Welcome to the 8th week of Faithlogue’s 2024 Winter Series: “The Women of the Promise.” Please subscribe to receive each week’s post in your email inbox and to receive Faithlogue’s monthly subscriber newsletter. You can catch up on any missed posts here.
Passages: 2 Samuel 11-12, 1 Kings 1-2, Psalm 51
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
God forgives repentant hearts and restores wounded lives.
Instead of listing her name in his genealogy of Jesus, Matthew tells us a bit of Bathsheba’s story. He describes her as Solomon’s mother, who“had been Uriah’s wife” (Matthew 1:6). This small phrase captures a dramatic turning point in Bathsheba’s life.
When we meet her in 2 Samuel 11, Bathsheba is married to Uriah the Hittite. It’s springtime, the season “when kings go off to war” (2 Samuel 11:1). King David sends Joab and the entire Israelite army to fight. Bathsheba’s husband joins them, but King David stays home.
While Uriah is away, Bathsheba bathes on the roof of her house to purify herself after her monthly period as required by Jewish law (see Leviticus 15:25-30). The idle King David sees her and sends messengers to “get her” (2 Samuel 11:4).
The typical version of this story asserts Bathsheba was a seductress who intentionally baited the king to commit adultery. However, Scripture tells a much different story. The word translated as “get her” is laqah, meaning to take captive.[1] Bathsheba was a law-abiding woman bathing for purity who was taken captive and defiled by a king who should have been leading his men in battle instead.
After this encounter, Bathsheba returns home. A short time later, she learns she is pregnant and sends word to the king. According to Jewish law, the penalty for adultery is death (Leviticus 20:10), so David seeks to hide his sin.
For his first attempt, David brings Uriah home from the battle, hoping Uriah will sleep with Bathsheba. However, Uriah refuses to go inside his home to Bathsheba while the Ark of the Covenant and his fellow soldiers are at war. Uriah even resists after David gets him drunk.
When his first plan fails, David commands Joab to place Uriah on the front lines of the battle and draw back to ensure his death. His scheme succeeds, and Uriah dies in battle. According to 2 Samuel 11:26, “When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.”
After her time of mourning, David gathers Bathsheba and brings her again to his home. They wed, and Bathsheba bears a son.
Despite the success of his scheme, David cannot hide his sin from God. Through the prophet Nathan, the Lord convicts David of his sins against Bathsheba and Uriah. God spares David’s life, but the infant born to Bathsheba becomes ill and dies.
After their son dies, David bathes himself and returns to his duties as king. He even returns to battle. Instead of compelling Bathsheba to come to him, David “goes to” Bathsheba and comforts her. Bathsheba becomes pregnant and gives birth to Solomon.
According to 2 Samuel 12:24-25, the Lord loved Solomon. The word translated as love in this verse is ahab, which indicates a familial kind of love. God’s love for Solomon and blessing of Bathsheba and David with his birth reveals the breadth of God’s forgiveness for David’s transgressions and His care for Bathsheba’s distress.
Bathsheba raises Solomon in the palace amid the chaos of David’s multiple wives, competitive sons, and continual upheaval. Her story continues behind the scenes until 1 Kings 1-2.
At that time, David was aged and nearing the end of his life. His son Adonijah set himself up as king without consulting the prophet Nathan or David’s close advisors. In response, Nathan comes to Bathsheba and asks her to consult with David.
Bathsheba goes to see David and implores him to intervene. Nathan confirms her message, and David responds by naming Solomon his predecessor and taking the following oath: “As sure as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble. I will surely carry out today what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on the throne in my place” (I Kings 1:29-30).
As the new king, Solomon returned God’s ahab love and sought wisdom from the Lord (I Kings 3). We also know that he revered Bathsheba and respected her as an advisor (I Kings 2:13-25).
Like each woman in our series, Bathsheba’s story is complicated. The scholarly articles I studied for this post ranged in viewpoints about her. Was she a political schemer, a temptress, or a complete fiction? Perhaps she was none of these. Maybe Bathsheba was simply a faithful Israelite whose life was upended by an errant king.
I wonder if we’re confused about Bathsheba because it is easier to explain away her story rather than deal with the difficult reality of the consequences of sin. After all, wasn’t King David a “man after God’s own heart” (I Samuel 13:14)? Indeed, David loved the Lord, but he was also a fallible, sinful human. He sinned against God when he slept with Bathsheba and killed her husband.
Through the prophet Nathan, God exposed David’s sin, and David came to a place of understanding and repentance before God (see Psalm 51). God forgave him, but David still suffered the death of his infant son. In turn, Bathsheba also suffered the consequences of David’s sin. However, both David and Bathsheba received the blessing of Solomon’s birth.
Like David, we are fallible humans who sin against God. We suffer the consequences of our sins, but God forgives us when we understand and repent. Also, like Bathsheba, we sometimes suffer the consequences of other people’s sins. When that happens, God works to restore us when we come to Him.
With her intervention and advice, Solomon claimed and maintained his throne to become the wise king of Israel, and “Uriah’s wife” took her place in the lineage of Jesus and the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people. Bathsheba’s story reveals God as not only the One who forgives repentant hearts but also the One who restores wounded lives. Praise be to God.
[1] John R. Kohlenberger III, NIV Exhaustive Concordance Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2015). Bible Gateway.
© 2024 Lori Myers Berry
Thought Questions
- Like David, we all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Can you remember a recent time when you sinned and faced the consequences? What happened when you repented and accepted God’s forgiveness?
- Like Bathsheba, we also face the consequences of other people’s sins. Can you recall when you suffered because of another person’s sin? Did you seek the Lord for healing and restoration? If so, what happened?
- Read Psalm 51. Which verse from this passage resonates most with you today? Consider forming that verse into a prayer.
PLEASE NOTE:
Bathsheba faced real sexual trauma. If you have suffered sexual assault of any kind, please reach out to your doctor, a trustworthy person, licensed professional counselor, or call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. God did not allow David to hide his sin, so please do not believe the lie that any person (especially someone who claims authority in your life) has the right to hide their sin against you. May God restore you and bless you.
Prayer
Dear God, you are the One who forgives and restores. Like David, we are fallible humans who sin against you and one another. Thank you that you do not allow us to hide our sins, but you meet us in the place of our suffering. We repent. Please forgive our repentant hearts and heal our wounded lives. Thank you for making forgiveness and restoration possible through the salvation offered by Jesus Christ, in whose Name we pray. Amen.