Rashi on Tanakh2 Samuel 11

Rashi

Read 2 Samuel 11 in the Bible

2 Samuel 11:1

At the time [of year] when kings go forth. There is a time of year when it is the practice that troops go forth, when the land is full of growth and the horses find produce in the field to eat.

2 Samuel 11:4

From her uncleanliness. From her menstrual impurity.

2 Samuel 11:6

Send me Urioh. [Dovid] intended that he [Urioh] lie with his wife in order that it be thought that from him [Urioh] she was pregnant.

2 Samuel 11:8

The king's meal. [Yonasan translates:] the king's meal.1Dovid sent men with provisions for Urioh to be eaten at his home.

2 Samuel 11:15

And he will be struck and killed. In order for [Batsheva] to be divorced [from Urioh] retroactively. the result would be that [Dovid] did not cohabit with a married woman. Because all [soldiers] who went out to war wrote a conditional divorce document for their wife should they die in battle.2Rashi in Kesubos 9b gives this same explanation. Tosafos there explains that Rashi means that the condition was not necessarily that the soldier dies, but even if he does not return at the end of the war, the divorce would be valid.

2 Samuel 11:21

The son of Yerubeshes. This is Gidon who fought with Boshes, which is the Baal.3See Shoftim 6:32. The name יְרֻבֶּשֶׁת is a contraction of the two words, יָרֶב and בָשֶת, fighting with Boshes. Avimelech’s death, referred to here, is related in Shoftim 9:53.

2 Samuel 11:25

Intensify your war [against] the city and destroy it. The words of the message4From Dovid to Yoav. [end] at this point.
You should encourage him [Yoav]. Dovid [then] said to the messenger, "Encourage Yoav with consoling words so that his heart should not weaken.

Rashi on Tanakh — Rashi. Metsudah Publications / Judaica Press · CC BY