In addition to Tamar, Rahab and Ruth, another woman gets mentioned in Matthew’s genealogical record, the record that lists the ancestors of Jesus, in Matthew 1. Let’s pick it up from verse 5: 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.
Uriah’s wife had a name. Does anyone remember who she was? Bathsheba. King David, the guy who came to be called “the man after God’s own heart,” he and Bathsheba were the parents of Solomon and were both listed in the ancestry of Jesus. But their story, just like the others we have unpacked, isn’t a pretty one. Three of the four women were part of situations that could be characterized as sex scandals. Those aren’t tidy stories. Many of us have similar stories in the background of our family trees. We don’t recall those episodes with fondness. What could God be saying to us this Christmas about the brokenness that comes from the sinful choices people make to be self-indulgent, to be led by their flesh? Let’s see what God has in store for us tonight!
I’m reading from II Samuel 11:
11 In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.
We learn from these opening verses that it was customary for kings to go off to war. We learn that David sent his fighting men and the whole army off to war. We also learn that David remained in Jerusalem. There is probably a whole sermon that could be developed about how bad things can happen when you are not where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there, but we’ll read on.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,
The text doesn’t suggest that David knew that a woman in a bathtub was going to be viewable from the roof. He just happened to be on the roof of the palace. Maybe it was cooler on the roof. Maybe he could feel a breeze on the roof. Maybe he needed to clear his hand because he was being convicted about not going with his men. Maybe that was the only place in the palace where he could be alone with his thoughts. Innocent enough.
The phrase, “There are some things you can’t unsee” can apply to things you wish you hadn’t seen and to things you would like to see more of. David saw the beautiful woman on the roof, and he kept looking. Instead of thinking to himself, “I need to get back inside the palace and turn my thoughts on something holy and helpful,” prompted by his flesh, he let his thoughts run away and cause him to act on those desires.
3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
He decided to check her out, to gain some information about her. He learned that she was not only married to someone else, but she was married to one of the guys who was out fighting battles on behalf of Israel. Uriah was someone David knew well. He was one of Israel’s most honored soldiers. He was listed in a special group of warriors, 30 men, who protected David when he was running for his life in the wilderness before he was a king. It was when King Saul was trying to kill David to keep him from ascending to the throne. David and Uriah had a history. Uriah had voluntarily put his life on the line to save David and to protect him while he was in the wilderness. It was incredibly dangerous. You can read about it in II Samuel 23. This wasn’t a random person. This was a friend of David. There was no ambiguity about who Bathsheba was by this point and no misunderstanding about the fact that she was married to a friend.
Y’all, it should have been game over. David should have reigned himself in, but instead of honoring one who had honored him, instead of maintaining his integrity, he acted on his desires further.
4 Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.
David summoned her. When the king summoned someone, they came. There is nothing in the text that suggests that Bathsheba seduced the king or tried to start something with David. This isn’t like the sweet love story of Ruth and Boaz. The king was in a position of power. Bathsheba was a married woman, but the king was in a position of power. Women didn’t have power. The wording above is interesting. It says he slept with her. There are other verses that indicate this was all King David’s idea. I personally believe he took advantage of Bathsheba. When this story is told, it is often said that David had an affair with Bathsheba. I’m not so sure that is the best way to express what happened. An affair would involve two parties who mutually make the decision to engage in that kind of relationship. The story leads me to believe otherwise. Bathsheba went back home. We don’t read that she began a series of visits to the palace. Maybe after David had his few moments of pleasure with Bathsheba what he had done hit him. Maybe an element of sorrow set in that night. We don’t know, but in addition to taking advantage of Bathsheba, David betrayed a friend in the process. Bathsheba went back home. Some time passed.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” David may have thought his indiscretion was in the clear. Maybe he thought his selfishness had flown under the radar. With the announcement of the pregnancy, he realized he has been caught. Any remorse he had experienced was gone as panic set in. Church, he could have confessed then. He could have called Uriah home from the battle and confessed what he had done. He could have repented to both Uriah and Bathsheba, but instead of confessing, he chose a cover up. I’m just going to leave this right here, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
6 So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going. 8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.
First of all, you can tell David’s conscience was weighing on him because he sent a gift to Uriah. Somehow, he was trying to “pay” for what he had done. He brought Uriah home because he wanted Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba and then somehow get him to think the child was his.
For that plan to work, what was Bathsheba going to have to do? She was going to have to keep quiet about what had happened, right? She was going to have to keep David’s secret about his sinful choice. What an unfair burden to put on Bathsheba. How awful to ask her to keep what happened from her husband and to allow her child to grow up thinking he had a different father.
So, not only did David take advantage of Bathsheba, but he wanted her to play along and carry the burden of a huge secret, a huge lie for the rest of her life. That is injustice upon injustice. But Uriah, though he was home, didn’t go home to his wife. Verse 9:
9 But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. 10 David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?” 11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents,[a] and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”
What a standup guy Uriah was. No one would have thought twice about him enjoying the night with his wife, but he was so others-focused that he couldn’t bring himself to do what was being suggested while his men were out there fighting on behalf of Israel. David’s plan was foiled. He had to come up with a plan B. Verse 12.
12 Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.
If Uriah wouldn’t think about himself in a sober state, David would get him drunk and hope that in his drunken state, he would go home to his wife. How low can a person go? Lower. We aren’t through with David’s plans yet.
14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”16 So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. 17 When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.
18 Joab sent David a full account of the battle. 19 He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, 20 the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? 21 Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth[b]? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”
22 The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. 23 The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. 24 Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”
Y’all, David had Uriah assassinated. An attempt to conceal sin led to murder. We also see how sin affects a person’s heart, not just for a moment, but how it makes a heart cold, indifferent and uncaring.
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”
Do you see David’s response to the success of his plan? His counsel to his commanding officer was like, “You win some, you lose some. Casualties are the cost of war. Just move on. Uriah is dead, but war is war.” How cold.
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.
Bathsheba wasn’t indifferent. She hurt. She mourned the loss of her husband. He was a good man, upstanding, honest, and brave. She loved her husband.
27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.
David sent for Bathsheba a second time. He took her as a wife. Maybe he thought by this time that the honorable thing to do would be to take care of the child he had fathered. But what he had done displeased the Lord. Again, the blame is laid at the feet of David. There isn’t a hint of impropriety on Bathsheba’s part. She would become the wife of the man who had her husband murdered. Can you let that sink in? How did she cope?
In I Samuel 12, God sent a man named Nathan to David to confront him of his sin. He spoke on behalf of God saying, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’”
Again, I believe this part of the story corroborates what I have said about Bathsheba being a victim. God didn’t send someone to confront Bathsheba. The cover up was despicable to God. The killing of Uriah was deplorable to God. God despised the action of taking Bathsheba to be his wife.
God was going to deal severely with David. You know those in spiritual authority, which David would have been considered a spiritual leader as King, those in authority will be held to the highest standard. God was going to put the smack down on David.
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” 13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
You think? Maybe David was starting to get it. Maybe he was realizing the gravity of the situation. Maybe he wasn’t just sorry he had gotten caught, but he was truly sorry. Maybe the severity of God’s judgment that was being meted out to him was causing him to understand the severity of his actions. We know he did get there because of all of the Psalms he wrote later that recalled his sin, his confession and his cleansing.
Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for[a] the Lord, the son born to you will die.”
Don’t forget that son was also Bathsheba’s. She had to feel as if she was in a nightmare from which she would never wake up. She had lost her life as she had known it. She had lost her husband. She was brought into the palace to be a wife to the man who had taken advantage of her and had literally stolen her life, and even though she may have struggled with the thoughts of carrying the child that was his, that child was still hers, too. I believe she loved that child. Verse 24 says David comforted Bathsheba. You only comfort someone who is in pain, who is grieving, and we grieve because we love.
You get the sense that David and Bathsheba got some help to move on from all of the tragedy. They have another child together. His name was Solomon. The fact that David stayed with her after the first child died kind of leads me to believe there was some healing between them. If he had taken her to be his wife only out of obligation due to the pregnancy, when the child had died, he might have felt released from the marriage or obligation. He could have reasoned that having Bathsheba around would just be a constant reminder of his sin, of his failure.
Here’s what I do know…Bathsheba wasn’t a forgotten woman. God didn’t forget about her. Her story was told. She wasn’t listed as David’s wife in Matthew’s genealogy. She was listed as the woman who had been Uriah’s wife. That’s important. Matthew didn’t try to gloss over that Bathsheba had been brought into the lineage of Jesus through the back door, through a twisted series of events. There was no cover up attempt with Matthew. He told the story as it happened. I like that about Matthew.
I’m sure it would have been easy for Bathsheba to sort of absorb David’s guilt. She didn’t have a lot of choices when it came to David’s request to come to him at the palace. Maybe she blamed herself for the pregnancy, for her husband’s death, for the death of her son. Scripture is clear where the guilt was to be placed. Instead of allowing David’s poor choices to overwhelm her, she invested herself in the mothering of Solomon. It was going to be a privilege to be the mother of the next King in Israel. She wasn’t damaged goods. She was the mother the next King of Israel needed.
Her son wrote Proverbs and the Song of Solomon, and she was credited as his mother. She had a valuable role in his life. He became who he was in large part because of her. There is something very noble and honoring about that. She was helpful to Solomon when someone named Adonijah tried to usurp his authority.
Bathsheba didn’t have any easy life. King David’s actions brought loss and pain into her life. Just having to adjust to palace life would be a lot, but the way all of that came about was tragic, yet she was used of God to be the mother of one whose descendants eventually led to the birth of the Savior. For as messy as sinful as David was, Jesus descended from the house and line of David and Bathsheba had a huge role in all of that coming to be.
You aren’t forgotten in God’s plan either. I don’t know what has happened to you, what has been done to you, how you have gotten where you are at this moment, but your story isn’t lost on God. He has seen every moment you were undervalued, every moment you were taken advantage of, every moment you were mistreated or used. God has a plan for you, a purpose beyond your pain. Trust Him to bring you to a place of honor. Trust Him to redeem your story. Trust Him to use every twist and turn to reveal your worth to Him and to bring Him the glory that is due His name.
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