NL 107: David and Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:15

Initial Thoughts

  • breakthesilencesunday.org/: For resources on breaking the silence on sexual assault and rape

  • No good news here. Just sex (rape), deceit, and murder.

  • “We are now at a the pivotal turning point in the narrative plot of the books of Samuel. We are also invited into the presence of delicate, subtle art. We are the threshold of deeping, aching psychology, and at the same time we are about to witness a most ruthless political performance… Innocence is never to be retrieved. From now on the life of David is marked, and all Israel must live with that mark.” (Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: First and Second Samuel, p. 271-2)

  • “You are the man” - very different context

  • Ahh….sweet hypocritical self-righteousness, goes down smooth every time...except this time.

  • Almost a direct continuation of last week’s story

  • What is missing?

    • Uriah is killed along with some other soldiers, David doesn’t care but encourages Joab to take the city

  • Direct connection to this week’s Psalm 51- the “Ash Wednesday Psalm”

  • Worth reading the whole story - this skips David calculated deceit and then murder or Uriah

Bible Study

  • David

    • King fully entrenched in power.

    • Not in the field as he had promised, or as the Israelites had asked (1 Samuel 8:20)

    • Sitting on couch he sees her.

    • Finds out that she is the daughter of an important advisor, and the wife of a Hittite soldier.

    • Summons her. Has sex with her. ‘He takes her,’ is exactly what Samuel had warned the people what Kings would do: “[a King] will take your daughters”.” (1 Samuel 8:13)

    • She becomes pregnant. 

    • David tries to cover it up by sending for Uriah, then sending him home to “wash his feet.”

    • Uriah refuses to lie in his own bed when his comrades are in the midst of war. His honor - which is in stark contrast to David, who is sitting on his couch during the war - does him in.

    • David then sends Uriah with a note that is basically his death sentence.

  • Bathsheba

    • One of the most famous examples of victim-blaming in history.

    • She is essentially raped by the King

    • Her husband is murdered.

    • For this, she is treated in history as a temptress, and named in a popular Christian book as a “Really Bad Girls of the Bible.” Liz Curtis Higgs, author of the book Really Bad Girls of the Bible at least partially implicates her because there’s no evidence that she “put up a fight.”

    • Author Susan McGeowan offers a great study guide about Bathsheba (original link is no longer available. This is her quote, but a link to her general website), one that outlines the different interpretations of her character, but comes to the conclusion that “She must have been an amazing woman. Despite their inauspicious beginning, despite her being the focal point for a time in David’s life of his most horrible sin, she remained a powerful and favored influence over him through the remainder of his life - as evidence by their final recorded time together when she secures Solomon’s future as the next king of Israel.”

  • Blogger Kate Schell writes, “She was powerless, but we cast her as seductress.  Today, I grieve for Bathsheba. I grieve for this woman coerced and bereaved. I grieve for this woman who mourned, her clothing torn and her life upended. I grieve for this woman who has been reduced to adulteress, to a naked body in the wrong spot at the wrong time.”

  • It looks like David got away with it...he didn’t

    • “The narrative does not seem to hold her responsible for her actions with David, and the punishment that is meted out, that their child should die, is aimed by YHWH and Nathan at David, not Bathsheba” (Jo Ann Hacket, The Women’s Bible Commentarym, p. 159)

  • Any attempt to blame Bathsheba is overwhelmed by the fact that David is solely held responsible for his actions (sex and possible rape) and reactions (the cover-up and murder of Uriah)

  • David also enlists others (Joab) as accomplices in his crime

  • Nathan

    • Last time Nathan spoke to David was to tell him God would watch over him and his house and make his name great.

      • What about when we don’t want God watching over us?

    • Prophet - Perfect representation of the prophets as the ethical, moral and spiritual voice speaking to power and holding David accountable

    • Crafty - He does not accuse David directly but does so in a way in which David is forced to reveal that he knows what is right and therefore exposes his own guilt

  • Wrath of God or consequences of sin

    • “The sword will never leave your house” - this is the end of the happy days for David. The rest of his life will be marked with family strife and sorrow:

      • death of an infant son

      • his son, Amnon rapes his half-sister, Tamar

      • his son Absalom kills Amnon

      • Absalom rebels and takes Jerusalem

      • Absalom flees Jerusalem with David’s Harem (think 2 Samuel 12:11-12)

      • Absalom is killed sending David into grief that he possibly never recovers from

    • God forgives David, but there are still consequences for his sin

  • Sins of the father visited upon the children

    • The death of David’s son is clearly interpreted as his punishment from God

      • Is this a theological device to explain how such a horrific thing to happen to God’s chosen?

    • Psychological and family systems would suggest this to some extent, but interpreting this as the will of God is dangerous and I do not think faithful theology.

  • We have to imagine what Bathsheba is feeling in the midst of this- this could make a powerful sermon about her response, grief, victimization, etc.

Thoughts and Questions

God watching over us can be both challenging and comforting. We love that notion when we are afraid but what about when we are arrogant?

  • How do we interpret when bad things happen to children? Infant mortality, disability, stillbirths, etc. How do we comfort the parents without adding to their own grief and guilt?

  • Forgiveness is complex. At times we hear forgive and forget (“I will remember their sins no more”) but then we also have instances of God’s forgiveness paired with God’s judgment. How to we affirm that there are just consequences for our actions and proclaim God’s boundless love and grace?

Year 1Eric Fistler2 SamuelComment