Hi everybody, I'm Cynthia Schaefer Elliott. I'm one of the nerds in residence and one of the topics that I address in the classroom and that I get asked a lot about is the whole David Bathsheba Uriah incident. You might have heard about this, you've probably read about it, or maybe you've heard someone preach or mention it about it being David's adultery with Bathsheba and I really just want to put the kibosh. that because that's just not the way I think if you actually read the text and if you actually kind of knew some background stuff about it so that's what I'm here to tell you about is some of the background stuff that might help you look at that text a little bit differently so within that text we're looking at 2nd Samuel 11 and that very first verse we get the narrator saying what's going on that Israel is at war but David is not at work.
David's at home in Jerusalem, indicating how much power and authority David had, that his kingdom was actually really powerful and really super impressive, that he didn't need to go to battle anymore. So he could say, hey, go take care of this. I'm going to stay home.
And so he did stay home in Jerusalem. And in Jerusalem, if you've ever been, you might know this, but the old city of Jerusalem, or what we call the city of David part of Jerusalem and there's lots of excavations going on there. It's absolutely fabulous.
I encourage you to go. So Jerusalem is in the hill country and it's Jerusalem is kind of on this bluff. It kind of looks like a tongue that's kind of sticking out.
And on all on two sides of it are major valleys the Kidron Valley on the east and then you got the Hinnom Valley that connects to it and then there's another little valley kind of going down to the side of the west side that's the Tyropian Valley and so we think Jerusalem based on the excavations Jerusalem was on that kind of bluff sticking out with those two to three valleys surrounding it And so excavations have shown that the high part of that bluff, so if you're thinking about like a profile, here's the high part and then the bluff kind of slopes downward like this and then you've got a valley there and a valley here. And so we think that the palace and the main part of the administrative part was on that high part. And so in Israelite houses during this Iron Age, houses were two stories.
They had a... flat roof and those flat roofs were used for hanging out when it's too hot to get the nice westerly breezes that come up in the afternoons and evenings or to do some light household chores. So the text tells us that David was not only home but that he went on the roof of his house and because the house is where those we think the palaces would or monumental buildings would have been located that he could see everything. He's on the high place and everyone else lived down here.
So when he's up there, he happens to see a beautiful woman bathing. Now, don't imagine she's in a bathtub and she's got soaps and she's, you know, out there for everybody to see. This is also the time period where there's no actual mikveh ot or ritual bath. And so...
she is more than likely, even though the text doesn't tell us exactly where she is, she's more than likely bathing within the privacy of her own home. And a lot of these houses had four courts in the front of them, an open space that was usually enclosed and private for that house and maybe, you know, the house next to it. She's not out there going, hey everybody, look at me. I'm naked and I'm beautiful.
She's not doing that. In fact, when David sees her, he asks who she is. And he says, And the messengers return telling him she is the daughter of Eliam and she is the wife of Uriah the Hittite.
Now, normally, when somebody gets married, especially a woman, she is, before she gets married, she's known as the daughter of so-and-so, right? And when she gets married, she's known as the wife of so-and-so. We very rarely get both when someone's already married. So that indicates that we know who her family is.
And... We know who her husband is. So Uriah, he's not even an Israelite, but he is one of David's entourage.
He's one of David's mighty men. Then we also learn about who her father is. And her father and grandfather were known within David's circles.
In fact, it's thought that her grandfather was probably an advisor to David. So her family is known. Her husband is known. And he still summons her. And with that great power, with that great authority, and David's on the right side.
roof of his house not Bathsheba. Bathsheba is not on the roof. Her name does not have anything to do with what she's doing.
Bath or bat in Hebrew means daughter. It's David that's on the roof. He looks down he sees her. asks who she is find out that he knows her family and her husband that she's married he still summons her now think about this all what i've told you already so far do you think she had a choice No, the answer is no. In my opinion, it's no.
So when he summons her and he basically rapes her. We also learn in a parenthetical note about why she was bathing, that she was purifying herself. after her period, which tells us two things.
When he sees her bathing, she's purifying herself after her period, meaning one, she's at the right time to conceive because you are unclean when you're on your period, you're unclean the week after your period. So you're right at that perfect time to conceive. But it also tells us something about Bathsheba's character. She is devout. Whatever kind of laws or culturally known accepted practices are going on at that time, religious rituals, she is observing it.
She is a devout religious woman doing what she is supposed to be doing when David summons her. So it's not her. her character that's in question is David's. So Bathsheba finds out that she's pregnant and she sends word to David and that's the only time she has a voice in the entire story. She sends word to David and then David has to start devising a plan because he knows that not only is she married but she's married to one of his guys.
So he summons her husband Uriah the Hittite from the battlefield. The battlefield where David is supposed to be, Uriah is. he summons him back to Jerusalem and you just don't do that you just don't do it and I imagine Uriah would have been like oh I'm in big trouble so he goes to David and David's face the way I imagine is like so what's up bro you know how's the battle going and Uriah is like it's fine we're okay and so then David tells him why don't you go home and wash your feet so in the biblical world feet was often not all the time but often a euphemism for genitalia so go home wash your feet i.e have sex with your wife that way he'll think when he finds out that she conceives that it's his child but uriah doesn't do that in fact he stays and sleeps with the servants in the entryway in the gateway of the palace he doesn't go home and one of those things is because when you go to warfare you do all these like sacred oaths before you go to battle and one of those oaths is that you would abstain from sexual activity So he takes that oath seriously. And he takes his loyalty to David and to the army, his comrades, seriously.
So here again, we have a super devout character that does what he's supposed to do. Just like Bathsheba is a super devout character. And David just totally takes advantage of them. So when he finds out the next morning, when David finds out the next morning that Uriah didn't go home, he has to think again, okay, how do I get this to work?
So he invites Uriah to a feast. He gets him all liquored up. He gets him fat with food, hoping that, as these things often do, impair our judgment. Hoping he'll go home, and he doesn't go home. Again, he shows his loyalty.
So David's like, well, dang, I've got to come up with another plan. So he has written out by a scribe, I would imagine, to Joab, his commander of the army. He gives him instructions on what to do. He tells him go up to the front lines, go to the wall, go to the city wall, and then pull back.
Make sure Uriah is in that front line and pull back, leaving him exposed so that he'll get killed and he'll die. So guess who delivers that message? Uriah. Uriah delivers his own death warrant to Yoab the commander.
And Yoab does exactly what David instructs him to do but the plan does not go well. In fact a lot of Israelites died and Yoab tells the messenger when David finds you tell David what happened and how poorly this battle went and he gets angry you tell him Uriah your servant is also dead and that's exactly what happens. The messenger comes to David. David gets upset that it doesn't go as well. The messenger says Uriah your servant is also dead.
And David's like, Oh, okay. Alright then. So after the appropriate amount of time of mourning, he takes Bathsheba as his wife. And then there's the whole, you know, Nathan the prophet telling David that what you've done is wrong and that as consequence this baby will die, and it does, and the sword will...
never depart from your house. So when we think about the character and integrity of David, especially in those books of Samuel, which we consider the Deuteronomistic history, you know that if you obey the covenant, there's blessings, and if you disobey, there's consequences. and kings are not immune from this and this whole story about David being a man after God's own heart yeah but he also he also struggles he also sins he also breaks the Covenant and there's consequences and the people that he basically steamrolled over in order to be this political mighty king so we talked about the rape of Bathsheba by David we talked about how the topography and archaeology help us understand the story a little bit differently than the way you would normally see it interpreted. But we also have to take into account that there is a mirror or parallel passage from that.
So if we talk about the David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11, just a couple chapters later in chapter 13, there's a story about David's daughter Tamar. Now in this story, David's first son, Amnon, who is the crown prince. Then we have Tamar. who is his half-sister, and then her full brother Absalom.
So we've got those three characters and then of course David. Now in that narrative Amnon is desperately in love, love in air quotes let's use that, with his half-sister Tamar. Now of course that's not generally acceptable practice but his friend gave him a plan. Hey if you want to be alone with her just pretend that you're sick and your father David will come see you and he'll give you whatever. you want and you ask for Tamar to come make you like something to help you feel better.
So that's exactly what happens. He pretends to be sick. David comes down. He's concerned about his son, especially his crown prince.
And he basically says, this is what I want. I want Tamar to come make food for me so I can eat from her hand. And so David does that.
He sends Tamar down to Amnon's house. She makes food and she goes to present it to him and he sends all the servants away so that they're alone. He He grabs hold of her and she has a voice. Unlike Bathsheba, the narrator gives her a voice and she says, no, don't do this thing.
Such a thing is not done in Israel. But he does it anyway. He rapes her.
And then after that, after that, he no longer loves her, but he loathes her. And he goes to push her out of the house to banish her. And she says, no, don't do this.
She says no twice. Don't do this because I. I will be ashamed.
I will have nothing. So when her brother Absalom finds out and he kind of puts two and two together and he ends up taking her into his house because she has nowhere to go anymore. And so when David finds out that Amnon has raped his daughter Tamar, David does nothing. He loves his sons, but apparently not his daughter. So Absalom, her brother, is furious not only with Amnon but with his father David and he vows to take revenge a couple years later at a sheep shearing feast Absalom kills Amnon and David is so upset and Absalom has to flee so again he cares more about his sons and his daughters so when Nathan had after Bathsheba the incident with Uriah and Bathsheba when Nathan the Prophet had condemned David and said the sword The Lord will never depart from your house.
This is really the beginning of that. Because Absalom not only takes his revenge on Amnon, but he also vows to take revenge on his father, David. And he tries to overtake David's throne.
And one of the ways he does this is by infiltrating David's harem, all of his wives. And what David did privately, Absalom did. does publicly he infiltrates the harem on the roof of the palace so everyone knows what's happened