There is no other way to get around this: the story of Bathsheba is intense.
Consider yourself warned.
And there is a lot to this story, ergo, I will be using bullet points today.
Go read it: II Samuel 11, 12, and I Kings 1, 2
Because you all just read it, I will give you no overview, just references.
1. The story starts off with Bathsheba having to do something she never wanted to do.
Put yourself in her shoes. Imagine if you will that you are Bathsheba. You have an army general husband who is not at home. He is fighting the war that a certain king is not, and you thus go about your days, minding your own business, when one day you get a messenger at the door. "Ah yes, Mrs. Uriah, the king saw you in the shower this morning and is requesting that you visit him. He won’t take no for an answer."
Excuse me, WHAT?!!? Saw me in the shower?!
I added that little "he won’t take no for an answer" because from what I have gathered over the years is that they had a high respect for the law in those days. If the king called you, you came. If he didn’t call you, you didn’t go. If you went when he didn’t call, you died. If you didn’t go when he called, you died.
Naturally, she went.
Did she know what the meeting was about? That’s what I want to know. Did she even know that he had seen her bathing? Was she able to question at all? The ESV says that the messengers "took her," which is very similar wording to when Esther was "taken" to the palace. I guess what I am getting at is that I don’t think it was a carriage that turned into a pumpkin at midnight. While she may not have been taken kicking and screaming, I don’t think she had much say in the matter.
Once she got to the palace, I think she had even less of an opportunity to negotiate. Now, it doesn’t say that she was forced into any act, and it doesn’t say she put up a fight either. But part of me feels like I get it. I mean, if she stayed at home in the first place there was a pretty good chance she would die. And if she didn’t do what the king wanted once she got there, there was a pretty good chance she would die. Does that mean that what she did was ok? Absolutely not. Quite the contrary. Both parties were direly wrong. But I understand why she did what she did, and all I can do is pray that if I was put in a similar situation, I would use the given grace to choose death. It definitely brings up things to think about. For instance, what lines do you have drawn so securely that come some situation, no matter what your outcome options are, you stick to what is Biblically the right thing to do? No ifs, ands, or buts about it. The decision was made in your mind a long time ago. Be prepared and know where your lines are, and pray about where your lines NEED to be. Because times will come when we HAVE to know and we won’t have time to negotiate.
2. Bathsheba’s life also was not going as planned! After the "incident," what happened? HER HUSBAND GETS MURDERED! Somewhere along the line I think we forget that her 5-year-plan was NOT to be married to David, but rather Uriah. The one she WAS married to when we meet her in the story. What I want to grasp is that Bathsheba was going about her daily life when BAM! All of the sudden this biggest choice of her life LITERALLY came knocking on the door. A choice she never intended to have to make and one that, no matter what she decided to do, was going to alter things drastically. And thus make the life she always wanted not possible.
3. We all know what happens later: Bathsheba finds out that she is pregnant by this guy. And THEN this prophet comes to David and says "Since you have done these detestable things, and since you have NO PITY on this woman, this child that will be born to both of you will not survive." It
talks about how David stays by the death bed of the baby the whole time. It doesn’t mention it specifically, but I know Bathsheba was there, too. Of course she was. She was this baby’s MOMMY. She was there. And then, the baby dies. Did she ever feel any guilt, I wonder? Surely she must have. David wasn’t the only one who had to go through this. David AND Bathsheba had to suffer the consequences of their sin. When the prophet came to David I really believe he had a change of heart, but even if God redeemed them from that situation, even if He was going to make good come out of it, they had to live in the wages of the sin they committed.
In that time did David try to make things right with Bathsheba? Did he apologize? He must have. A man after God’s own heart would have.
4. This is such an interesting turn then. David marries Bathsheba. So far in the story she was married and living her life, she was taken and gets pregnant by another guy, her husband gets murdered by the father of this baby, their baby dies, then she has to marry the guy.
Goodness. Sakes.
Can you imagine how much she had to forgive this guy? She had found herself at the mercy of someone who had no pity for her. She had found herself with regret from a situation she never wanted to be in or never intended to be in. I know without a doubt that some of you reading this have had to struggle through hurts and issues brought on by someone who has no pity. I know that because the girl who is typing this has had to struggle through that. What a strange thing finding yourself broken over a situation, attempting and (for me) sometimes failing miserably at forgiving someone who will never apologize and doesn’t want to be forgiven. Someone who doesn’t think that what they did was wrong, or know to the extent that it burned you.
"Seventy times seven," Jesus said to me about that situation. "Forgiveness isn’t just one time."
In certain situations you have to choose to forgive that person every day. Every time the devil wants to bring it back up, I have to muster the courage to say, "I yield my "rights" to an apology from that person." Bathsheba might have had to do that.
I hope that Bathsheba learned to trust David over time. I hope that David started acting in a way that deserved her trust. When their baby was dying, in those inky dark nights, did they iron out their relationship problems they had from the start? They didn’t have the option of running away from this; it was face it and deal with it, or forever be bound by your bitterness.
5. Fortunately, I think they did iron out their issues. Bathsheba acquired and kept a place of importance in the kingdom of Israel during David’s reign. Later, Bathsheba gave birth to Solomon. The king who would build the house of the Lord. The one who would become the wisest human man to ever walk the earth. The king who would experience peace during his reign.
Beauty for ashes, isn't it? Bless you, woman. Peace and wisdom came out of your trials.
I love the story of Bathsheba. She lived the truth; she birthed the truth. "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; those living in the land of deep darkness, on them the light has shown…for to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."
Surely a King will sit on the throne of David forever.
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