Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah, and was the object of King David's affection. Her story starts with David taking a walk on the roof of his palace, when he saw Bathsheba bathing, after that he was instantly obsessed with her. Later King David slept with Bathsheba and concieved a child with him. Fearing an accusation of adultery David called Uriah back from war to see his wife, and possibly to sleep with her so Uriah would believe that the child was his and not David's. Uriah refused to sleep with his wife because he did not want to vioate the Israelitish rule of the warrion in active service, so he planned to stay with the palace troops. Desperately, David gave an ordrer to his general, Joab, to abandon Uriah in battle to he hands of the enemy to be killed because if Uriah were killed David would be free to take Bathsheba as his own wife. According to Samuel's account, this action was displeasing to the Lord, who then sent the prophet Nathan to reprove the king. The king quickly apologized and repented, but as a result of his heinous action David's first child with Bathsheba died. They soon had another and named him Solomon.
Bathsheba was included in the family tree of Jesus to show that Jesus was the descendant of real people and not people given a false picture of saintliness, just because they're in the Bible. The story of Bathsheba shows that she was a real person because of her sins, but a normal person can lead up to great things, like her helping get to the birth of Jesus Christ himself. Without the act of cheating on her husband with David, Solomon would have never been born and become the next king, and then Solomon would have never reproduced, thus stopping the family tree and Jesus never being born. Bathsheba could have been seen as promiscuous for her actions, but they were necessary for her to stay alive in that society, because if a woman was not pregnant what were they worth in this time period. I feel that Bathsheba was included in the family tree because she was a real woman, and helped ensure the birth of Jesus, although he was a sinner she was a part of helping Jesus, the man who would take away our sins, to be born.
Note, sources were: wikipedia.org, jewishencyclopedia.com, and the library hard copy
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2 comments:
There seems to be a lack of Bethsheba in the summary of the story, it seems more focused on the internal conflict that David went through. So there is really no basis for a character sketch of Bethsheba, you have to make something out of nothing. So the connections you drew in your response lack a confidance and cohesiveness as to why Bethsheba is connected to the geneology. There must be some other reason than just that she gave birth to a king and that would make jesus a king.
It seems to me that Bathsheba wasn't the focus of the story but rather David, and what David did. I didn't feel I got to know Bathsheba that well. You use colloquialisms which always take away a sense of confidance for me. It would be nice if you "smoothed out the enges, but the research you instilled in the entry was great.
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