Alternative Views of Bathsheba in the David and Bathsheba Story

Review of the previous post

The previous post, post number 6 of 23,was the first post in a series of five posts relating to Bathsheba’s “Victimhood,” and introduced the topic of Bathsheba as it relates to the thesis of the posts in this series.

Preview of this post

This post, post number 7 of 23, is the second post in a series of five posts discussing Bathsheba’s “Victimhood”.

Bathsheba’s “Victimhood”

(1) Was Bathsheba “injured”? Did she suffer a “loss”?

(2) The answers to these questions depend on how one views Bathsheba and will depend on whether Bathsheba was proactive, reactive or submissive.

(3) If Bathsheba is viewed as being either injured by, or potentially injured by, or who may suffer a loss because of David’s actions or one who is taken advantage of or who may be taken advantage of by David, it appears that Bathsheba had the following options: flee, surrender; fight back; outsmart; regroup to fight another day.

(a)  Flee

While this may have been a very difficult option because of David’s position and because of her husband’s position, flight, or at least attempted flight, is always an option. Because Bathsheba was the wife of a member of David’s army, and David had tendencies to be a tyrant, it is possible that there were many in the country who opposed David and would have been willing to assist Bathsheba escape David’s clutches. On the other hand, because of her position and because of who she was fleeing, flight might have been dangerous.

However, sometimes doing the right thing is difficult and dangerous. Bathsheba was faced with a choice of committing adultery while her husband was away at war or fleeing. The one choice, adultery, was a sure thing and was clearly wrong; whereas, the other choice, flight, was possible and if successful would save her from committing a sin. There are only a few sins which cannot be avoided, these cardinal sins include idolatry, murder and incest^[1]. All others can be, and should be, avoided. Since adultery is not among the cardinal sins that cannot be avoided, it might even be expected that Bathsheba avoid it, even at the risk of danger.

Although difficult and perhaps dangerous, flight was a possibility.

Based on the story, Bathsheba did not choose to flee. Since Bathsheba did not flee, we are still left with determining whether she was a victim, a co-conspirator or a driving force.

Preview of the next post

The next post, post number 8 of 23 and the third of five posts discussing Bathsheba’s “Victimhood”.

^[1] Note, the reasons behind these acts being considered cardinal sins which cannot be avoided, even to save one’s own life seem to be that murder cannot be rectified, idolatry implies and leads to assimilation and by deeming incest a cardinal sin, young girls are protected from their families (who may be the only adults they know in a clan situation).