Who was Uriah:

Uriah was the first husband of Bathsheba and a soldier in King David’s army. While Uriah was fighting, King David saw Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba) bathing on her rooftop. Tempted by her beauty, King David ordered Bathsheba to his palace where he slept with her and impregnated her.

To allow himself to marry Bathsheba, King David ordered Uriah be placed on the front lines of battle; ensuring his death and permitting King David’s marriage.

Biblical Passages Regarding Uriah:

King David sees Uriah’s wife bathing on the rooftop:

One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

2 Samuel 11:2-3

King David sleeps with and impregnates Uriah’s wife:

Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home. The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

2 Samuel 11:4-6

King David orders Uriah to his palace:

So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.

2 Samuel 11:6-8

Uriah shows his loyalty to King David and his fellow soldiers:

But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house.

David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?”

Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

2 Samuel 11:9-11

King David orders Uriah to the front lines:

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

2 Samuel 11:14-15

Uriah is killed:

So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

2 Samuel 11:16-17

King David marries Uriah’s widow:

When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

2 Samuel 11:26-27