2 Samuel 11:21

21 Don't you remember how Abimelech, the son of Jerub-Besheth, was killed? A woman dropped a large millstone on him from the wall. That's how he died in Thebez. So why did you go so close to the wall?' If the king asks you that, tell him, 'Your servant Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.' "

2 Samuel 11:21 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 11:21

Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth?
&c.] The same with Jerubbaal, who was Gideon, ( Judges 6:32 ) ; Baal, one part of his name, was the name of an idol, and sometimes called Bosheth or Besheth, which signifies shame, being a shameful idol; Gideon had a son called Abimelech, who was smitten, and it is here asked, by whom?

did not a woman cast a millstone upon him from the wall, that he died
in Thebez?
which should have been a warning not to go too near the wall of an enemy; the history is recorded in ( Judges 9:52 Judges 9:53 ) ;

why went ye nigh the wall?
exposing your lives to so much danger, and by which so many lives were lost:

then say thou, thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also;
the whole has not been told, the worst of all is, as the messenger was to represent it, that brave gallant soldier Uriah is dead; this Joab ordered to be told last, as knowing very well it would pacify the king's wrath, and was the agreeable news he wanted to hear.

2 Samuel 11:21 In-Context

19 He told the messenger, "Tell the king everything that happened in the battle. When you are finished,

20 his anger might explode. He might ask you, 'Why did you go so close to the city to fight against it? Didn't you know that the enemy soldiers would shoot arrows down from the wall?

21 Don't you remember how Abimelech, the son of Jerub-Besheth, was killed? A woman dropped a large millstone on him from the wall. That's how he died in Thebez. So why did you go so close to the wall?' If the king asks you that, tell him, 'Your servant Uriah, the Hittite, is also dead.' "

22 The messenger started out for Jerusalem. When he arrived there, he told David everything Joab had sent him to say.

23 The messenger said to David, "The men who were in the city were more powerful than we were. They came out to fight against us in the open. But we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate.