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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

BATHSHEBA

Uriah’s wife, with whom David committed adultery and whom he later married. Bathsheba, also spelled Bathshua (1 Chr 3:5), was the daughter of Ammiel or Eliam (2 Sm 11:3) and possibly the granddaughter of Ahithophel, the king’s adviser (2 Sm 15:12; 23:34). Her Hittite husband was one of David’s top military heroes (2 Sm 23:39).

While Uriah was off fighting under Joab, King David saw a beautiful woman taking her evening bath. Discovering her name and that her husband was away on duty, he sent for Bathsheba and had sexual intercourse with her (2 Sm 11:1-4). When Bathsheba later informed him that she was pregnant, the king ordered Uriah back to Jerusalem, hoping that the husband’s return would make Bathsheba’s pregnancy appear legitimate. But Uriah considered himself still on active duty and slept with the palace guard, refusing to go home (vv 5-13). Frustrated, David sent him back to the front and ordered Joab to put Uriah in the front lines and then pull back. Consequently, Uriah was killed (vv 14-25).

After Bathsheba’s period of mourning, David installed her in the palace as his seventh wife, and she bore the child. The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to pronounce judgment on David’s sin through a parable. Nathan prophesied a series of tragedies in David’s household, beginning with the death of Bathsheba’s infant son (2 Sm 11:26–12:14). David confessed his sin and repented, but the infant became sick and died. The prologue (or superscription) of Psalm 51 describes it as the psalm of repentance David wrote when confronted by Nathan over his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah. David comforted Bathsheba, and eventually they had other children (2 Sm 12:15-25).

Of David’s 19 sons by his seven wives (1 Chr 3:1-9), the sons born to Bathsheba were Shimea (also spelled Shammua, 2 Sm 5:14; 1 Chr 14:4), Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. Nathan (Lk 3:31) and Solomon (Mt 1:6) appear in NT genealogies of Jesus Christ. Bathsheba also appears in Matthew’s genealogy under the description “she who had been the wife of Uriah.” At the very end of David’s life, the prophet Nathan told Bathsheba that David’s son Adonijah (by his wife Haggith) was conspiring to usurp the throne. Bathsheba and Nathan persuaded David to make Solomon king as he had promised (1 Kgs 1).