Bathsheba the Beautiful

Bathsheba’s act of bathing on the housetop is equivalent to a modern woman swimming nude in her backyard pool. She did not see anything wrong with such an act. After all, Bathsheba was on her roof and what a person does in the privacy of her own home is her business – at least, if her solitude is not invaded in some way. And Bathsheba did not think her space would be shared. After all, her husband Uriah, along with most of the other men, was at the war front. The Israelites were fighting against Ammon and Rabbah, and he would not be back for some time. As a soldier’s wife, she probably did not have servants.

People in Bathsheba’s time often retired to the housetops in hot weather to catch the cool evening breeze. They probably had plants or screens to insure some seclusion. The problem that was that the King’s palace was higher than Bathsheba’s and Uriah’s home, and King David had a perfect view of Bathsheba (just like satellite cameras have perfect views of backyards today.) Did she know he could see? Did she suspect he might see her? Did she know he had not gone to war as he should have? Did she care? The Bible doesn’t give the answers to these questions, but it does tell that David saw her beauty. When he learned she was Uriah’s wife, he didn’t argue with himself about the moral issues. He just sent for her.

And Bathsheba? Well, she went. After all, if the king summons a lowly subject, shouldn’t she go? And anyway, what if he had some news about her husband? But when she arrived and learned why he wanted her, she didn’t retreat. Neither did she say any of the following good rebuttals: O King, think of the scandal that would cause if we were discovered. Think of your reputation. Think of my husband and his anger. Think of your testimony before God. She didn’t say any of those things. The lonely little war bride stayed the night and returned home the next morning.

The morning after doubts must have assailed both David and Bathsheba because they didn’t meet again and only God knows why. Maybe David decided to content himself with the seven wives he brought to the throne with him and with all those who had been married first to the former King Saul and now to him. (One wonders why he wasn’t content with them earlier.)

As for Bathsheba, she must have tormented herself with hundreds of questions several times a day? Would he ask for her again? Why didn’t he call back for her? Would David think of her with disrespect? Did he think her at all? Did he care for her? Did he think because she had bathed in the nude that she was just a common prostitute? And finally, she worried about what was she going to do because she soon realized a baby was on its way, and Uriah had been gone too long for him to believe the child was his.

In just a few weeks or less, Bathsheba probably regretted her decision to bathe in the moonlight. Until that night, she had been the respected wife of a soldier in the King’s army. Now her husband would know she had been unfaithful – an act for which Uriah could have her stoned. At the very least, he would probably divorce her and then how would she raise a child on her own? And worse still, everyone would know – no small thing in those days.

Today, counselors who work with victims of sexual assault assure the victims that their dress, or lack of it, does not invite rape – and they are right. A good man will not rape a woman if she walked naked down the street. However, neither does a good man usually want that type of a woman for a wife even though he might be tempted to take what isn’t his – like David did. But the question is: Why would any God-fearing woman want to be naked in public?

And Bathsheba was not raped. As the story unfolds, the reader understands that this was a mutually adulterous affair. She and David both gave in to temptation that brought their world crashing down around them.

Abigail: brains and beauty

Abigail knew she was one of the most beautiful women in all of Israel. She wasn’t so sure it was a blessing because her beauty prompted Nabal to select her for his wife. He had to have the best and she was it – his trophy wife.
   She had brains too, but he didn’t notice. Instead, he needed to show off her beauty to his friends at his social occasions – and he needed her to coordinate the servants to help pull off those events. After all, he was rich, so he had an obligation to those in his social class. The time to shear sheep was approaching and he was planning the greatest party yet. The servants had been cooking for days, and Abigail was beginning to grow weary. She could see the servants were too, but it was better to meet Nabal’s demands that everything be served in luxury good enough for a king. Even they knew that. The consequences of not meeting his demands were not pleasant.
   She didn’t mind working with the servants. They were good people. She enjoyed their company and she knew they appreciated her. They came to her when something didn’t run smoothly, and together, with their help, whatever the problem was, they fixed it. Abigail was a good wife to Nabal, even if he failed to acknowledge it. She loved God and before God, she determined to do right, even if her husband didn’t. And he did not do things as well as he could have for those around him. Even though they were rich, he was increasingly selfish. But Abigail made sure the needs of those in their household were met. So the day one of their most trusted shepherds came running to the kitchen, she knew there was again a problem that Nabal had not dealt with.
   “Mistress, Mistress. Please – a minute – I beg of you.” His dark eyes in his brown weathered face, even though he was young, searched hers as some emotion she had never seen before flickered within them. His hand shook as he reached to wipe the perspiration from his brow, almost, as if he were afraid. That grabbed her attention, even though he had it anyway.
   “David sent messengers out of the wilderness to speak to Nabal; and he railed on them. But the men did not deserve such treatment. They were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither did we miss any thing, as long as we have talked with them, when we were in the fields. They provided protection to us both night and day; all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.’
   “What are you talking about? Can you be clearer?” Abigail asked. “Here, sit, take a drink and be calm.” Abigail reached for some water.
   The man took a quick swallow, but he did not sit, and then he started again. “David’s men came to ask for some food. It is customary to give to them now at the feast time. They have helped tend the sheep in the outer pastures all year, and all they protected us and never took anything for themselves. And now, tonight, they can not attend the feast, for if they did, King Saul’s soldiers would surely capture them, yet they deserve to have some of the food. But Nabal, who certainly knows that David is the next anointed king of Israel, said, ‘Who is David? Why should I give to him?’ And David grew angry at the insult, and now he is marching toward us with 400 of his followers to slaughter all the men in our household. You need to do something, Mistress. David determines to do evil against our master, and against all of us in his household, but Nabal is such a son of Belial that no man can reason with him.”
   Abigail ignored that he had called Nabal a name in front of her. In her heart, she agreed. Nabal did act like the son of Satan. He was mean, selfish and self-centered, and this was no time to quibble over a servant’s disrespect. Anyway, Nabal was the one who had brought dishonor to his household by refusing a meal to those who had worked without pay all year. And now his hard-heartedness was bringing danger to everyone. Waves of heat rolled over her face as she felt the shame, but she did not stop to think of it.
   “Quick! Bring as many asses as you can behind the kitchen here,” she said. She turned, not even waiting to see if the shepherd would obey. She knew he would. The kitchen maids stood behind her and the frozen looks on their faces told her they had heard. “Make haste. Take from the food we have prepared for tonight and prepare two hundred loaves in baskets, and two kegs of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of grapes, and two hundred cakes of figs, and lay them on the asses that the shepherd will bring to you.”
   Abigail joined in, working as feverishly and silently as her servants until one asked, “But what if there is not enough food for tonight, Mistress?”
   Abigail did not look up as she finished filling the baskets. “Don’t worry. We already have enough to feed two kings twice over, and there is not one king attending, but there is still enough to treat Nabal as a king before his guests. However, if we do not avert David and his men, there will only be a mourner’s feast here tonight.”
   Just before the last item was packed, she ran off to change her clothing and then, emerging from her tent, she said to her servants, “Go on before me; I will come after you.” And she mounted her ass, but she did not tell Nabal. And just as she rode over the hill, David and his men met them.
   David’s jaw was hard and tense when he saw her. Abigail knew she should let him speak first. She did not have to wait long. The veins worked in his neck as he spoke. “In vain I kept Nabal’s herds in the wilderness, so that nothing was missing of all that belonged to him, and he has repaid me evil for good.”
   Abigail nodded in agreement, and David continued. “May God do even more to me, if I leave any men from Nabal’s household by morning.”
   Abigail slid from her ass, and she fell before David on her face, bowed to the ground, and she said, “My Lord, blame me for this sin, and let your handmaid, I pray you, speak, and listen to what I have to say. Don’t pay any attention to this man of Belial, Nabal, who is my husband. He is foolish, but I, your handmaid, did not see the young men whom you sent.”
   “Now as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, seeing the Lord has kept you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself, let your enemies, and they that seek tto do evil to you be as Nabal. Accept this food which I have brought, you and the young men that follow you. I beg you, forgive my sin, for the Lord will make a safe house for you one day because you fight His battles, and evil has never been found in you.
   “Saul chases you, but your soul will be preserved by the Lord your God; and God will cast off your enemies as if he were flinging them from a slingshot.
   “When the Lord appoints you ruler over Israel, this event will not cause you grief because you won’t shed blood without cause. The Lord will avenge Himself: and when the Lord deals with you, then remember me.”
    David said, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent you to meet me: And blessed is your advice, and blessed are you for keeping me from bloodshed and from avenging myself.”
   So David took what she brought him, and said, “Go in peace to your house; I have listened to you, and have accepted what you have said.”
   Abigail returned to Nabal to find him already feasting, and since Nabal was drunk, she told him nothing. But in the morning, when Nabal was sober, Abigail told him what had happened the night before and the Bible records that “his heart died within him, and he became as a stone . . . and after ten days, he died.”
   When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, who kept me from killing Nabal; for the Lord has returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head.”
   And David remembered Abigail and sent his servants to ask her to be his wife. Abigail had a choice. In those days, the custom was that a widow would be given in marriage to her husband’s brothers or the nearest kinsman. The Bible doesn’t say whether Nabal had any close relatives, but if he did, they may have been as mean and selfish as Nabal was. For Abigail, the answer was clear. Life in exile with David and God was better than life in comfort with those who did not love God. She gathered five of her servants and, without hesitation, she followed David’s men into the wilderness.
II Samuel 25

Art: David and Abigail by Antonio Molinari.

The Warrior and the Assassin

For too long women of the Bible have been portrayed as stay at home moms who did what the men in their lives dictated – from whom they would marry to how they would dress. But that stereotype does not always betray the real picture. Long before women went to war as women do today, one woman marched with the men and another woman became an assassin. These women’s stories are recorded in the Old Testament, during the same time period and in the same war. And they did not collaborate ahead of time.
   Deborah, the wife of Lapidoth, was both a prophetess and a judge in the land of Israel. She lived after the Hebrews had settled the Promised Land and before the time of the Israelite kings, and she was accepted by all the people. Judges 4:5 says that “the children of Israel came up to her for judgment,” so she was not usurping the authority of a man. Instead, people recognized her God-given ability to judge fairly and wisely and appointed her to act as judge. And they respected that she received messages from God.
   One day, she called Barak with a special announcement. She told him that he was to gather 10,000 men of the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali and go to Mount Tabor and wait until God brought the Canaanite army to him.  When the Canaanites came, he would fight against Sisera, the captain for Jabin, King of Canaan. Even though the Israelites inhabited the land, they had been oppressed by the Canaanites for 20 years. Sisera saw himself as undefeatable because he had 900 iron chariots plus footmen – and he had never lost a battle.
   Apparently Barak wasn’t so certain that this particular message was from God. Even though he was a soldier, he did not want to go to war against Sisera, so he tested Deborah. “If you will go with me, then I will go, but if you will not go with me, then I will not go,” he said. He must have reasoned that her reaction would be the proof he needed that God indeed did want him to fight this war.
   Deborah answered with confidence. “I will go with you; however, this battle will not bring honor to you, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.”
   Barak didn’t seem to care about honor; he only cared that Deborah went with him. He did not view Deborah as a woman for whose safety he should have had concern. Instead, he saw her as a talisman, a good luck charm, whose presence would ensure the safety of himself and his soldiers – not exactly the ideal man to be in charge of 10,000 men.
   Nevertheless, Barak went to Kadesh with Deborah in tow and gathered together the 10,000 men and went to Mount Tabor and waited. Heber, the Kenite, who lived in the plain below the mountain and had made a peace treaty with King Jabin, reported the activity to Sisera, who came out in full force.
   Now Sisera didn’t know what modern military strategists know – that the person on the hill has the advantage. Sisera thought that because he had 900 chariots there was no way that Barack’s foot soldiers could win the war. He soon learned his error. Everywhere around him, Canaanite soldiers lay dying and horses and chariots were fleeing. And maybe, for the first time in his life, Sisera was afraid. He was so afraid that he left his chariot and began to run – away from the battle. Barak’s army let him go. They pursued the chariots and other footmen until all were killed. Then, they realized no one could account for Sisera and they began to search.
   Now Sisera had run to Heber’s wife, Jael, and hid himself in her tent – not the usual thing for a man to do in those times unless he had evil intentions – which he may have had, but first he had to rest. He begged Jael for water and she did better. She gave him milk, and Sisera fell into a deep sleep.
   Where was Heber? The reader isn’t told. Perhaps he lay dead in the field with the other men since he had an agreement with Sisera, but he doesn’t seem to have been around and Jael had a serious problem. A man in a woman’s tent who wasn’t her husband was not good for her because a) he might rape her when he awoke; b) her husband, if he did return, might accuse her of adultery; and c) her life was in danger with Barak’s army if they found Sisera harbored in her tent.
   When Sisera did not return from the battle, his mother began to worry, but then, she and the women who surrounded her, comforted themselves with the idea that he would bring a woman or two home with him along with rich garments, fitting to the victor of the battle. Sisera did not have a good reputation and Jael was stuck – but not for long. Jael knew how to take care of herself and gruesome as her solution was, she didn’t fail to act on it. When Sisera fell into deep sleep, she pulled up a stake of the tent and drove it through his temple, and that day, when the Israelites won the war against the Canaanites, Jael was honored for assassinating the one man who could raise another army to fight against them again.
   Did she plan to be an assassin? Probably not, but in an effort to protect herself, she drew praise from the Israelite nation. Deborah and Barak sang a song about her that is remembered to this day. And she is the first recorded woman assassin.
(c.f. Judges 4&5)
Art: "Jael Smote Sisera, and Slew Him," by James Tissot in the collection of the Jewish Museum (New York).

Unappreciated love

King David’s wife Michal is reproached for despising her husband. Now that is not wise for any woman to do – especially when the man is the next anointed king, but how many readers look at this story from her point of view?
   Let’s go to the beginning. She was madly in love with David, but her father, Saul, who was also king at the time, chose to give her sister, Merab, to David instead. Saul did not care how either girl felt. Instead, he was afraid of David. He saw how people increasingly loved him, so he made David the captain over a thousand soldiers, which was probably a wise move before the constituency, but he was still afraid. So he offered his daughter. The reader can’t be certain why, but perhaps Saul hoped that David wouldn’t turn on his father-in-law. Except something happened to that agreement and the record does not reveal the reason. But the reader can guess that Saul, in some fit of anger against David changed his mind because when it was time for David to marry Merab, Saul gave her to Adriel the Meholathite instead.
   In those times, breaking an engagement was as serious as breaking a marriage contract, but if the woman is the king’s daughter, it seems it could be done. Was David heartbroken? Samuel, the writer, does not tell and David might have just shrugged and said, “Well, I’m just on the King’s bad side again. What’s new?” After all, just before the marriage proposal the king had thrown his javelin at David in the palace.
   But then Saul changed his mind again when he learned that Michal loved David. In his self-centeredness, he never thought that Michal might love another man more than himself. Or maybe he thought she’d get over it anyway, because he didn’t really plan to give this daughter to David either. Instead, Saul saw her as an avenue for him to be able to kill David. So again, he contracted with David to marry his daughter – Michal this time. Michal was delighted.
   But David must have rolled his eyes and wondered if this marriage would occur. Still, he didn’t voice the doubts aloud. Instead he said, “Who am I to marry a king’s daughter? I am poor and a man of no reputation.” Well, the reputation part was not true, but the king liked those words.
   “No problem,” said the king. “Just bring the foreskins of 100 Philistines and that will be your dowry.” He chuckled within because he believed the Philistines would kill David before David killed them.
   Now it is up to the reader’s imagination to decide if David met the challenge in order to: a) prove his prowess to the king and the king’s men; b) meet the challenge because he loved to win; or 3) obtain a bride. Whatever the reason, he not only presented 100 of these body parts to the king – he presented 200 of them and Saul had to give Michal to David, which he did. Again, Michal was delighted. She got the husband she wanted, a feat not many women of that time period achieved.
   But the wedded bliss did not last long. Saul commanded his servants and his son Jonathan, David’s best friend, to kill David. But Jonathan warned David and then reasoned with his father that David had only ever done good toward Saul, so Saul repented, but that didn’t last long either. The bi-polar king changed his mind again and threw another javelin at David. David escaped, but the king gave orders to capture David the next morning in his home.
   Somehow, Michal learned of the plot and she helped David escape through the window. David fled, without thinking of his wife’s safety. She stuffed an image in his bed, placed a goat skin pillow at the top and covered it, and then she told the messengers who came for her husband that David was sick. On Saul’s orders, they seized the bed and took it to the court. Saul’s rage must have echoed within the walls when he discovered the deception because he poured words onto his daughter.
   “Why did you deceive me? Why did you help him escape?” His anger at Michal could have easily turned into her death sentence, so she resorted to a lie.
   “He told me I must let him go or he would kill me,” she said.
   Then comes the story that everyone knows – the one of Jonathan meeting David in the field after he shoots the arrows with hit little servant boy. And David escapes again – for good, but he doesn’t take his wife or does he make any arrangement for her. Maybe he didn’t know what to do at that time, but surely he could have let Jonathan help him figure that out?
   Instead, he goes to live in the bush for several years and during that time, he marries Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife; Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; Haggith; Abital; and Eglah. Six more wives!
   And somewhere in that time period, Saul gives Michal to another husband, Phaltiel the son of Laish. The reader doesn’t know much about this man, except that he must have loved her because several years later, when Saul had a falling out with Abner, the captain of his host, Abner sought an alliance with David. Only then does David ask for Michal – years later and six wives later.
   Saul’s son Ishobosheth sends for her “And her husband went with her . . . weeping behind her to Bahurim” Samuel tells us. And poor Phaltiel did not return home until Abner ordered him to.
   There is no account that David treats Michal with any special reverence or with disrespect. Of course, neither does the text reveal how Michal felt until the day David, now the king, comes into Bethlehem bringing the Ark of the Covenant. That day was a glorious day for all of Israel and David danced before God “with all his might” Samuel says, dressed only in a linen cloth. And then, after the sacrifices and after giving meat, wine and cake to all the people, David went home – to Michal.
   Michal met him at the door. Sarcasm dripped from her as only a wife can let it drip. “How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
   Her emotions finally surfaced, and she was judged – she had no children.
   Does that seem unfair? To the modern woman, yes, but God, who knew her heart better than the reader, is the one who judged her. He makes no mistakes. Plural marriage was not uncommon then and even though the modern woman can feel a great deal of sympathy for Michal, the message of respect for one’s husband is still clear. Also clear is the sad situation that developed between Michal and David because of the separation of years.
(c.f. – I Samuel 18-27; II Samuel 3)
Art: Gustave Doré (1865)

Baal worship in the modern world

  Baal, the god of fertility, was worshipped in a ritual of music and dance with male and female temple prostitutes, and in some sects, the sacrifice of the first born child. The cult was hedonistic. Maybe the idea that the activities were part of worship helped to break down the barriers for reluctant participants. And maybe, sacrificing children, while we don’t have clear records to tell, may have been done by young, unmarried women.
   Thankfully, cultures no longer worship this way. At least not in the name of Baal. Yet many do sacrifice their firstborn children (and sometimes the second and third or more) in almost all cultures in the modern world. Oh, they don’t do it in the name of religion, and they may not even do it as a result of drunken revelry, but they do it in the interest of self. They do it in the name of legal abortion.
   Unmarried and married women alike reason that they don’t have time for pregnancy; don’t have time for the result of pregnancy – a child; don’t want to face public embarrassment if they are unmarried; or, married or unmarried, they can’t afford a child right now. And adoption isn’t an option for these women. After all, they reason, about 50% of adopted children struggle with the idea that their biological parents abandoned them, so rather than choose a life for their child with a couple who will love and cherish it, they sacrifice the child’s life on the alter of their own selfish desires.
   Abortion is not new to the modern world; it is just safer according to abortion advocates. No longer do women need to resort to barbaric attempts that either did not work or killed them too. But modern abortion kills the mother in other ways. It produces a hole in her heart that eats into her soul until it too dies – if she can not reach out to a loving Savior who will forgive her.
   Children were not only aborted in ancient times, they were killed after birth as well. Pharaoh killed all the male children in an effort to control the Hebrew population (Exodus 1). Queen Athaliah killed all but one of the heirs to King David’s throne. The survivor was Joash, her grandson. She wanted to kill him, but the boy’s aunt hid him until he was crowned king (II Kings 11:1). Then Herod killed all the children in Bethlehem under age two (Matthew 2:16). In each of these three events, not only were innocent lives destroyed, but the rulers attempted to destroy the line of the Savior.
   Since the beginning of time, the Messiah was promised to Eve (Gen. 3:15). Abraham may have thought his son was the Messiah, but God shows Abraham that He will provide the sacrifice. Asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac was not jut a test of Abraham’s obedience, it was also a clear picture to all of those who followed Yahweh that the one and only God did not expect child sacrifice like the gods Baal and Molech (Genesis 22:1-14).
   Later, Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would come though the line of Judah (Isaiah 9:1-7). Even though there have been attempts to destroy that line, it has been preserved by those who were pro-life. And in that preservation, many talented lives have been saved to the benefit of man-kind.

Art: Ba'al with raised arm, 14th-12th century BC, found at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), Louvre