Uriah
Urija (also: Uria ) is a biblical person. His story is told in 2 Sam 11 EU : According to this, he was a Hittite and a mercenary in King David's army , who had him murdered after he had impregnated his wife Bathsheba . The story forms the background for the sharp criticism of the prophet Natan , who convicts David of his act ( 2 Sam 12 EU ).
etymology
The Hebrew name Urija is written in the MT אוּרִיָּה 'ûrîjāh . There is also the spelling אוּרִיָּהוּ 'ûrîjāhû in Jer 26.20 EU , but for a different person. In both cases it is a question of record names. The subject (the theophore element יָה jāh or יָהוּ jāhû ) is YHWH , the predicate belongs to the root אור 'wr "become bright / shine", to which the nouns אוּר ' ûr "fire" and אוֹר 'ôr "light" go back. The name means "the light of YHWH / (my) light (is) YHWH".
Biblical representation
While Urija was fighting for David as one of the 30 heroes on the front, he saw his wife, made love to her and slept with her, so that she became pregnant. To hide his fatherhood, David had Uriah come to Jerusalem , made him drunk with wine, and told him to go home to sleep with Bathsheba. But Uriah, a dutiful man, refused to spend the night in a house while the Ark of the Covenant, like the soldiers of Israel, had to stay in the open air; so he passed the night in the courtyard of his house.
The next morning David wrote a letter to the general of the Israelites , Joab , and gave it to Uriah, whom he sent back to the front. In this letter, David ordered that Uriah should be in the forefront of the battle for the city of Rabba and that the fighters should suddenly withdraw. Uriah was killed as intended. Bathsheba mourned her husband's death and was taken to David's house after the mourning period. The Bible reports about it in 2 Sam 11.1–26 EU .
However, through the prophet Nathan , David was confronted with the fact that his adultery and the murder of Uriah displeased God. The child of David and Bathsheba died on the seventh day. David and Bathsheba had another son, Solomon , who would later become David's successor on the Israelite throne 2 Sam 12: 1-24 EU .
reception
In " The Bible - David " from 1997 the Italian Marco Leonardi embodies Urija, in " King David " from 1985 the Briton James Lister . In " David and Bathsheba " (1951) Uriah is portrayed by the Irishman Kieron Moore .
The letter of Urias became proverbial for a message that brings disaster to the bearer.
literature
- Stefan Seiler: Uria. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gesenius , 16th ed. 1915, pp. 18f.
- ↑ Cornelia Schlagbauer: Your word in God's ear, German-language idioms and their religious origin. Leykam, Graz 2006, ISBN 978-3-7011-0062-0 ; Cornelia Schlagbauer: Urias letter in: Religiöse WortSchätze , project of the Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz