Who Were David and Bathsheba? The tragic story of David and Bathsheba is told in 2 Samuel 11-12:25. At David's instigation, Bathsheba is brought to him, and “he lay with her” (2 Samuel 11:4), the consequences of which resound in history.
The biblical narratives featuring Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Kings 1-2) entail adultery and bloodshed, prophetic rebuke and tragic consequences, and the breaking and making of the throne. From his roof, King David (reigns c. 1005–965 BCE) sees beautiful Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, bathing, and he lies with her.
and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her.
David married the widowed Bathsheba, but their first child died as punishment from God for David's adultery and murder of Uriah. David repented of his sins, and Bathsheba later gave birth to Solomon.
But in God's providence, Bathsheba becomes pregnant, and David soon falls even deeper into sin in an effort to conceal his iniquity. Summoning Uriah to Jerusalem, David urges him to go home and spend the night with his wife, hoping that he might have relations with her and believe that David's baby is his own.
The price of David's sin of murder and adultery was high. He spent the rest of his life regretting it. In one psalm he expressed his mental torment and pleaded for forgiveness.
Adultery of David
The messengers returned and told David that her name was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah. Despite David knowing that she was married, he sent for her and slept with her. Bathsheba later sends word to David that she was pregnant.
Bathsheba gives birth to a healthy son, the future King Solomon. Most of David's previous marriages were arranged for political alliances. But David is drawn to Bathsheba by a powerful sexual attraction. Popular culture chooses to view their relationship as a classic romance—lust turned to love.
Nathan is a son born to David and Bathsheba. The first book of the Books of Chronicles has a passage that states the sons of David born to him in Hebron, before recounting their sons and then nine more sons and one daughter of David who were also born to him in Jerusalem.
Of the lessons we can learn from Bathsheba in the Bible and King David is that even those in power are subject to their own human flaws while facing justice from an unrelenting higher authority.
Bathsheba and the Aged David
The midrash explains that Abishag was unwilling to remain in the problematic status of a maiden who was together with the king but without being wed to him, and she therefore demanded that David marry her. David refused, claiming that the king may not have many wives.
a female given name: from a Hebrew phrase meaning “daughter of the oath.”
Moved by lust at the sight of her, David called for Bathsheba to be brought to him and slept with her, impregnating her. In an effort to hide his misdeeds, David called Uriah home from war, hoping that he and Bathsheba would have relations and that he would be able to pass the child off as belonging to Uriah.
Psalm 51 1
A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
After Michal was returned to David, she criticised him for dancing in an undignified manner, as he brought the Ark of the Covenant to the newly captured Jerusalem in a religious procession. For this she is punished, according to Samuel, with not having children till the day she dies.
The number of sons mentioned by name in the Bible is 19. In addition, two further unnamed sons are recorded as having been born in Jerusalem, one, probably both, having died in infancy. One of these was the first child born of David's adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.
Viewing David's decision to leave his ten concubines behind as an intentional offering for Absalom presents his action in an even more negative light than if he had left them behind with unintentional unconcern for their safety and wellbeing.
For instance, the Bible nowhere condemns polygamy. Some of Scripture's most prominent figures had more than one wife. The first polygamist was Lamech. He “married two women” (Genesis 4:19).
Bathsheba felt the impact of grief.
She mourned for her husband, Uriah, as well as her child born from the adulterous affair with David. Both deaths occurred within a short timeframe.
13] And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, the LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
Article. Solomon, third king of Israel (reigned c. 968–928 B.C.E.), is said to have had a harem that included 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kgs 11:3). His wives were to have included the daughter of Pharaoh, as well as women of Moabite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite origins (1 Kgs 7:8; 11:1).
Bathsheba reminds David of his promise to appoint their son Solomon as king of Israel after him (I Kings, I, 15-20)
The prophet Nathan confronted King David about his adultery with Bathsheba and his arranging Uriah's death on the battlefield. Nathan explained that the consequences of David's actions would affect David, his family, and the entire kingdom.
Though Matthew's decision not to name Bathsheba in his genealogy covers the shame of David's sin against her, it risks doing so at the expense of her humanity.