BATHSHEBA: BEAUTY. QUEEN.

When we first meet Bathsheba she is at home in Jerusalem—alone. Her husband, Uriah the Hittite, is away with other soldiers fighting the king's battles.

Bathsheba is bathing, but this is not a soothing bubble bath. Her monthly menstrual cycle has ended so she is cleaning up. This fact is included for a very specific reason which we will get to as the story unfolds.

MEANWHILE, IN THE CITY OF DAVID...

While his officers are out of town warring with neighboring peoples (Ammonites and Rabbahites), King David is at home busy doing whatever it is that kings do during times of war—or not. One afternoon, he decides to spend some time up on the roof—something common in the Middle East at that time. Rooftops were flat, and perfectly suited for socializing, relaxation, and thinking.

Maybe the king is thinking about his “mighty men” who are away fighting his battles. Or maybe he’s reminiscing about the past—about the giant he killed when he was a kid or about the harp he played for the former king or about his late friend Jonathan.

BE CAREFUL LITTLE EYES WHAT YOU SEE

As King David allows his mind to wonder and his eyes to wander, he spots a beautiful woman bathing. She is cleansing herself—washing the most private parts of her body—completely unaware that she is being watched.

📌 PLEASE NOTE: In this passage, Bathsheba is portrayed as a passive participant. Her name is mentioned only once in this chapter when she is identified as “daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Everywhere else, she is called “the woman” or “Uriah’s wife.” This underscores her passivity and innocence in this unfolding scenario.

The king is aroused as he watches her and immediately begins plotting his sexual conquest. The first thing he does is find out who she is.

After learning she is the wife of one of his 37 "mighty men" and the granddaughter of one of his most trusted advisors, his loyalty is tested. Unfortunately for everyone involved, David has loyalty to no one but himself.

Sidenote: Some imagine Bathsheba as a seductress who strategically selects a "public" bathing spot on her roof in order to catch the king’s eye, but this is not true. There is no mention of where she was in her home. What is undebatable is the King's location and his voyeurism.

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Knowing her husband will be away for a while, King David summons Uriah's wife to the palace. Does she have a choice?

According to the text, it is pretty clear that the king summons her for one reason and one reason only—He has no intention of an ongoing relationship. While there, the king has his way with her.

Bathsheba returns home to process what just happened: Alone. Violated. Confused. Then, a few weeks later, Uriah's wife realizes she is pregnant, and there's only one man who could be the father: King David.

Sidenote: Remember what Bathsheba was doing when the king noticed her on the rooftop? She was cleansing herself post-period. This detail is included so the reader understands there’s no way her husband, Uriah, is the father.

When Bathsheba informs the king of her pregnancy, he is mortified. What will people say? What will his troops say?

King David pulls out all the stops to bring her husband home so he will sleep with her and no one will ever know what he did to this mighty warrior’s wife. Just one problem: When Uriah returns from battle, he refuses to visit his wife.

David tries everything he can to get Uriah and his wife together while he’s in town—including getting him drunk—but Uriah refuses to go home. It’s like David is trying to convince a key player in the Super Bowl to go have sex with his wife during half-time. As tempting as it sounds, this player is keeping his head in the game. Besides, once the game is over, he's coming home to his wife for good.

That's how a mighty warrior's brain works and how a selfish king's plan fails.

TIME FOR "PLAN B"

David decides to have Bathsheba's husband killed in battle in order to conceal his infidelity. He sends orders to his nephew and Uriah's Commander, Joab.

"In the letter he wrote, 'Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.'"

2 Samuel 11:14 (NRSV)

This time, David's plan works, and Uriah is killed in battle. When Bathsheba hears the news she is distraught and mourns the death of her husband.

As soon as her time of mourning is complete, David sends for her, moves her into the palace, and makes Bathsheba his SEVENTH wife. Does she have a choice? (David did the same thing with Abigail after her husband, Nabal, died. See 1 Samuel 25:37-42)

At this point in the story, David thinks he has covered all his tracks and nobody will ever know the depth of his treachery. As the Useful Bible commentary points out:

"Some palace servants knew about Bathsheba’s and Uriah’s visits to David - but they did not know the contents of David’s letter to Joab, or the fact that Bathsheba was expecting David’s baby. Joab knew about David’s cruel plan to kill Uriah - but he did not know that David had slept with Bathsheba, or about the baby."

But David forgets that God knows exactly what he's done, and he is soon visited by the prophet Nathan who confronts him about the affair and pregnancy. David’s eyes are opened and he realizes his sin against the Lord. He finally repents for his sins (see Psalm 51), but repentance rarely impacts consequences. And these consequences are severe.

UNIMAGINABLE GRIEF

In less than one year, Bathsheba goes from being married to an elite warrior to being raped and impregnated by the king; from being the wife of one to being "one of the wives"; from being a first-time mom to being a bereaved parent. Her grief is unimaginable.

According to the prophet Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1-3), this is a heartbreaking consequence of David’s behavior.

Sidenote: This is another signal that Bathsheba is not responsible for her pregnancy. "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" (WBC, p. 159). In other words, this is about him, not her.

GROWING CLOSE THROUGH GRIEF

David is deeply impacted by the loss of his baby boy who dies one day before his circumcision. He comforts Bathsheba through her mourning, and somehow, this tragedy draws them together in a new way. As he walks alongside her in their grief, she grows to love him.

Eventually, Bathsheba conceives again. This baby boy—who does not become ill—is blessed with a very long life and grows up to be one of the greatest kings and wisest men in all of Israel's history: 👑King Solomon.

In time, David and Bathsheba have many other children together including a son whom they name Nathan (after the prophet who confronted David about their affair?).

When David is old and nearing the end of his life, Bathsheba comes into focus once again, this time to play a critical role ensuring her oldest son, Solomon, is crowned as David's successor. Without her passionate advocacy on his behalf, the kingship would have defaulted to one of David's other sons who already declared himself king. Bathsheba is a force to be reckoned with.

One final sidenote: Bathsheba is one of four women listed in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus, but her name is not mentioned. Instead, she is remembered and recorded here as "the wife of Uriah" (Matthew 1:6). ❤️

You can learn more about Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11-12 and 1 Kings 1-2.

Additional Resources:

• "Archaeologists Dig up King David's Palace". Jerusalem Post. (2013)

• The Marriage of David and Bathsheba. The Useful Bible (online).

• "Bathsheba: Bible" in the The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women (Online). Jewish Women’s Archive.

• "Menstruation in the Bible" in the The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women (Online). Jewish Women’s Archive.

• All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Photo Credits:

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.

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