Reflections on 2 Samuel 11–12
The Old Testament is full of stories. There are wonderful stories like Jehovah’s making of a covenant with his people on Mt. Sinai or Ruth’s care and compassion for her mother-in-law. There are dramatic stories like Jael’s rescue of Israel through the judicious application of a tent stake. There are tragic stories like the destruction of Jerusalem or the daughter of Jephthah. Often as we talk about the Old Testament, it is the stories that we focus on.
However, there is a danger in a focus on stories, because that can sometimes cause us to oversimplify the experiences of real people in our quest for meaning and understanding. We can absolutely derive meaning and life lessons from the experiences of others. Nephi positively encourages us to “liken the scriptures” (1 Nephi 19:23) to ourselves in order to deepen and enhance their meaning. The process of looking for moral truth in scripture is an important one, but it is one that carries with it certain considerations.
The story of David is a great example of this. It is one of the most complex in the entire Old Testament. But part of why it is so complex is because of the simple reality of it. Like everyone, David makes good decisions and bad decisions. Both the good actions and the bad actions have reverberations. This is especially true as we think about his life before and after the murder of Uriah the Hittite. On the one hand, we need to be clear here. David’s adultery with Bath-sheba and the subsequent murder of her husband to cover up his crime are heinous sins. On the other hand, it is a mistake for us to say that David was a good man before the crime and a bad one after. As described in the Bible, David’s life after these sins is one of continuous penitence. All of this serves as a reminder that human beings are difficult to put into categories.
The individuals in this story were all closely connected to one another. Bath-sheba is described in 2 Samuel 11:3 as the daughter of Eliam. This is almost certainly the same Eliam who was a member of David’s elite warband of thirty “mighty men” described in 2 Samuel 23. Uriah the Hittite, Bath-sheba’s husband, was also a member of this elite warband.
This brings up another thorny issue for modern readers of the biblical text. The Old Testament is largely written from a male perspective and is, generally speaking, unconcerned with exploring motivations. It largely leaves that to the reader. Because of this, the motivations of individuals like Bath-sheba have been guessed at in numerous different ways. Was she bathing on the roof to entice David, and thus was complicit in the adultery? Or did she have no say in the matter and was effectively raped? These are the most extreme positions, and biblical interpreters have staked out positions on a spectrum between them. Unfortunately for any of these interpretations, the text does not give us enough information to definitively say anything.
We can make some observations. David was king and this means that there was a power differential between him and Bath-sheba which must nuance any discussion of consent. From a modern perspective, that power differential means that it could have been difficult for her to say no. David’s position as king would have put her in a precarious situation, because women simply did not have as many rights in ancient society as in current Western society. For example, King Saul was able to take David’s first wife, Michal, and give her as a wife to someone else. The biblical authors do not use any of their words for rape (this can fruitfully be compared with the story of Amnon and Tamar in 2 Samuel 13, which describes Amnon’s act in the strongest possible language). It is perhaps worth noting that the biblical authors place the blame for the murder of Uriah squarely on the shoulders of David.
There are consequences for Bath-sheba, both positive and negative. She and David both lose the baby conceived in their adulterous encounter. Their second son, Solomon, becomes king over Israel and builds Jehovah’s house on the earth. Solomon’s kingship elevates Bath-sheba to the status of the most powerful woman in ancient Israel. Once again, as we read this story, instead of simple morals, we find complex individuals.
This then brings us around full circle. None of this conversation is to suggest that we cannot draw out moral or ethical lessons from the scriptures. Indeed, we ought to do so. However, we should recognize that these stories are not made-up fables designed primarily to teach lessons. These are the stories of real people who led real lives. As we read things in the scriptures that are difficult or cause concern, we can use those lessons to be “more wise” than they had been (Mormon 9:31). Yet when these stories do not yield to easy lessons, we can also remember that life itself does not always yield to easy lessons. There is value in working out lessons from complex life circumstances, whether in the scriptures or in our own lives.
