Who was Bathsheba in the Bible?

Daughter of Eliam, or Ammiel, and wife of Uriah the Hittite. David's lusting after her became the occasion of his sin in accomplishing the death of her husband. She afterwards became David's wife and was the mother of Solomon and other children. When Adonijah sought to make himself king, Bathsheba, moved by Nathan, appealed to David to fulfil his promise to her that Solomon should be his successor. When Solomon was king Adonijah begged Bathsheba to use her influence to obtain Abishag for him as wife. She asked this of Solomon, but it led to Adonijah's death. 2 Sam. 11:3; 2 Sam. 12:24; 1 Kings 1:11-31; 1 Kings 2:13-19; Ps. 51 title.

Another name for BATHSHEBA, the wife of David. 1 Chr. 3:5. The same Hebrew word is translated 'daughter of Shua,' Judah's wife in Gen. 38:12; 1 Chr. 2:3.

What happened to Bathsheba's children reminds us of the Scripture, "Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God" (Rom. 11:22). The child that was born of David's sin was smitten by the Lord, and he died; but her second child, Solomon, was chosen of God to succeed David as King of Israel. When this child was born, "he called his name Solomon, and the Lord loved him; and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah (Beloved of Jehovah), because of the Lord" (2 Sam. 12:24-25). It was Jehovah's love for Solomon, sovereign love, that put him on the throne.

According to the law, as the wife of a Hittite, Bathsheba would have no place in the congregation of the Lord; and we might have thought that her guilty relationship with David would have for ever excluded her from the privileges conferred by a holy God. She is not presented to us with the faith of a Rahab, or with the beautiful traits of a Ruth; but as one that in spite of the dishonour that stained her name, was taken up by God in the sovereignty of His grace to bring forth a child to sit upon David's throne, herself through sovereign grace a progenitor of Israel's Messiah.

Of course Bathsheba did not know that David had planned her husband's death. She did mourn for her husband for a certain time (v.26). When the days of mourning were over, David sent for her and took her as his eighth wife, and she bore a son. But we are assured that what David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord. This could not go unpunished.

On receiving news of the death of Urijah, killed close to the wall of Rabbah along with certain of the “mighty men,” David sends this message to Joab: “Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devours one as well as another” (v. 25). Having achieved his purpose, David reassures his accomplice and then takes Bathsheba into his house, and she becomes his wife and bears him a son.

His servants say to him: “What thing is this which thou hast done? Thou didst fast and weep for the child alive; but as soon as the child is dead, thou dost rise and eat bread.” David answers: “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I thought, Who knows? Perhaps Jehovah will be gracious to me, that the child may live. But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me” (vv. 21-23). “I shall go to him.” Now David is satisfied to bear the seal of this discipline to which the death of his son testifies till the end of his career. “He will not return to me.” David can never know this joy, but he accepts as necessary the path of death through which he must one day walk in order to find his son.

The king is now able to console Bathsheba. Grace flows out to him anew. He has a son whom he names Solomon (meaning, Peaceable) and whom the Lord through Nathan calls “Jedidiah” (meaning, Beloved of Jehovah). Grace brings Bathsheba, whom defilement would prevent from having a portion in God's blessings, into the Messiah's line of descent (Matt. 1:6). She becomes the mother of the king of peace and glory. Grace delights to work on behalf of fallen creatures whom it associates with Christ in order to show its “exceeding riches” in the ages to come.

When Adonijah made the bold move of proclaiming himself as king, Nathan the prophet took a wise course. He advised Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, to immediately inform David that Adonijah had proclaimed himself king, in spite of the fact that David had sworn to Bathsheba that Solomon would be king (vs.11-13). Then, to confirm this to David, Nathan would come in with the same message (v.14), so that the urgency of the situation would be apparent to David.

Bathsheba then went into David's bedroom where Abishag was serving as a nurse to David Bathsheba bowed to him, thus showing the humility of her subjection to the king, though he was her husband. In answer to David's question, she reminded him that he had sworn by the Lord to her that Solomon should succeed him as king, but that Adonijah had taken the place of king without David being aware of it (vs.17-18), that he had sacrificed many animals and invited the king's sons as well as Abiathar and Joab, but had not invited Solomon (v.19).

She told David also that the eyes of all Israel were on David, interested to find what he would do in view of this turn of events. For if he allowed the crowning of Adonijah to stand, then Bathsheba and Solomon would be counted as offenders, for which they would be killed (v.21).

As she was speaking, Nathan also came in, bowing also in subjection before the king and asking him if he had said Adonijah should reign. He repeated what Bathsheba had said and added that the King's son, Abiathar and the commanders of the army were celebrating, saying, "Long live King Adonijah!" "But," said Nathan, "he has not invited me -- one of your servants -- nor Zadok the priest, nor Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, nor your servant Solomon" (vs.24-26).

Adonijah (vv. 9-10) gives the meeting at En-rogel the false appearance of a peace offering. He follows the footsteps of his brother Absalom who had said that he wished to pay a vow to the Lord. He invites his brothers, the sons of the king, and even the servants of the king. These later go to his feast. The rebel does not fear that they will fail him. We know what the title of servants of the king is worth if the heart is not truly attached to David, or of servant of God if Christ is not the object of the affections. How many of these "king's servants" do we not see in our day running to those who cloak their enmity against Christ under an appearance of piety? But Adonijah is too shrewd to invite those whose faith or whose testimony keeps them in David's intimacy. He invites all his brothers, with one exception: the only one having the right to the throne according to the will of God and of his father, Solomon, he who is to become the king of glory. It is evident that he must exclude from his feast him whose presence would judge it, would condemn it, would bring to nothing all his plans and all his ambitions. Christ is the last to be invited by the world; more than that, the world is loathe to invite Him. On the other hand, was there anything at this feast with which Solomon could associate himself? No, if he had put in an appearance there, it would have been only to bring well-deserved punishment upon these rebels.

In the day that this great danger threatened Israel, no measure had been taken to ward it off (vv. 11-31). The king, weakened by age, confined to his palace, "knew not" what was happening. Blessedly, God was keeping watch for him. God who has the glory of His Son and His kingdom in view, does not allow the designs of the usurper to succeed. To this end He sends the prophet to Bathsheba with a word of wisdom. Be assured that we shall always find in the Word of God the means by which Christ may be glorified and we ourselves preserved from the ambushes of the enemy. What a contrast between Nathan's mediation and that of Joab through the woman of Tekoah (2 Sam. 14)! There all was ruse and lying in order to affect the king's spirit and to flatter his hidden leanings, and in order eventually to substitute for David a deceitful and violent man as king over Israel. Here prudence suggests that which is to be done, but without wavering in the least from the truth. The king must be made aware of the imminent danger. He must be persuaded to act resolutely for God. The mind of the Lord concerning Solomon had already been revealed to David. He knew it very well. It was not without reason that the Lord had given to David's son the name Jedidiah, Beloved of the Lord (2 Sam. 12:25). David knew the mind of the Lord on this subject so well that he had sworn to Bathsheba "by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead" (vv. 17, 30). It was enough to remind this man of faith of his oath for him to see the path to take.

Doubtless Adonijah had counted upon the weakening of his father's faculties in order to seize the kingdom, but he had not reckoned on God, the prophet, or the truthfulness of the king's heart. Bathsheba speaks with respect and boldness. She shows David that he is unaware of the danger (v. 18), that the purpose he had resolved on was to have a king according to the heart of God (v. 17) as his successor; she also points out to him his responsibility towards herself, her son, and the people, for the eyes of all Israel were upon David, that he should tell them who should sit upon his throne after him. The truth is in the heart of this woman, as also in the heart of the prophet — a lovely example of the spirit in which we should behave one towards another. Nathan appears in his turn, and in his own conversation with the king lays stress upon the fact that not only had none of the faithful servants of the Lord been invited, but above all, that Solomon had been deliberately set aside. What must one expect from a man who gives no place to the Lord, to the true King, in his purposes or in his life?

Verses 3, 5 and 6 are most striking as introducing the names of women into the genealogy; and more striking still is the fact that these four women were not of Israel. In the first case the history of Tamar and Judah (Gen.38) is a blot of sinful shame in the genealogy, which the Jews would rather have forgotten. But God reveals it fully. In the case of Rachab (Rabab), she was saved only by pure grace from a life of shame (Josh.6:25), then has her place of the genealogy of the King of Israel. The third is Ruth, a Moabitess, who had no right to any part in Israel (Deut.23:3), but by a Kinsman redeemer (Boaz) was brought also by grace into this favored place. The fourth (Bathsheba) is spoken of as "her that had been the wife of Urias," a plain reminder of David's dreadful sin in taking her and having Urias killed.

And seven days later the equally guilty woman becomes David's wife. And she became the mother of Solomon. We find her mentioned in the genealogy of Matthew 1. Surely grace and mercy covered their sin. Yet what a trail of sorrow, misery and unrest follows, We shall find in chapters which follow the awful results. Incest, fratricide, rebellion, civil war and the king a fugitive! What a man soweth that he will also reap.

Yet what grace shines out in this, as in every scene of David's remarkable career. Bathsheba becomes the mother of Solomon, who occupied the throne of Israel in its most glorious period, and who also stands in that privileged line through which, according to the flesh, Christ came! This is truly divine! It is altogether worthy of God. The darkest scene in David's life becomes, under the hand of God, the means of richest blessings — divine grace is reflected on a dark background. Thus did the eater yield meat, and the strong, sweetness. We know how this principle characterises all the ways of God with His people. He judges their evil, surely, but pardons their sin, and makes their very failures the channel through which, after humiliation and self-judgement, grace flows to them. Blessed forever be the God of all grace, who pardons our sins, restores our souls, bears with our many infirmities, and finally causes us to triumph through Him that loves us!