Inquiring Minds Want to Know - We aren’t privy to how far out of hand the David/Bathsheba affair got. It is possible that Bathsheba was completely ignorant of what really happened to her husband. David married her in haste so that the child could be "legitimate." The action is an attempt to save his own reputation. [1]

Parable or Allegory? -Some see this story more an allegory than a parable. In such an interpretation, is Bathsheba the ewe lamb in the story that is taken from the one who loves her? Or perhaps could it be Uriah who was killed at the bidding of a more powerful character? Ultimately, Israel is also betrayed-as the lamb.

Forever Uriah’s Wife - Even after Uriah is killed, Bathsheba is referenced as "the wife of Uriah." The narrator wants us to regard her as someone else’s wife; that is who she is and always will be; even David’s ruthless act will not alter that fact. Thus in Matthew the genealogy reads, "And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah . . . " (Matthew 1:6).

When have you had to be a Nathan to someone else-a family member, a friend, a companion?

Have you ever been involved in an "intervention" in an effort to keep someone from self-destructing? What was the impact to both the Nathan and David side of the intervention?

Do you have a "Nathan," someone who challenges you, who can confront hypocrisy or destructive habits; a person who helps you to be your best self?

 

Please see the sermon for this week on DPS based on this text.

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[1] The New Interpreters Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), page 456.