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

 As you no doubt have guessed, I have a reason for putting the word ‘merry’ in quotation marks for this subseries. So far, the wives of David have not always been merry, and David has not always been thoughtful and kind. Seems that David was always lusting, rarely loving.  

 The affair with Bathsheba, including the killing of her husband, Uriah, seems to have been the tipping point that exposed David’s weakness as a husband and as a father.

 Last week we read that God’s prophet, Nathan, pointed directly at David and shouted, “You are the man!” Being caught in a web of lies is one thing; but sinning continually when you are supposed to represent the honor and power of God is another. Forgiveness there is, but there are still consequences to sin. Here is what God says to David.

 “Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and in broad daylight.” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “Now the LORD has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child born to you shall die.” Then Nathan went to his house” (II Samuel 12:10-15). 

 David confesses, but we are not privileged to hear what Bathsheba thought about it. In a society where men take all power for themselves, they also incur the responsibility or, in this case, the culpability. Therefore, men must face the consequences of their own lawlessness, and women have to bear the pain. No one, not even the king, is above the law, though down through the ages many a despot has thought that they were. 

 This story is already a lesson in the difference between forgiveness and consequences. God may forgive, and usually God is disposed to forgiving since that is basic to God’s character. However, consider this example. A man kills another person, asks for forgiveness and receives it from God. Does that forgiveness restore the victim to life? No, it does not. What does forgiveness do? It puts the sinner back into a relationship with God, a relationship where God can monitor the sinner’s behavior from there on. Still, life is not the same and there will be consequences. Living with the consequences is part of discipleship, while paying the price for continual sinning is a part of justice. 

 We owe something to the victim. We hurt, we learn, we grow. But in David and Bathsheba’s case, how will this process work out now? For Bathsheba, we do not know, the text will not let her speak.

 We are told that Bathsheba’s child became very ill. 

“David pleaded with God for the child; David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. The elders of his house stood beside him, urging him to rise from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them” (II Samuel 12:16-17). 

 What is going on here? David knows God but he does not know for sure what God will do. While there is a chance, he fasts and prays. Will God answer his prayer? He can only hope. 

 “On the seventh day the child died.”

 When the elders fearfully told David the child had passed away, David got up, washed, and went to the table to eat. When asked about this change in his demeanor, David confirmed what we wrote above.

 “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows” The LORD may be gracious to me, and the child may live’. But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me’” (II Samuel 12:22-23).

 After this, the text says that David consoled his wife Bathsheba. David also wrote Psalm 51. That is a thoughtful reflection on this incident. I recommend that you read it and consider it now in this new light.