The picture we have now of Bathsheba is that of a scheming temptress. That’s the way in which she’s been portrayed in media, such because the 1951 film, David and Bathsheba, and Leonard Cohen’s music, Hallelujah. She intentionally bathed on a rooftop in sight of King David. She caught his eye and he was helpless to face up to her charms. The Bible doesn’t help that picture of Bathsheba, nevertheless. It says that Bathsheba was used and abused by David, and God was displeased.
The Bible says that David was on his rooftop. It doesn’t say the place Bathsheba was, solely that she was bathing to purify herself after her interval (2 Samuel 11:2-4). She was most likely in an inside courtyard. Of their e-book, Flawed Households of the Bible. How God’s Grace Works By Imperfect Relationships, David E. Garland and Diana R. Garland write: “The legal guidelines required ritual washing on the conclusion of her menstrual interval. A lady could be extremely unlikely to conduct such a cleaning from her menstrual interval as a come-on. If she have been in public view, she would have washed with out disrobing. There isn’t any motive even to imagine that she was bare. Public nudity was not acceptable on this historic Jewish tradition however as a substitute was thought of shameful. There isn’t any basis for assuming she was some form of exhibitionist.”i
David didn’t know who Bathsheba was, so he despatched somebody to seek out out. He found she was the spouse of Uriah the Hittite, who was one in every of David’s elite Thirty warriors. On the time Uriah was off with the military combating the Ammonites. The truth that Bathsheba was married, and to one in every of David’s loyal warriors, didn’t cease David from having Bathsheba delivered to him. There was no manner she may refuse to have intercourse with David. He had full energy over her so she couldn’t give consent, which suggests he raped her, because the Garlands notice.ii
After Bathsheba returned residence she found that she was pregnant, so she despatched a notice to David telling him she had conceived. David was involved about his popularity, not hers. He didn’t need his topics to know what he had achieved, so he had Uriah despatched to him. He instructed Uriah to go residence and “’wash his ft (2 Samuel 11:8)” The phrase “ft” was a euphemism for intercourse so David was telling Uriah to have intercourse together with his spouse. Uriah declined to go to his residence as a result of he didn’t wish to be in his snug residence together with his spouse whereas the troops have been camped out on the battlefield. So David tried to get Uriah drunk, hoping that he would go residence if he have been drunk, however that didn’t work. Then David determined to have Uriah killed in battle. He had Uriah carry a letter to his commander, Joab, wherein David instructed Joab to place Uriah on the entrance, after which pull again the remainder of the troops. Joab did so and Uriah was killed. When David heard the information he was not remorseful. Bathsheba, nevertheless, mourned for Uriah. After her interval of mourning was over David married her. This fashion their youngster could be official and David’s good popularity would stay intact. David’s offense, within the eyes of the patriarchal society of the day, was that he took one other man’s spouse and had that man killed, not that he had an extramarital relationship. Males may have as many wives and lovers as they selected, however any girl who had an extramarital relationship was punished by being stoned to loss of life.
David thought he may conceal his sins, however God noticed them and was not happy, the Bible says. God despatched the prophet Nathan to confront David. Nathan instructed David a parable a few poor man who liked his pet lamb, which was like a toddler to him. His wealthy neighbor killed the poor man’s lamb and fed it to a visitor, though he had many flocks of his personal. David was outraged on the story and mentioned,”’Because the Lord lives, the person who has achieved this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, as a result of he did this factor, and since he had no pity”’ (2 Samuel 12:6). Nathan then instructed him, “’You’re the man’” (2 Samuel 12:7)! He added that God mentioned, “Why have you ever despised the phrase of the Lord, to do what’s evil in his sight? You’ve got struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his spouse to be your spouse.” David then repented of his sin and Nathan instructed him that God would spare him, however Nathan additionally mentioned that his youngster by Bathsheba would die.
God didn’t blame Bathsheba for having intercourse with David, and neither did Nathan. They knew that David was solely guilty. David fasted and pleaded for God to save lots of their youngster’s life when it grew to become sick. When their youngster died the Bible says David comforted Bathsheba by having intercourse together with her. One wonders if she was actually comforted by that! Bathsheba then grew to become pregnant with Solomon.
Bathsheba was portrayed as passive in 2 Samuel. Aside from telling David she was pregnant she was silent. However the Bathsheba of 1 Kings was robust. She went from being David’s sufferer to being a strong queen mom. David’s different wives taught Bathsheba methods to achieve and wield energy and thereby shield herself and Solomon. The competed together with her for David’s consideration, however Bathsheba grew to become David’s favourite spouse, and he or she was not afraid to talk as much as him when it mattered most. When David was dying Solomon’s half-brother, Adonijah, declared himself king with out David’s data. Nathan instructed Bathsheba and instructed her to inform David and ensure he stored his promise to put in Solomon as his successor, which she did (1 Kings 1:11-40). Their very lives could be at stake if Adonijah grew to become king. He would have had Solomon and Bathsheba executed, as Nathan identified. Nathan might have instructed Bathsheba, however as Claudia Camp writes within the Ladies’s Bible Commentary, “she possesses her personal energy, abilities, and motives for her position. At stake for her is the place of supreme feminine energy within the land, that of queen mom.”iii Bathsheba was passive no extra!
iDavid E. Garland and Diana R. Garland, “Bathsheba’s Story: Surviving Abuse and Loss,” in Flawed Households of the Bible. How God’s Grace Works by Imperfect Relationships. (Ada, Michigan: Brazos Press, 2007), 23.
iiIbid., 25.
iiiClaudia V. Camp, “1 and a couple of Kings,” in Ladies’s Bible Commentary with Apocrypha, eds. Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 105.
BIO: Linda Cooper Costelloe holds an MA in Historical past with a Graduate Specialization in Ladies’s Research from the College of Maine, in addition to an MA from Bangor Theological Seminary.