God's People: Bathsheba

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.
In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.” As Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant warriors. The men of the city came out and fought with Joab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was killed as well. ~ 2 Samuel 11:1-17


 If you wonder why there are so many Psalms of lament and asking for forgiveness from David, this just might be the answer.

 There are a lot of things that David has done right up until now, as well as some things not so right. But this is probably the most not-right thing he has done.

 So much not right: lusting after a married woman; sleeping with a married woman; trying to trick the husband of the married woman into sleeping with her so he can pass off the child as belonging to the man.

 And then sending the married man off to be killed in battle when the tricks don't work.

 In this story, there is one piece though that sometimes gets glossed over.

 This story is sometimes referred to as the adultery of David and Bathsheba.

 But could it perhaps instead be called the rape of Bathsheba?

 Nowhere here are we told Bathsheba consented to this act. Possibly she did. But most likely, way back in the day, when a king comes and demands you sleep with him, there was little you could do but comply.

 We can probably add rape then to the list of David's sins.

 And yet still he was a king after God's own heart.

 So what's the difference between David and all the other sinning kings? 

 Or between David and all the politicians today that are caught in compromising acts?

 Repentance.

 David was a king aware of his humanity and brokenness and sin. He was a king not afraid to admit so to his God. Repentance means to turn back or change your mind and your heart. David did his utmost to live this out.

 And Bathsheba? What of her? Did she need to repent? Was she a willing participant in adultery or a victim of sexual assault?

 We don't know for sure, although we can guess. We do know that the child from this union died because of the sin of the act, and we know that Bathsheba's son, Solomon, would become the great king after his father.

 And so it goes, doesn't it? Sometimes we know what happens to the sinners, but don't know what happens to victims. Sometimes we don't know the truth about a crime and the participants. Sometimes the truth is worse even than we suspect. 

 And yet God is still working out something larger than what we can see. Giving hope where things seem hopeless. Making new out of relinquished dreams. Turning violence into peace.

 It doesn't take away the tragedy or sadness or sin of those dark moments or events. It doesn't tell us we shouldn't have sorrow or regret for them.

 But it does say that they will not have the last word.

 Maybe you've seen that in your life, and maybe that is enough to give hope that it can happen in the world as well.
Prayer: God of hope, help me to see your work even in the midst of the darkness. Amen.

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