We look through the Bible with Western eyes that see social hierarchies and power dynamics in Western ways. When we add Marxism to the mix, it gets 10 times worse.
Such was the case when this exchange surfaced between semi-woke ERLC leader Russell Moore (has he said anything about Roe yet???) and Rachel Delhollander, the first gymnast to accuse former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar of sexual assault.
This twisting of Scripture is important because it's subtle and it happens in stages, which is why Moore is so hesitant to call out the woke mob but has no problem going after faithful brothers and sisters who oppose the mob.
In short: The path to LGBT groomers and CRT curriculum in schools, generations of kids who don't want kids of their own, mass shootings, and perversion of every sort starts with well-dressed speakers at Christian conferences telling us to "handle Scripture well."
A few Twitter reactions as the name "Bathsheba" started trending:
Woke people need to stop saying "full stop" when they say stupid things.
"GREEN IS RED. FULL STOP!"
First, let me present this great thread you can go read about what church leaders throughout history said of David and Bathsheba, then see if you trust them or the modern woke prophets.
Second, let's dive in to the text itself:
To start with, the narrator of 2 Samuel 11 starts off the account by indicating that David was lounging in his palace while his men were off fighting a war for him. This was extremely shameful in an honor-based society.
Then a woman comes into the situation.
To help me frame the account, let me quote a book called "Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes," published in 2012 by E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O'Brien.
Women (then or now) don't bathe in places where they could be seen publicly. We might assume Bathsheba had never engaged in a ritual Jewish bath, but the text never says, or even suggests, that she was Jewish (her husband was a Hittite). Furthermore, we are unaware of ritual purifications done at night. Since it is evening (remember, David had been in bed), it is likely that it was dark and therefore Bathsheba had provided sufficient lighting – sufficient for bathing and sufficient for being seen while bathing. We may assume Bathsheba was aware that her rooftop was visible from the palace, notably from the king's balcony. In antiquity, people were cognizant of their proximity to the seat of power. Even today, White House offices are ranked by their distance from the Oval Office. We would be unlikely to believe a White House aide who said, 'I just stepped out in the hallway to talk. I didn't realize the president of the United States walked down this hallway every day at this time!' Likewise, we would be skeptical if Bathsheba asserted, 'Oh, I did't realize that was the king's balcony.' We think the story is told in a way to imply she intended to be seen by the king. Her plan works.
We like to flip the script in today's world where it is popular to bash powerful men (unless they are sufficiently woke enough, then they get a pass to unlimited abuse).
The reality is that Bathsheba was a woman married to a foreigner who knew her husband was out of town and also knew that she was in sight of the king's balcony. At night, long before electricity was a thing, it could be that she made herself seen bathing on her rooftop. The inference is at least there that Bathsheba wanted to seize the opportunity to climb to the top of the social ladder by hitching herself to the most powerful man in the region.
UPDATE: Since some of y'all accused me of eisegesis here (I love the internet), let me note: Scripture does not ultimately answer the question of Bathsheba's involvement. Was it an innocent bath, or was she trying to get David's attention? It's worth exploring, but my intent here is to make you think about her involvement in the same way that modern deconstructionists want you to believe David is a rapist without support from the text.
This might be a good place to throw up a few other critical thoughts from history to balance our current cultural moment:
Moving on...
David asked his servant about her and the servant replies with a question, because you never told the king a piece of information outright, lest you insult him by implying you know more than him.
"Is this not Bathsheba?"
David gives in to the temptation and calls for her. The Bible makes no indication that he raped her, and it does specify when rape happens, such as David's wicked son Amnon several chapters later.
As king, David could have paid her husband Uriah and taken her as his lawful wife. This was a cultural practice, not one endorsed by God.
It has been common practice in nearly all places in all times for conquering warriors to take the women of the nations they plunder. In Deuteronomy 21, God specifically forbade men from forcing themselves on these women, ordering that they be given a time of mourning and that the men must make them their lawful wives with all the legal and relational honor that entails.
If the men were to change their minds, they must let her go where she wants. She was not to be a slave sold for money – she was a free woman, allowed to go and settled and marry whom she chose. God puts a burden of guilt on the men, indicating that they have humiliated the woman.
David too, humiliated Bathsheba by tiring of her and sending her home. At that point, everyone in the palace (and likely the city) knew what had happened. This was an ancient episode of The Kardashians, and Bathsheba's name was now tarnished in all levels of society.
When her husband got home, he set out to shame the king for this act. We Westerners believe he had no idea of what had happened, but gossip spreads quickly, even to men on the front lines.
Especially when David finds out Bathsheba is pregnant.
When David called him to the palace, it proved the rumors true, and Uriah would have known it.
David is asking Uriah to let him off the hook. If Uriah comes home and spends one night with his wife, then the baby is 'technically' Uriah's, even though everyone knows otherwise. Honor would be restored (among the men). Bathsheba may be the unhappy victim—either because she was assaulted originally, or, more likely, because she was sent away afterwards.
David's concern was not whether he had asked for Bathsheba's consent at every step of the process like modern one-night stand culture practices. His concern was also not adultery, since he had many wives. David was concerned about protecting his honor.
He, the king, called this lowly mercenary in for multiple audiences to ask him to return home (imagine the president wanting to speak with you multiple times in the Oval Office), then tried to get him drunk when that failed.
Instead, Uriah repeatedly refused to go to his wife. Instead, he publicly shamed David by sleeping in front of the palace and noting how his own honor and courage exceeded that of the king.
"The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing."
OH SNAP!
Imagine being there when Uriah said this. He, a foreigner, is out there fighting with God's holy ark while King David is lounging in his palace like a carefree elite and sleeping with other men's wives! Talk about shame!!
This, not the adultery, is why David had Uriah killed.
At every step, [David] did what was typical of a Mediterranean king at the time in a situation like this. And according to the honor/shame system of David's day, the matter was resolved. It is likely that David never gave it another thought.
God did.
Westerners are introspective. We respond to internal pressure. No matter; God is not stymied by culture. God had introduced another element into ancient Near Eastern culture: a prophet. Instead of a voice whispering to his heart, a prophet shouted to his face. Either way, God speaks. Since David's culture used shame to bring about conformity, God used shame to bring David to repentance.
The point of the story is not David and Bathsheba or the details of how their adultery was initiated.
The point of the story is God's justice – His standard rules over every kingdom, culture, and set of laws. To ignore that is folly of the highest order.
Ultimately, because of God's punishment – the death of the preborn child conceived in adultery – David took Bathsheba to be his lawful wife and gave her status and honor in the process. Decades later, David's kingdom would be ripped in two because of his sin, but Solomon, the most powerful and wise king of Israel, came from David and Bathsheba's union. What man intended for evil, God turned for good.
Perhaps if the people reducing this passage to a woke rape narrative knew anything about God, they'd see His redemption story, feel the weight of their own sin, and be saved.
Instead, many of them stand condemned while King David is with God.
"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!" – David
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