Wednesday Bible Study: Ladies night part 6

 

Assumptions made without all the evidence never turn out well.  For example, I have heard a handful of negative things about radio pastor John McArthur.  But in the middle of the night last night (as I type), I heard him say something that hit me where I live.  What it was is not our point; what is , is that God uses him in MY life, which in turn lets me know that to make judgments based on "things I heard" is pretty foolish.

Now, I am not saying that previous speculations I've made about the character of Bathsheba are necessarily wrong; they're not just the whole story.  You see, I made speculation based on two things: a question of why it is she'd be bathing on a roof at a time when the city KNEW David was not with his troops, as he should have been; and why it is she is the only woman mentioned in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus that is not mentioned BY NAME.  I coupled the two and came up with 'golddigger'.

Logical? Perhaps.  Right? I'm not so sure anymore.

So let's step by step things, like I should have before.  First thing we know about her is her father, who had one of 2 names; 1 Chronicles 3:5 names him Ammiel, meaning, "People of God", while 2 Samuel 11:3 names him Eliam, or "People of God".  Not much difference, and both indicate a man of faith.  Next, let's look at the man she was married to, Uriah the Hittite.  Hittite he may have been, but he bore a Jewish name ("Flame of God"), and was one of David's 30 mighty men (which was actually 37, according to 2 Samuel 23).  And Bathsheba herself was named by two names; her familiar one, which meant, "daughter of the oath", plus in 1 Chr. 3, she was named Bathshua, or "daughter of wealth".  String this all together, her dad was a man of faith and wealth (and thus probably well known to David); Perhaps an oath to David had been sworn when she was a child, promising her to a 'mighty man', hence Uriah.

But this was 20-some years before, and the approximately 50- year old David didn't exactly remember all those mighty men, or the possibly still-teenaged Bathsheba.  I have to wonder now whether Bathsheba's with David was calculation or naivete.  Let me leap some 30 years (give or take) into the future, when Bathsheba seems still a bit naive...

1Ki 2:13  Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, "Do you come peacefully?" He said, "Peacefully."
1Ki 2:14  Then he said, "I have something to say to you." She said, "Speak."
1Ki 2:15  He said, "You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, for it was his from the LORD.
1Ki 2:16  And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me." She said to him, "Speak."
1Ki 2:17  And he said, "Please ask King Solomon--he will not refuse you--to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife."
1Ki 2:18  Bathsheba said, "Very well; I will speak for you to the king."
1Ki 2:19  So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mother, and she sat on his right.
1Ki 2:20  Then she said, "I have one small request to make of you; do not refuse me." And the king said to her, "Make your request, my mother, for I will not refuse you."
1Ki 2:21  She said, "Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah your brother as his wife."
1Ki 2:22  King Solomon answered his mother, "And why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my older brother, and on his side are Abiathar the priest and Joab the son of Zeruiah."
1Ki 2:23  Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, saying, "God do so to me and more also if this word does not cost Adonijah his life! 

Being the new husband of David's concubine would put Adonijah an "accident" happening to Solomon away from being king.  Solomon grasped this: Bathsheba apparently did not.  This had already happened once before, as Nathan the Prophet used her to let the 70-year old David know that Adonijah was trying to usurp Solomon a chapter earlier.  You would think that Bathsheba might have picked these kind of politics up in the 20-odd years of their marriage.  Of course, you might also think their relationship was still warm enough that David wouldn't need another teenager (Abishag) to keep him warm as he slipped towards death.  Apparently, you'd be 0-for-2.

So, instead of making a stretch and saying Bathsheba manipulated things, we have to go with something we already knew- pride and lust can make a man forget a lot of things; not only propriety and loyalty, but friends, oaths, and even trust.

Thus, if indeed we have blown one of my earlier assumptions out of the water, what about the other- the way Matthew brings her into the genealogy...

Mat 1:6  and Jesse fathered David the king. And David the king fathered Solomon of her who had been wife of Uriah.

And I think I finally figured this one out after finishing last week's study on Tamar.  You see, despite her past life, Rahab was legitimately (In God's eyes) married to Salmon; Ruth, despite being a foreigner, was legitimately married to Boaz; and Tamar brought forth twins to Judah, despite her being a daughter-in-law, legitimately through the Leviritic rule.  But God NEVER broke the marriage of Uriah and Bathsheba- David did.  And even though God forgave her and David the sin, He didn't forget the marriage.

The final nail in the coffin of my previous assumption comes with the addition of Luke's genealogy.  You see, despite all the wives, and the 13 sons, that David had, the lines from David both go through Bathsheba.  Solomon, her and David's second child, was father of the Kingly line that led to Joseph; and the line that led to Mary came from her third son, Nathan.  No matter which way you slice it, she was worthy to be a matriarch in the Messianic line.  And if that isn't proof that even divorce can be forgiven, nothing will be.