A follow up for those of you who have privately, and otherwise, messaged me about Bathsheba’s story being a case of rape on David’s part.
I want to re-iterate:
The written Scriptures are unclear.
…and, we must stay hermeneutically sound as we study what God’s word says…
Agreed, I have looked at several commentaries, and there are opinions to be found on both sides of the aisle…
…But, my job, as I study Scripture, is not to say more than what a passage is saying.
Certainly some things are easily understood, because we know human nature…
…For example, let’s take a look at what Bathsheba experienced in approximately a 6-month-period of time:
- She went from being the married wife of a soldier (who obviously put his soldiering, and his reputation as one of David’s 30 mightiest men before family…making me wonder, just what kind of priorities did Uriah hold) to being widowed to being remarried (to the KING, no less).
- She went from being childless, to being with child, to birthing a precious son, who passed from this world within a week’s time.
- She went from being an ordinary housewife, in an ordinary home, to living in the palace as Queen to the nation’s beloved King David.
- She went from obscurity to being the talk of the nation (had there been paparazzi, she would have graced the cover of every tabloid and People magazine of the day).
Yet, Bathsheba carried all of this with unfolding grace and unusual strength of character…and upon the death of her child, following a period of grieving, allowed David to “comfort her” (naham: to console, to empathize, show tenderness, compassion, warmth and mercy).
AND, if you read 1 Kings, chapter 1, you will quickly realize that Bathsheba was not one to sit by quietly, and not speak up. In this story, as Bathsheba confronts David on his promise to make their son, Solomon, king upon his death, we quickly note there is much more to Bathsheba than mere victim.
No matter what happened, we cannot deny that Bathsheba experienced a tangled mess of painful, emotional, traumatic, personal responses. If anyone needed a counselor, this dear girl did! It is NEVER easy to heal from this much emotional turmoil, and rebuild your life… But, in this one moment of stolen passion (no matter what ensued prior to it – and, again, I’m not saying it wasn’t rape…WE DO NOT KNOW!), life was complicated and messy…and, truly, even after David’s repentance, he and Bathsheba never really recovered completely (read the rest of David’s messy drama)…
As to the culture of the day…and the thought that Bathsheba really had no choice but to go to the King, I found this from two or three different trusted writers (the ones who have written the published commentaries – I am quoting but one):
“Many believe Bathsheba had no option but to meekly follow David’s messengers to the court, because to disobey, or refuse, could have potential dire consequences. However, during those days, it was total knowledge that no Jewish citizen had to obey a king who himself claimed to be under God’s law. For in following the Lord, the King covenanted with both His Holy God, and God’s people, to submit to the Divine Law (Warren Wiersebe).”
I’m just asking you to ponder these thoughts…
I simply do not know what happened…
AND… because the Lord doesn’t make it clear in His Word about what took place, intimately, between these two people, then there is a BIGGER MESSAGE we are to focus on.
Here is the BIGGER MESSAGE:
God is a God of second chances.
And, those of us who mess up can still be “men (& women) after God’s own heart…”
We might even be found doing something extraordinary for the Lord…
Ponder, in wonder, about one more thing….
1 Samuel 3:1-5 would suggest that Bathsheba was Davids’ seventh wife (keep in mind numbers often have meaning in Scripture)… However, this passage does not mention Michal, David’s first wife, who remained barren. So, in reality, we count Bathsheba’s as David’s eighth wife.
This is truly SIGNIFICANT…
The number 8 in Scriptures is often used to symbolize “new beginnings.”
With the birth of Solomon to David and Bathsheba, this hope was fulfilled for both the King and Bathsheba.
There’s something about “beginning again” that cleans the slate, washes away emotional pain, and releases us from bondage. Repentance is that eraser. It is an incredible reset button. It is the delete key on all of the junk from our past that we wish we could wipe away.
Repentance is the do-over we all need.
Repentance via confession to both God and our fellow man…
The Lord, knowing our needs as well as He does, provided a way for us to begin again, live in hope, right our wrongs, and find healing from our pasts.
No matter the ensuing consequences of what followed David and Bathsheba, their hearts were restored. They were given a “begin-again.”
THIS IS GOSPEL-GRACE!
So….all this to say, some things we can’t ever know, so we don’t focus on taking a “side” (especially when based on opinion, or some sociological/psychological trend of the day)…
What we do is focus on the BIG PICTURE OF GOSPEL GRACE extended to all of us.
God qualifying the unqualified.
God making the ordinary extraordinary.
God.