Forgiveness brings healing and life. May we speak Bathsheba’s name with awe forever as we bear witness to how she painstakingly lived forward to overcome oppression and all of its associated injustices with utmost grace.
And may we never stand silently by as we witness injustice.
In a kingdom where David and other members of his team facilitated the murder of Uriah and the rape of Bathsheba no one stood up and spoke up for either Uriah or Bathsheba, until Nathan the prophet confronted David.
God sees, and does NOT remain silent.
The focus of the story has usually been on David and his psalm seeking a new clean heart. Good for David. Accountability matters. AND can we talk about this from Bathsheba’s perspective?
Everyone around them pretended that everything was just fine as they
1) brought Bathsheba to David so that he could rape her (The balance of power was entirely lopsided in David’s favour. He was the king.)
2) tried to get Uriah drunk to cover up David’s rape
3)murdered Uriah to cover up David’s rape
4)pretended that Bathsheba’s pregnancy from rape was a normal situation
So let’s talk for a minute about how Bathsheba had to have done some truly mindbending, gut wrenching, excruciating work to forgive David and every single person on his team who had a hand in the destruction of her family and the destabilization of her mental and emotional health.
Bathsheba continued to live in the same community whose king raped her. As he watched her take care of her needs, he began to envision how he could use her. That was it. Instead of honourably allowing Bathsheba to continue to build her beautiful life, David commanded that Bathsheba be brought to him so that he could use her.
David was king. The difference in the balance of power between David and Bathsheba meant that as Bathsheba was brought before David, she would have had to continually process how to act in order to preserve her life. David just took what he wanted.
Bathsheba’s husband had dedicated his life to serving the king as a warrior and had committed himself to David as a friend.
David murdered Uriah so that he would not have to deal with the discomfort of being accountable for his actions. To his credit, David did not also murder Bathsheba. Although taking Bathsheba into his home after Uriah’s death also covered up David’s crimes, and made him appear to be a redeeming hero, Bathsheba lived.
Not only did Bathsheba continue to live physically after being so horribly violated, but she chose to heal the deep gaping wound that David had inflicted upon her. She raised a son fathered by David, as she daily saw all the people who had just followed orders and ruined her life.
From experience I can fathom how hard it was for Bathsheba to forgive David. From experience I can fathom the flare ups and days when she would have loved to kill David too. From experience I can fathom the pain on the days when it hurt so much that Bathsheba would have been okay with dying. From experience I can fathom Bathsheba’s renewal as God walked closely with her throughout that whole process and helped her to heal.
And Bathsheba raised Solomon, a son who became king after David, through proper ascension to the throne, not through rebellion and revolt. Bathsheba raised a son who had the kind of heart that maintained peace in Ancient Israel longer than any other king. Bathsheba raised a son who was a connection builder. He had a great relationship with the neighbouring nations. The rulers of nations far and near came to sit and reason with Solomon.
That was Bathsheba’s son. Solomon was the living witness to Bathsheba’s wisdom which lead her to do the excruciating work of forgiveness for as long as it took to become whole again so that she could “live love well” (to use LifeApp’s founders lyrical statement), and raise a son who held no bitterness in his heart, and strongly valued peace.
David raped Bathsheba. David murdered Bathsheba’s husband to cover up his crimes.
Bathsheba’s investment in forgiveness created King Solomon who was known as the wisest king to ever rule Israel.
Doing the work of forgiveness while experiencing the excruciating pain of injustice and exploitation is essential if one hopes to become truly free.
Forgiveness brings healing and life. May we speak Bathsheba’s name with awe forever as we bear witness to how she painstakingly lived forward to overcome oppression and all of its associated injustices with utmost grace.
Nurturing Kindred 