Thursday, September 11, 2008

Bathsheba - Walk of Shame


2 Samuel 11:3-4 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "Isn't this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home.

Bathsheba surely knew of David - her father and grandfather fought along with him and now her husband fought in his army. When Bathsheba heard the knock on her door - I'm sure she wasn't surprised.

The picture of a bar scene comes into mind. The friend steps up to the pretty lady and says, "My friend wants to buy you a drink - will you come over and sit with us". The pretty lady takes a look at the man and gets up and goes straight to him - knowing what that drink will actually cost.

There was no struggle on Bathsheba's part, she willingly went knowing what this would bring. When it mentions "she had purified herself from her uncleanness", the Bible is letting us know that she was not pregnant before she slept with David. That way there can be no misinterpreting scripture later.

Anyway, this was not a long awaited interlude. A passion between good friends that just couldn't contain itself any longer (not that that would make it right), it was - quite simply - two people who let their physical lusts take over. I wonder what Bathsheba was thinking as she was walking home. Had the guilt taken over her? Did she even consider what this had done to, not just herself, but David, or the people of their land? When we stop to consider what just one of our actions - in a moment of time - might do to someone else - maybe we wouldn't be so quick to act on a feeling. Pray that God keeps us from that temptation - or that we have the willpower to face it - with God - and overcome.

2 comments:

Kay Martin said...

Yes .... the shame. I read these Scriptures and believe she could hve shielded herself from being seen. I'm not sure if she could have lived if she rejected the King when summoned by his servant, etc. Her covenant of marriage should have been so important to her that her very life would not have been too much to honor that covenant.

David prayed in repentance that to God he had sinned. Bathseba, her husband, and their extended families paid the price that adultery always demands. Shame...adultery scatters reputations without end.

Great work and so timely on this subject....Keep it up Dorothy I'm getting so much out of your teaching.

God's girl said...

Good post. This is hard stuff with hard truths. I thank God for preserving His word to teach us.
Much love,
Angela