David said to Uriah, go down to thy house, and wash thy feet,.... For his refreshment, and to prepare for bed, which was what he wanted to get him to:
and Uriah departed out of the king's house; in order as it might seem to the king to go to his own:
and there followed him a mess of meat from the king: no doubt a delicious dish, to eat with his wife before he went to bed, to excite him the more to desire the enjoyment of her this mess consisted, according to Abarbinel, of bread, wine, and flesh; and who also observes, after Ben Gersom, that the word may be interpreted of a torch to light him home to his house, being night.
