Tuesday, December 4, 2012

A Lineage of Grace - BATHSHEBA

Bathsheba isn't mentioned directly in the genealogy of Christ, instead she is referred to as Uriah's wife.
Who was Uriah? He was a captain in David's army.  One day while Uriah was away fighting for King David, David saw Uriah's wife taking a bath on the roof (as was the custom of the day) and lusted after her. He summoned her to his chamber, where he then slept with her.  From their interactions, Uriah's wife became pregnant. David then tried to hide what had happened by coming up with a plan. He tried to get Uriah drunk so that he would sleep with his wife, but Uriah did not want to go against the customs  of the day which said that when a man was at war, he didn't have relations with his wife. So that plan failed. So David set Uriah up so that he was killed in battle - he gave the order that Uriah be placed in the front line of battle where it was the most dangerous. David then married Bathsheba thinking that no one would know of his illicit affair; she became his eighth wife.  David's action was displeasing to the Lord, who accordingly sent Nathan the prophet to reprove the king.
Nathan told a parable of the rich man who took away the one little ewe lamb of his poor neighbor (II Samuel 12), and excited the king's anger against the unrighteous act; the prophet then applied the case directly to David's action with regard to Bathsheba.
David at once confessed his sin and expressed sincere repentance. Bathsheba's child by David was struck with a severe illness and died a few days after birth, which the king accepted as his punishment.
David loved Bathsheba, for she became the mother of Solomon. In David's old age, Bathsheba secured the succession to the throne of her son Solomon, instead of David's eldest surviving son Adonijah. (1 Kings 1:11-31).

Can you relate to Bathsheba? Was Bathsheba complicit in this situation? Did she do anything wrong? She is listed as Uriah's wife, yet it was as David's wife she had Solomon - do you find this odd? Is there any significance? As a woman, was there anything that she could have done to prevent David from lusting after her? How does God choose to honor Bathsheba?

1 comment:

  1. this story in the bible always blows my mind.

    i always thought that she wasn't complicit. i think in the beginning she just didn't really know what to do. she was being pursued by a King, what was she suppose to have done? she could have told her husband what had happened but if he confronted the King what would have happened? King David obviously had the type of power to get him killed anyway.

    in this day and age, taking a bath in public would get you arrested. but if that was the custom she probably didn't think twice about taking a bath on the roof.

    at the end of the day, i still blame King David. he should not have lusted after another man's wife.

    great post!

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