July 25, 2021
First Lesson Psalm 14
1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
there is no one who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.
3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread,
and do not call upon the Lord?
5 There they shall be in great terror,
for God is with the company of the righteous.
6 You would confound the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is their refuge.
7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
Second Lesson 2 Samuel 11:1-15
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.
2 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. 3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” 4 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. 5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going. 8 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. 9 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. 10 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?” 11 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.” 12 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, 13 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.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. 15 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.”
My name is Bathsheba, which means “daughter of abundance.” I came from a good family; some would say a noble family. My grandfather was a counselor to King David and my father was a general in David’s army. As a young woman, I did what was expected and I married well. My dear husband was strong and honorable. Uriah was a Hittite and a mighty warrior who bravely fought for his king. We had not been married long, when spring arrived, and the troops went off to battle the Ammonites. King David usually led the men into battle, but this year he remained at home sending Joab and all the generals, my husband included, into war.
I remained at home, taking care of the many tasks to run our household. I enjoyed making a home for my new family and was hopeful for all that might come. I loved my husband and was dreaming of the day we could start our family. So I was disappointed when my period came and once again we must wait for a child, a blessing from God. But I did as the law required and went to the baths to perform the purification rituals (Lev. 15:19-28). This allowed me to resume my role in society, because during my time of bleeding, I was considered ritually unclean. I went to an open-air bath near my home, which was also close to the palace. As I was finishing my purification ritual, a king’s messenger barged in and interrupted. At first, I wondered why the King would want to speak with me. I was scared. Maybe he wanted to talk to me about my husband, Uriah. Maybe he was injured. Or perhaps the king had news about my father Eliam also one of the King’s generals. What could be so important that the king would summon me now.
But summon was a kind way of describing this. King David knew I was married, knew I was the wife and daughter of the elite leaders, and yet his guard seized me, captured me to be taken to the king. What could he want with me? Questions were racing through my head; fears were plaguing my heart. But what choice did I have. I was a young woman whom mighty King David wanted to see. My husband and father, who would normally protect my honor, were off fighting a war. His war. So I went.
The palace was grand. King David was the most powerful King ever. He had united all the tribes of Israel and had defeated our enemies. He had power, position, wealth and God’s favor. He had brought the Ark of the Covenant to tabernacle in the City of David, in Jerusalem. Above all, David was my king.
When I arrived, the king looked at me with desire in his eyes. I had seen that look before from men. I knew what it meant. I was blessed with beauty, but that also got me unwanted attention. Like the saying goes, Women were good for two things, beauty and procreation. In this moment I certainly did not want this kind of attention from my king. I was a married woman. I wanted to be faithful to my husband. But I was no more than property and had not rights. The laws about adultery were painfully clear for women, I could be put to death for such a transgression. This law dates back to Moses and the Ten Commandments, but my king was forcing me to do this despicable thing. The king already had multiple wives and children and he did not need another wife.
King David took me, he laid with me, some might say he raped me. I had no choice in the matter. I had no voice in the matter. I had no agency to change the course of that moment. When he was done, he sent me home, discarded me.
Ironically, I would conceive a child with my king. I was devastated when I found out I was pregnant with his child and not Uriah’s. I shamefully sent word to the king and waited. What would happen? How could I face this disgrace? All I wanted to do was have my husband hold me. But he was off at war, and I was scared of what he would think of me once he figured out the child was not his.
Thankfully he never did. Uriah was killed in battle. I heard later that he had returned at the king’s request before his death, but I never saw him. What I would have given to have seen my husband one last time. He was a dedicated soldier, a faithful husband, and an honorable man.
After Uriah’s death, the king took me as his wife. I bore a son for king David, my precious baby boy. But tragically he died shortly after the prophet Nathan rebuked King David for what he had done to me. Well how he had taken what belonged to my husband Uriah and then killed him for it. Nathan declared to David, “Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife…Now the sword will never leave your house” (2 Sam 12:9-10). That was a turning point for the king. Yes, he still had power and wealth, but he had lost God’s favor, he had fallen from grace. His abuse of power, disregarding God’s law, changed David in God’s sight. David repented and prayed to God for a clean heart and for God to put a new and right spirit within him (Psalm 51). Yet soon his sons would be creating chaos, killing each other, and fighting for the throne.
Some would tell you my husband David was a mighty warrior, a faithful person, and a powerful king who had found favor in God’s sight. His zeal for God and for ethical integrity paved the way for his early fame and fortune. All of that is true. But he also had a dark side to him. The one I saw the day he lusted after me and changed my life forever.
David and I had four sons together. Our first son died as an infant; the price paid for how he was conceived. Our second son, Solomon, was a middle son of the nineteen that David had with his many wives. Nathan nicknamed him, Jedidiah, “beloved of the Lord.” Later in life, as the political tides were changing, I needed to secure a future for myself and for my son. David was aging and declining in power. His son, Adoni’jah was planning to assume the throne, leaving Nathan and I out (1 Kings 1:28-53). So I partnered with the prophet Nathan to secure that Solomon would become king. I “reminded” the king he had promised to make Solomon king and Nathan backed up my story. I found my voice, my agency, and with the help of Nathan and the fulfillment of God’s promise of an everlasting covenant, my son Solomon became king.
My son would do what David could not do; he built the temple for the Lord. It took seven years for the Temple to be built. Yes, David brought the Ark of the Covenant to dwell in the City of God, but it was Solomon who built God’s temple. During the “Golden age of Israel” my son reigned for 40 years, like my husband before him. God also granted Solomon wisdom and understanding as well as riches and good fortune. Solomon solidified the kingdom though trade and diplomatic alliances often through marriages to daughters of foreign leaders, much like David married Michal, Saul’s daughter.
That fateful day at the baths changed my life forever. I lost my honor, my husband, and the future we had planned. My consolation is that God chose my son Solomon to be the next king of Israel. This meant that David’s kingdom endured, that God’s kingdom endured, even as both kings struggled with being faithful to God. God’s promise of an everlasting covenant, Berit Olam, originated with my husband David and was strengthened by my son. I feel blessed to have played a small part in God’s purpose. God’s everlasting covenant with David declares, “I will make for you a great name… I will appoint a place for my people Israel… He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish a throne for his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son… Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me, says the Lord (2 Sam. 7:4-17). Amen.
