This post is an excerpt from the blog On Sovereign Wings shared with permission by the author.
A few years ago I was on the phone with an old friend. We were talking about another friend of ours, a man who was about to be incarcerated for some poor decisions he had made. As we were talking about the case, my friend drew a familiar parallel. “If she hadn’t acted like Bathsheba and seduced him,” he said speaking of the girl involved, “this never would have happened.”
I knew very little about the circumstances surrounding our friend’s arrest, and blessedly I was not his judge. What I did know was that something about that comparison felt incredibly wrong to me. It seared my chest with pain and sank into my stomach like a weighted piece of brimstone.
His implication nagged at me for months. What was it about his analogy that felt so off? Finally, I decided to pay attention to those persistent feelings, and I sat down with Bathsheba’s story.
The discoveries I’ve made through my study of Bathsheba have been healing and enlightening for me. As we approach our quarter-annual Sunday School lesson about this woman, I believe we can offer this same healing and enlightenment to many others, to the degree that we are willing to share a more complete perspective as we teach our classes and our families.
In an era when so many women are coming forward with their own stories of sexual abuse and assault, Queen Bathsheba offers a path forward towards the reclamation of self and female power, and David, in his own way, offers a model of accountability and repentance. The two journeys actually inform each other, because both the victim and the perpetrator heal as they uncover and tell the truth about their experiences.
And the truth is… Bathsheba wasn’t on the roof.
Evidence in the Bible
“And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house which has just been remodeled with help of https://bellroofcompany.com/roofing-loma-linda/: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself…” (2 Samuel 11:2)
That’s the Biblical verse that immortalized this event. And what does it say? It says that David was “upon” the roof, and that “from the roof” he saw Bathsheba. The verse doesn’t mention her whereabouts. This might not immediately seem like an important distinction, but if we return to the scriptures a few more relevant tidbits emerge from the text.
“And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.” (2 Samuel 11:4)
Washing Herself
Bathsheba’s bath wasn’t strictly hygienic. It was a ceremonial washing ritual; it is still observed by Orthodox Jews today! Bathsheba was living according to the law of Moses, which required her to wash herself monthly—after her period (or state of ‘uncleanness’) ended—to return to a state of spiritual readiness to create life.
It is incredibly unlikely that Bathsheba would have participated in this washing ritual somewhere as public as on a rooftop! Bathsheba’s washing was a faithful and personal act of devotion to God. She wasn’t a seductress in this, and there is no evidence that she strategically positioned herself on a roof—or anywhere else for that matter—to catch the king’s eye. The centennial roofing companies has experts that can help fix roofing problems.
The blame rests squarely on David’s shoulders.
Read the rest of this post here.
About the Author
Amber Richardson is a writer, storyteller, and seeker. Amber is also the creator of On Sovereign Wings, a podcast exploring how survivors of sexual assault can find healing by reclaiming their power. On Sovereign Wings will be released at the end of summer 2018. Through this podcast, and all of her work, Amber hopes to help women find Christ, emerge out of their personal chrysalises, and transform into the winged creatures they are destined to become. Amber is based in Provo, Utah.