Women with a Story to Tell: The 'Merry' Wives of David: Bathsheba.

 One would think that David has enough wives; but his attitude and behavior toward women is his weakness. His character flaw carries over into the next generation; it is also Solomon’s weakness. We saw some of the results because we followed the woes of David’s wife Maacah to its end, that is, until Scripture stops telling her story. That tragedy happened after this affair with Bathsheba. In fact, this case of adultery unwinds David’s life. 

 Who was at fault? Scripture is not clear. Here is the way that II Samuel tells the story. David is in his middle age, the king of Israel resting in his palace in Jerusalem. Israel goes to war in the spring of the year, the time for making war at the borders, but David stays back and lets his generals handle the actual fighting. 

 As the old saying goes, ‘idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” David is lounging around the palace, then “late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, … he saw from the roof woman bathing: the woman was very beautiful” (II Samuel 11:1-2). 

 Some people, men actually, have interpreted this as Bathsheba’s fault, just as some men accuse a scantily dressed woman as ‘just asking for it’ when a rape occurs. Was she bathing on her rooftop so the king would spy her? Probably not since this was the common practice of the time; no one looking into a house would see a woman bathing on the roof. In this case, one might ask what David is doing walking around snooping on the small houses down below where the commoners live. 

 At any rate, David made the first move. “David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, ‘This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite” (II Samuel 11: 3). There you have it. She’s from a good family and she is already married, so forget it. Turn away, David, turn away.

 Let me explain another feature of this story before we go on. Uriah the Hittite is one of many people in the land of Israel who are not Jews; they are aliens living in the land who are of some other ethnic origin. The Hittites are the remnant people of the Hittite Empire which was powerful in the 1400s through the 1200s in the area of Turkey, north of Israel. The Hittites were from Europe and spoke an Indo-European language; they were not Semitic speakers like others in the Ancient Near East.

By David's time, the Hittites had not been an organized power for about 200 years, but some of the Hittite people were still scattered among the nations. So, Uriah was an alien (immigrant) living in the land and serving in the Israelite army. God has said over and over again that the alien must be treated well. In fact, God said, “Cursed be anyone who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice” (Deuteronomy 27: 19). And that curse is exactly what happens.

  A little voice echoed: ‘Turn away, David!’ But, like so many, David used his position to satisfy himself. “So, David sent messengers to her, and she came to him, and he lay with her” (II Samuel 11: 4). When you are rich and powerful, you can do anything to women, right?    

 A month went by, then Bathsheba sent David a message telling him that she was pregnant. The game is up then. Her husband Uriah cannot be the father since he has been at the front fighting the king’s wars. What now? There are only two choices: confess and face the consequences or find some way to hide the sin so no one can find out about it. What will David do? What would you do?

 David hit upon a scheme to cover his sin. He sent word to his general, Joab, and gave orders that Uriah be sent back to Jerusalem to report on the status of the fighting. David received Uriah, heard his report, and then told him to go to his house and rest for the night before returning to the front. That should take care of it. He will make love to his wife, and later he will think that the baby is his. 

 But Uriah is an honorable man, more so than David. Instead of going to his house, he slept out in the open on the palace doorstep. When David asked him why, he said that he would not sleep in luxury while his fellow soldiers and officers were sleeping on the ground at the front. Now what? The guy is loyal and honest.

 David orders him to stay another night, then entertains Uriah at dinner. Having filled him with wine, David sends him home. However, Uriah did not go but slept again at the palace grounds. David is now panicking. What more can he do to cover his and Bathsheba’s sin? 

 It is written that, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14: 12). That is one of the sayings of Solomon who is David and Bathsheba’s son. How does Solomon know that this proverb tells the truth?