Women in the Bible

Bathsheba

2 Samuel 11-12; 1 Kings 1-2; 1 Chronicles 3:5; Matthew 1:6

• 2 Samuel 11:2-4 It happened, late one afternoon when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.

• 1 Kings 1:11-14 Then Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king and our lord David does not know it? Now therefore come, let me give you advice, so that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon. Go in at once to King David and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne? Why then is Adonijah king?” ’ Then while you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”

• Matthew 1:6 …and Jesse the father of King David. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah…

List of Reading & Resources:

Articles

• “A Tale of Two Rapes: What Tamar and Bathsheba Teach Us About Power, Consent, and Sexual Violence” by Erin Moniz

• "Restoring Bathsheba" by Wil Gafney

• “Bathsheba the Kingmaker” by Carl S. Ehrlich

• Bathsheba Only Wanted a Bath: Exposing Power-sins in the Church

• "David and Bathsheba (2 Sam 11)" by Cameron B. R. Howard

Books

• “Bathsheba Plotted, Shot and Painted” (pp. 27-60) in Plotted, Shot, and Painted: Cultural Representations of Biblical Women by J. Cheryl Exum (2012)

Podcasts

• That’s What She Said (*Note: Explicit language)