2 Samuel 11:3

And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam.—Her name is spelt in Chronicles Bath-shua, and her father’s name is said to be Ammiel. Ammiel and Eliam are the same name with its component parts transposed, as Scripture names are often varied: God’s people and the people of God.

Wife of Uriah the Hittite.—His name appears (2Samuel 23:39) in the list of David’s thirty chief heroes, and the whole story represents him as a brave and noble-minded soldier. David had now given rein to his guilty passion so far that the knowledge of Bath-sheba’s being a married woman, and the wife of one of his chief warriors, does not check him.

Benson Commentary

2 Samuel 11:3. David sent and inquired after the woman — Thus, instead of suppressing that desire which the sight of his eyes had kindled, he seeks rather to feed it; and first inquires who she was; that if she were unmarried he might make her either his wife or his concubine. And one said, Is not this Bath-sheba? — This seems to have been an answer given by some one to David’s inquiry. Uriah is called a Hittite, because he was such by nation, but a proselyte to the Jewish religion; and for his valour made one of the king’s guards among the Cherethites and the Pelethites; which was the reason, perhaps, that he had a house so near the king’s.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-5 Observe the occasions of David's sin; what led to it. 1. Neglect of his business. He tarried at Jerusalem. When we are out of the way of our duty, we are in temptation. 2. Love of ease: idleness gives great advantage to the tempter. 3. A wandering eye. He had not, like Job, made a covenant with his eyes, or, at this time, he had forgotten it. And observe the steps of the sin. See how the way of sin is down-hill; when men begin to do evil, they cannot soon stop. Observe the aggravations of the sin. How could David rebuke or punish that in others, of which he was conscious that he himself was guilty?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Eliam - Or Ammiel, 1 Chronicles 3:5, the component words being placed in an inverse order. Bath-sheba was the granddaughter of Ahithophel 2 Samuel 23:34.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. one said—literally, "he said to himself,"

Is not this Bath-sheba? &c.—She seems to have been a celebrated beauty, whose renown had already reached the ears of David, as happens in the East, from reports carried by the women from harem to harem.

Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam—or Ammiel (1Ch 3:5), one of David's worthies (2Sa 23:34), and son of Ahithophel.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Instead of suppressing that lust which the sight of his eyes had kindled, he seeks rather to feed it; and first inquires who she was; that, if she were unmarried, he might make her either his wife or his concubine.

Bath-sheba, called also Bath-shuah, 1 Chronicles 3:5, where also Eliam is called Ammiel. The Hittite; so called, either,

1. By his original, being born either of that race, but become a zealous proselyte; or, at least. among that people. Or,

2. By his habitation among them. Or,

3. For some notable exploit of his against that people: see 1 Samuel 26:6, and See Poole "2 Samuel 8:18".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And David sent and inquired after the woman,.... Who she was, what her name, and whether married or unmarried; if the latter, very probably his intention was to marry her, and he might, when he first made the inquiry, design to proceed no further, or to anything that was dishonourable; but it would have been better for him not to have inquired at all, and endeavoured to stifle the motions raised in him at the sight of her:

and one said, is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam; who in 1 Chronicles 3:5; is called Bathshua, and her father Ammiel, which is the same with Eliam reversed:

the wife of Uriah the Hittite? who either was of that nation originally, and became a proselyte; or had sojourned there for a while, and took the name or had it given him, for some exploit he had performed against that people, as Scipio Africanus, and others among the Romans; this was said by one that David inquired of, or heard him asking about her, and was sufficient to have stopped him from proceeding any further, when he was informed she was another man's wife: some say (h) she was the daughter of Ahithophel's son; see 2 Samuel 23:34.

(h) Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 8. 2.

Geneva Study Bible

And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the {c} Hittite?

(c) Who was not an born an Israelite, but converted to the true religion.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam] In 1 Chronicles 3:5 she is called Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel. Eliam (= God of the people) and Ammiel (= people of God) are compounded of the same words placed in different order. If this Eliam was the same as Uriah’s brother-officer, mentioned in ch. 2 Samuel 23:34, Bath-sheba was the grand-daughter of David’s counsellor Ahithophel. This, it has been thought, explains Ahithophel’s adherence to Absalom (ch. 2 Samuel 15:12) as an act of revenge for the seduction of his grand-daughter and the murder of her husband. The theory has been well worked out with much ingenuity by Prof. Blunt (Undesigned Coincidences, p. 135 ff.), but must be regarded as very doubtful: for (1) the identity of Eliam the son of Ahithophel with Eliam the father of Bath-sheba cannot be proved; (2) even if the relationship is granted, an ambitious and unscrupulous man such as Ahithophel would be more likely to regard the elevation of his granddaughter to the position of the king’s favourite wife as an honour, than to feel aggrieved at the circumstances by which it was effected.

Uriah the Hittite] One of David’s “mighty men” (ch. 2 Samuel 23:39). His name (= light of Jah) indicates that although he was a Canaanite by race, he had adopted the Jewish religion. Another Hittite in David’s service was Ahimelech (1 Samuel 26:6). On the ancient Canaanite nation of the Hittites, see note on 1 Samuel 26:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam. In 2 Samuel 23:34 Eliam is said to be the son of Ahithophel, and thus Bathsheba would be his granddaughter. Mr. Blunt, in his 'Undesigned Coincidences,' p. 143, et seq., sees in this the explanation of the adherence to the side of Absalom of a man so high in King David's service. It was the result of his indignation at David's profligate treat-meat of so near a relative. In 1 Chronicles 3:5 she is called "Bathshua, the daughter of Ammiel." The latter is a transposition of Eliam, both names being compounded of Am, people, and El, God. Uriah the Hittite. We read in 2 Samuel 23:39 that he was one of David's "mighties," and it is remarkable that we should thus find high in rank in David's army a member of that grand race who had disputed with Egypt and Assyria the empire of the East. Their head now was Toi, King of Hamath. 2 Samuel 11:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

David ordered inquiry to be made about her, and found (ויּאמר, "he, i.e., the messenger, said;" or indefinitely, "they said") that she was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hethite. הלוא, nonne, is used, as it frequently is, in the sense of an affirmation, "it is indeed so." Instead of Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam, we find the name given in the Chronicles (1 Chronicles 3:5) as Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel. The form בּת־שׁוּע may be derived from בּת־שׁוע, in which ב is softened into ; for Bathsheba (with beth) is the correct and original form, as we may see from 1 Kings 1:11, 1 Kings 1:15, 1 Kings 1:28. Eliam and Ammiel have the same signification; the difference simply consists in the transposition of the component parts of the name. It is impossible to determine, however, which of the two forms was the original one.