And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
Ver. 15. Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle.] Here David schemes it indeed with hellish skill: little thinking how heavily this crimson sin would shortly lie upon his conscience, putting him to no less pain than if all his bones had been broken. Psa 51:8-14 Joab possibly might not know the cause of this bloody letter, but gather by it that Uriah had some way deserved death, howbeit he could not but know that by the law none should be put to death without witnesses, two or three, produced against him; his obedience, therefore, to so tyrannical a command cannot be justified.