Jesus and Bathsheba

HERE is the SexEd Resource Sheet that Brenna Rubio put together for this week.

Yesterday in church we read a portion of the David and Bathsheba story in 2 Samuel 11. It’s not a pretty story.

In the Bible, there are two histories of the life of David. One is in the books of 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings; the other is in the books of 1 & 2 Chronicles. Interestingly, the story about David raping Bathsheba only comes up in the first of those two narratives. The Chronicles account only mentions Bathsheba in passing in a genealogy (as the mother of 4 sons). None of the drama about coercive sex or killing off her husband made the cut. It’s nice and clean. Downright copacetic and sanitized.

In the case of David and Bathsheba, even when that story gets shared in 2 Samuel, it’s all about David. Bathsheba doesn’t even get a speaking part, even though she’s the one who has been violated. As Brenna pointed out in the sermon, it’s not unlike people talking a lot about not wanting to ruin the lives of the Cornell 7, but not mentioning the ruined life of Jane Doe.

Notice the difference in our own lives. Sometimes we share the vulnerable things. Sometimes we avoid them altogether - just like those two Old Testament histories. And sometimes we tell the story but center on the wrong character, missing Bathsheba and only concerning ourselves with David. We even do this sometimes when we tell our own stories—erasing ourselves, as if we don’t matter.

Take some time and sit with this quote from Womanist scholar Wil Gafney, letting it inspire a prayer for you today:

If Jesus is the son of David, then he is every bit as much of the son of Bathsheba. But if we were to tell the truth, Jesus looks a whole lot less like David and a whole lot more like Bathsheba – both body-snatched by soldiers and handed over to someone who did whatever they wanted to their bodies.” - Wil Gafney