BATHSHEBA: MISUNDERSTOOD MOM

To All the Moms Who Quietly Persevere Against All Odds

Bathsheba may be the most misunderstood mom in the Bible. She has been portrayed as a vixen, a seductress, and worse. She is so judged and defined by one act of adultery that it is largely forgotten: (a) that she lost an infant son, and (b) that she raised a child who would later be known as the wisest king who ever lived. What can we learn from her experience as a mother?

Wife Mourns

 

The Bathsheba’s Story

[This story is taken from 2 Samuel 11]

Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah. She may have been very young since there is no indication she had any children with Uriah. She was beautiful. One day she was bathing on the roof of her house. Let’s get one thing straight – She was not doing anything wrong – This was a common place to bathe in a day before indoor plumbing.

 

King David was on the roof of the Royal Palace. He saw her. He liked what he saw. He asked one of his servants who she was. He discovered that she was the wife of one of his most trusted generals. He sent the servant to get her. He had sex with her. He sent her back home.

 

She finds that she is pregnant. It couldn’t have been her husband because he was out fighting a war. David doesn’t want her. So, David brings Uriah back from the front lines so that he will sleep with his wife (the cover-up begins). Uriah refuses. David has Uriah killed.

 

David then takes Bathsheba (a few months pregnant) into his stable of wives. She gives birth. The baby dies. David puts the whole ordeal behind him with the statement, “What can you do?” (2 Samuel 12:23)

 

The Bathsheba Myths

Bathsheba may be the most misunderstood mom in all of history (she is certainly one of the most misunderstood characters in the Bible). Let me dispel a few myths.

1. Bathsheba did not seduce David

Bathsheba is passive in the narrative. She never even speaks. As a woman and the wife of one of David’s soldiers, she would have been completely powerless to say no to the King for anything.

 

There is nothing in the story that indicates she was in love with David or even wanted to be with him. There is nothing in the rest of the story to indicate that she ever loved David after this incident (or that he ever really loved her; David actually favored a few other wives).

 

2. David is the central character in the story, and the narrator puts the full weight of the blame on him.

The story begins by saying that when this happened David should have been with his fighting men. Instead, while his men were fighting and dying, he was enjoying the comfort of the palace, lusting after their wives.

 

David sees Bathsheba. David lusts after her. David sends for her. David takes her. David is the active character. All the other characters in the story – Uriah, Bathsheba, the King’s messenger, Joab – are passive and simply follow David’s commands.

 

Later, when the prophet Nathan confronts David on this matter, he makes it clear that it was David who stole Bathsheba from Uriah. The transgression was David’s. The adultery was committed by David. Bathsheba was powerless to stop it and is never blamed in the narrative.

 

3. Bathsheba is not a seductress; she is a victim.

Before there was the #metoo movement there was this story. David was the most powerful man in the nation. He saw what he wanted, and he took it. He violated Bathsheba’s virtue, as the wife of a war hero. He ruined her reputation.

 

4. Bathsheba was a mother who experienced terrible loss; she was violated and then lost her husband and first child.

This is often lost in the story. Bathsheba experienced terrible loss. She was violated by a powerful man. Her husband, a faithful and loyal war hero, was murdered at the King’s command. She genuinely mourned his death. She was then taken into the house of the man who murdered her husband. She lost her first child in infancy. This is a lot to take.

 

Bathsheba and Motherhood

There are just a couple of points I want to make about Bathsheba as a mother.

1. She was misunderstood.

I think I’ve covered this one. Allow me simply to say – Mothers have often been misunderstood by our culture. We probably don’t applaud them enough. We should celebrate Mother’s Day at least once a month. Hallmark would love it.

 

2. She was resilient.

Bathsheba took each blow with quiet grace. She played the cultural part of submissive wife throughout the story, obeying the authoritative men in her life at every turn. I know that in our modern-day culture we might judge her negatively for this – but, this was the world she lived in. This was the only way for her to survive.

 

That’s what I want to say about Bathsheba – she didn’t embrace the role of victim – she was a survivor.

 

At the very end of the story (years later) she finally speaks, and her words are full of grace, wisdom and strength! (1 Kings 1:17; 2:21) She was resilient.

 

3. She was a great mother (against all odds).

She not only overcame the grief associated with losing a husband and an infant, she also raised Solomon, who would become the wisest and most successful king in Israel’s history, far eclipsing anything his father David had done.

 

When David is on his deathbed, Bathsheba comes to him with one final request: to make her son, Solomon, King over Israel (instead of Adonijah, who had already made a claim to the throne). David grants her request (1 Kings 1:17).

 

To the end, Bathsheba is a mother who is fighting for her child. She is a great mother!

 

 

Bathsheba is a tribute to all moms who are misunderstood and fight against terrible odds to love their children well. No matter how hard it is and no matter what people may say about you – You are winners in God’s eyes!

 

A Modern Day Bathsheba

Ieshia Champs wanted to be a lawyer since she was little. But a series of setbacks in her life put that dream on hold. She lost her husband to cancer, leaving her with five children to care for. Even then, she found the strength to keep pursuing her dream. This is a “Bathsheba Story” because Ieshia refused to be a victim — she persevered, against all odds, to become a success and a great mom!

 

 

 

DAY 6 –> LOIS: GODLY GRANDMOTHER