Uriah the Hittite
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Uriah the Hittite was the husband of Bathsheba, a soldier in David’s army, whose death David ordered by having the soldiers retreat away from him in battle after he kept refusing to see his own wife, as ordered by David.
He was of the ethnic Hittite minority resident in Israel that had been in the region (formerly known as “the Land of Canaan”) since after the collapse of the Hittite Kingdom in preceding centuries, before the establishment of the nation of Israel. In spite of the divine order to exterminate the original inhabitants, some were spared (Joshua 15:63, 16:10, Judges 1:21), and those who followed the Israelite religion were accepted as Israelites, as Uriah likely was, due to his being an officer in the army.
According to the biblical Second Book of Samuel, King David fell in love with Bathsheba upon seeing her bathe in her courtyard from the roof of his palace. He had her brought to his chambers and had sex with her, producing a pregnancy. Informed of the identity of her husband as Uriah, David summoned Uriah from battle to meet him, suggesting that he attend to his wife.
Uriah refused, claiming a code of honor with his fellow warriors while they were in battle. It was common for warriors in preparation for battle to abstain from sex, as a practice of discipline. After repeatedly refusing to see his wife Bathsheba, David orders Joab to put Uriah in the front of the battle and have the soldiers move away from him so that he would be killed.
[edit] Nathan’s prophesy
The prophet Nathan soon after confronted David about this murder, by first telling him a story of a rich man and a poor man: The rich man had many sheep, while the poor man had only one little ewe, whom he cared for greatly. A traveler approached the rich man for food, whereby the man took the poor man's ewe and dressed to give to the traveler.
Hearing this story, David grew angry and replied: “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
Nathan replied, “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. 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. 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. 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.’ ” NIV[1]
Nathan then informs David that his child with Bathsheba must die. Indeed, their first child dies after seven days. David and Bathsheba later produce Solomon.
