The story of Bathsheba, wife of the soldier Uriah, begins when King David sees her bathing on the roof of his castle. Whether for love, lust, or to regain a sense of manhood in his age, David sends for her, sleeps with her, and impregnates her. In order to cover up his mistake, David calls Uriah to go home and sleep with his wife so that that the child would appear to be his. Uriah declines because he wants to remain loyal and fight alongside his fellow soldiers. Therefore, David orders his general to fall back in battle, and leave Uriah behind to die. After mourning Uriah, Bathsheba moves in with David and becomes his wife. The baby she is carrying becomes Solomon. Later, when David’s legitimate son Adonijah is preparing to take the kingdom, Bathsheba (and Nathan the prophet), coaxes David into crowning Solomon king.
Bathsheba is only one of four women mentioned in His line, and so she must have done something to different than the dozens of other women who contributed an heir. Bathsheba is not Jewish, and is therefore a person on the outside. Though her husband fights for David and the freedom of the Jews, he and she are subordinates. Being a woman, Bathsheba is made even more outcasted and vulnerable. The combination of those two things put her place of absolutely no power. When David falls for her, she doesn't have the power to say no, especially to a king. When David arranges for Uriah's death, she has no power to stop it. Bathsheba is strongly hurt. Most likely she has been raped by David (and even if it wasn't rape, she must have felt bad for committing adultery), and because of her illegitimate pregnancy, she no longer has her husband. And yet, despite going through all this quietly and having no voice, Bathsheba eventually redeems herself. As a non-Jewish woman, she stands up to her new husband and uses her meeger yet new power as wife and queen, to get Solomon on the throne. Bathsheba is in Jesus lineage because she stands for the poor, and oppressed who have no power. She is a model and inspiration to those subordinates to stand up and get what belongs to them.
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2 comments:
I think that you don't really get to the heart of the matter: why Bathsheba is actually in the story. I can see why the story itself is in the bible, but why is bathsheba specifically mentioned. I like the point about how Bathsheba exerted some of the little power that she had, but it's hard to understand past that.
I liked your interpretation because it was very concise and to the point, but I think you could improve your explanation about why Bathsheba's in the genealogy beyond the fact that she committed a really bad sin. What exactly makes her story special enough and valuable enough to put in the bible? What lesson can be learned from it?
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