Bathsheba: The Rest of the Story (Part 3)

We have shown that Bathsheba had a godly heritage. Let us now consider:

BATHSHEBA AS A WIFE OF DAVID
She was not the (singular) wife of the king, but one of many. David invited her to become his wife after Uriah died and a period of mourning had passed. The child she conceived in adultery would die. It was part of the punishment God sent. II Samuel 12:24,25 states - "Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Now the LORD loved him, and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD." Jedidiah is the name the prophet gave him, and it means "beloved of Jehovah." He was also given the name Solomon, which is the name he is most known by. Solomon means "peace."

The text explicitly says that the LORD loved him (i.e., Solomon). Does that sound like God is holding something against David and Bathsheba? No, quite the opposite in fact. This was a marriage that wasn't supposed to happen, and yet God crowned it with His blessing. God chastised them for their sin, as a lesson to all, and then He gave them a wonderful heritage after their repentance as a lesson to us all. Bathsheba is not the story of a perfect woman but the story of how great God's grace can be in a person's life. Bathsheba's life was amazingly touched by grace. She was favored by God to an extreme degree! God took away her tarnished name and the shame of adultery and essentially told her and David: "I love your child and am blessing your marriage together."

Bathsheba had three other children with David, and I want to show you something interesting about one of them in particular. I Chronicles 3:5 says - "And these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon--four by Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel." Did you notice the name Nathan there as one of her sons? Nathan was the prophet who confronted David, and yet David and Bathsheba may have named one of their sons after him! The man who confronted David in sin becomes so highly regarded by them that they bestow his name upon one of their children. That is clearly a byproduct of redemption: appreciation for those who rebuke you when you are going down the wrong path (Proverbs 9:8 - "Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man, and he will love you").

Stay with me, this gets even better! We all know that Solomon is in Jesus' lineage according to Matthew 1:6ff - "And Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah." But, did you know another of Bathsheba's sons are in the lineage of Jesus? Luke 3:31 reads - "The son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse..." The genealogy of Christ in Luke's account of the gospel is believed to be Mary's whereas Matthew's is believed to be Joseph's. Thus, Jesus had one son of Bathsheba in both earthly sides of His family. It is undeniable that God highly favored Bathsheba in this way.

We will conclude this study in our next lesson.