But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.
But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house. It is customary for servants, especially the porters or doorkeepers, to sleep in the parch or long gallery outside the doors-sometimes on a stone bench, sometimes on a form made of palm-fronds, and very often, indeed for the most part, on the ground, having nothing but a stone for a pillow; and the guards of the Hebrew king did the same. Whatever his secret suspicions might have been, Uriah's refusal to indulge in the enjoyment of domestic pleasure, and his determination to sleep "at the door of the king's house," arose (2 Samuel 11:11) from a high and honourable sense of military duty and property.