Originally posted 12/17/24
Bathsheba is a tragic story. She was a victim of David’s sinful nature. David is proof that it hurts to look. David saw her, he wanted her, and he took her. We find their story in 2 Samuel 11. 2 Samuel 11:2-5 says, “It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.””
David was a powerful man. Bathsheba would not have been in a position to refuse David. David found himself in a precarious position. She was married to someone else. How would David solve his problem? We find David’s solution to him problem in 2 Samuel 11:6-13.
“So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was doing and how the people were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. 10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.” 12 Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and drank, so that he made him drunk. And in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.”
David thought if he could send Uriah to be with his wife, he could hide his sin. Uriah did not spend time with his wife due to respect for his men who could not be home. There was no way he could pretend that the child was Uriah’s. David needed to devise another plan.
2 Samuel 11:14-17 tells us, “ In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” 16 And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. 17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.””
David had to create a situation where Uriah was killed in battle. With Uriah dead, he would be free to marry Bathsheba.
In the book, 31 Women in the Bible, Len Woods writes, “The already-married David should have ordered some shutters. Instead he ordered an aide to find out the woman’s identity. Even after he learned Bathsheba was Mrs. Uriah—that is, the wife of one of his most decorated military leaders (see 1 Chr 11:41)—David sent for her. She made her way over to the palace. And after a night of passion, Bathsheba found herself pregnant. She notified the king. David immediately went before Bathsheba got her “baby bump”), David married Uriah’s young widow and moved her into the royal palace. She gave birth to David’s child, a son. And perhaps for a brief time David thought maybe he’d managed to cover up his greatest scandal.” p. 71
2 Samuel 11:26-27 tells us, “When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. 27 And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.”
Because of David’s sin, God sent Nathan to speak to David. After speaking to Nathan, David repented. In 2 Samuel 12:13-15 we read, “David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house. And the LORD afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and he became sick.”
Bathsheba does have another child with David. Their son, Solomon eventually became King after David.
According to 31 Women in the Bible, “But when we take a closer look, we see a lifetime of tragedy. Beyond the pain of saying goodbye to her husband Uriah, burying her infant son, and living as one of David’s many wives and numerous concubines, Bathsheba’s life was in constant crisis. She had to stand by and watch as her big, new dysfunctional family dealt with sibling rape and murder (see 2 Samuel 13). She had to flee the royal palace when Absalom, one of her stepsons, attempted a coup (see 2 Samuel 15). When she tried to help broker a marriage for Adonijah, one of her stepsons, her efforts led to his execution (see 1 Kgs 2:13–25).” p. 72
What can we learn from Bathsheba? God can work through any situation. God takes our difficult events and works them for our good. God always has a plan for our lives.
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