Since Uriah, her husband, was away at war, it would be obvious that the child she was carrying was not his. She could not have known that reaching out to David in desperation would result in the murder of her husband. Bathsheba also did not necessarily want to marry David, but she had no other option. She was pregnant and widowed, so when David sent for her and brought her into his household, she did not resist.
Although the description of the events in 2Sam 11 is so vague and lacking in detail that either of these readings is possible, there are indications further on in the narrative that the biblical author viewed Bathsheba as innocent of wrongdoing.
Though the text never tells us exactly what happened between David and Bathsheba on that balmy spring evening, the evidence appears to indicate that it was likely not a mutually consensual liaison. Rather, Bathsheba was an innocent victim who was subjected to an egregious abuse of power and who tried to salvage whatever she could out of a terrible situation.
Hilary Lipka, "David and Bathsheba", n. The biblical texts create a complex portrait of a King David who was both a revered leader and a flawed man. The story of David, Uriah, and Bathsheba complicates the biblical portrait of David and reflects a strand of deep skepticism about kingship in some biblical traditions. Biblical femmes fatales such as Judith, Delilah, and Salome, using their charms to accomplish lethal hidden agendas, epitomize the male fantasy of predatory female sexuality.
The biblical prohibition against adultery for wives but not husbands, and the use of the adulterous-wife motif in a variety of other texts, reveals a double standard that values men over women. View more. Not when being taken from her home. Not when he wanted to have sex with her. Not when being sent back home immediately after. Bathsheba suffered the loss of her husband. When Bathsheba found herself pregnant, she sent word to the king, likely in a panic.
Not long after this, her husband was reported dead. But whoever killed him, her husband was dead, and she was now a pregnant widow.
Grieving the loss of her husband was likely augmented by the hormones raging from her pregnancy. In her devasted state, King David took her again, this time as his wife.
Her life as she knew it before her ceremonial bath was gone forever. She suffered the loss of her newborn baby. After Bathsheba moved in with the king, perhaps she thought that would be the end of her sorrow. Her newborn baby died just seven days after the prophet Nathan rebuked King David 2 Samuel We know from 2 Samuel that David knew why the baby boy died. Even David recognizes his crime.
That is rape, to be sure. That argument proves the point exactly: Forcing a person to choose between sex and death is rape. He condemns David for sinning against Uriah and God himself. Nothing in the text indicates rape. The root of these objections seems to be a concern not to apply our 21st-century understanding of sexual abuse to the Bible.
It allows us to think that the preacher just had a lapse in judgment. Particularly relevant to this conversation is the story of Jules Woodson, whose alleged abuser recently announced plans to start a new church. Woodson was 17 years old when, she has publicly declared, her youth pastor, Andy Savage, sexually assaulted her. He never faced charges, due to the statute of limitations. The church stood and applauded while Savage wiped away tears and his pastor embraced him.
Should Savage and others like him be forgiven? Yes, absolutely. This is about justice and accountability. This is why it matters that we get it right that David raped Bathsheba. Ideology drives action, and, for many evangelicals, a skewed perception of power dynamics and sexual violence is at the wheel.
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