Did David Rape Bathsheba?

[Cow Poke]

Are you definitively calling it rape here?

I really don't think we have all the puzzle pieces - for all we know, she saw it as an opportunity to gain something for herself.

She subsequently married David, even scheming to have David name Solomon as his successor.

Scripture Verse: 2 Samuel

11:3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite."

12:24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon.

© Copyright Original Source

In the first 2 chapters of 1 Kings, we see Bathsheba making the pitch for Solomon, rather than Adonijah, should become King.



She may have seen this as an "in" from the beginning -- we just don't know.

[Zymologist]

I really don't think we have all the puzzle pieces - for all we know, she saw it as an opportunity to gain something for herself.

She subsequently married David, even scheming to have David name Solomon as his successor.

Scripture Verse: 2 Samuel

11:3 and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite."

12:24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon.

© Copyright Original Source

In the first 2 chapters of 1 Kings, we see Bathsheba making the pitch for Solomon, rather than Adonijah, should become King.



She may have seen this as an "in" from the beginning -- we just don't know.

That's my problem with this. I'd never heard David called a rapist until recently, and growing up and being familiar with this story, I never heard Bathsheba blamed for David's sin at all. I guess I'm just concerned at the apparent importation of modern thinking into the text, which is what seems to be driving the accusation.

[Cow Poke]

That's my problem with this. I'd never heard David called a rapist until recently, and growing up and being familiar with this story, I never heard Bathsheba blamed for David's sin at all. I guess I'm just concerned at the apparent importation of modern thinking into the text, which is what seems to be driving the accusation.

by the LORD your God

[KingsGambit]

Are you definitively calling it rape here?

No. Not one way or the other.

[Zymologist]

No. Not one way or the other.

Ok, thank you. I didn't want to misread you.

[KingsGambit]

I mean, we know that David did a terrible thing and was majorly punished for it. I don't know that it matters specifically how we label this sin.

[NorrinRadd]

I guess I'm mainly concerned that we don't blame Bathsheba or accuse her of wrongdoing based on speculation and shaky inference.

It's even speculation to claim she was flaunting herself for David to see.

[Cow Poke]

I guess I'm mainly concerned that we don't blame Bathsheba or accuse her of wrongdoing based on speculation and shaky inference.

It's even speculation to claim she was flaunting herself for David to see.

Correct - the main point of the story is that David sinned, struggled with sin, confessed, and continued to be used of God.

[mikewhitney]

Correct - the main point of the story is that David sinned, struggled with sin, confessed, and continued to be used of God.

I don't currently have any idea what David did after this event -- of how he was used of God. We know he had his psalm that lets us know of God's forgiveness of certain people.

The account may have just been recorded as a situation in David's life that someone realized should be recorded in the history of the Israel people. Maybe this event was an accumulation of accounts from people like Nathan and Samuel. With the scriptures, we have the odd situation where people recorded really bad behavior (and prophecies of doom) along with the records of glory and peace.

Some scholars have seen 2 Sam 12 being primarily focused on justifying Solomon as the heir to the throne. But such proposal begs the question whether there was a need to justify Solomon's throne or whether David's sin and restoration would be good grounds to justify Solomon becoming king. The idea this backs Solomon's rule would seem to be based on political or sociological theories distinct from scripture -- as my first guess.