Bathsheba
c. 990 BC
One fine spring evening, as King David of Israel relaxed on
the roof of his palace, he spotted Bathsheba
bathing in a nearby house. She had just finished her unclean time of the month and was washing up. He
immediately wanted her, and luckily her husband was staying away because he thought she was still unclean. David
sent for her and they made passionate love until morning.
David meanwhile had asked around and learned she
was
married to one of David's warriors, Uriah the Hittite. King
David
ordered Uriah's commander to send Uriah into the thickest concentration
of enemy soldiers
during their next battle, and then leave him out there alone.
"Don't worry about it," David reassured Uriah's commander, "Men die
in battle all the time. No one will ever know." (Literally: "Don’t let this upset you; the
sword devours one as well as another.")
This widowed Bathsheba and cleared the
way for David to keep her for himself.
She became the mother of Solomon,
who succeeded his father David as king.
