Bathsheba. Preachers through the centuries have slurred her reputation and badmouthed her. My guess is that you have never heard a positive message about Bathsheba. She is presented as a gorgeous temptress who causes David to sin in the eyes of God. And virtually every movie that has been made about David and Bathsheba reinforces her as an immoral person. And of course, that is why no one names their daughter Bathsheba. That name has dropped out of history because of this reputation, the mud that has been slung at her. Today, I want to set the record straight. I want to defend her against this false narrative, this gossip that has been spread through the centuries, even by preachers. We name our daughters after other women in the Bible: Sarah, Rachel, and Mary. But no one names their daughter Bathsheba, because of her reputation, which she does not deserve. And that's what I want to show you today: that she did not betray her husband. She did not seduce David. Bathsheba is actually a supremely virtuous woman, who was the victim of the most powerful man in Israel, who forced himself upon her and raped her. It's really a present-day story, isn't it? We read about the same thing happening today, occasionally. She's a virtuous woman. So much so that I want to show you that she actually is the author of Proverbs 31, which is the classic description of what a virtuous woman is like. Bathsheba writes that chapter. Along the way, we're going to learn important things about life from Bathsheba. And the first important thing that Bathsheba teaches us is: don't believe bad things about a person when you weren't there, and you don't know the whole story. Preachers badmouth her as an immoral seductress. But my first piece of evidence in her defense is that the Word of God does not say a single bad thing about her. Preachers may, but the Word of God does not blame her. The Word of God does not accuse her. Not a single bad word is said about Bathsheba in God's Word. It's really difficult to believe bad things about her when God doesn't say bad things about her. That's my first piece of evidence. Let's take a minute and just remember her story. David is king, and he's on the rooftop of his palace. He knows he should not be up there, because he knows that at dusk, the Jewish women of Jerusalem had the habit of bathing behind the high walls of their courtyards. But David's palace, if you ever go to Jerusalem, you'll see it, sits at the highest point of the hill, except for the temple. And it looks down on virtually the whole valley. It looks down into the courtyards of every house. It's no coincidence he's up there at dusk, because he knows what happens at dusk behind those walls. He should not have been up there, but he is up there, and he's looking down. The women in the courtyards did not know they were being observed, because he's so high up. It would be very hard to see him, and they wouldn't expect it. And as he looks down, he spies Bathsheba bathing. The Bible says she's very beautiful. He knows that her husband, Uriah, is away fighting in David's war. So he knows she is alone in her home, because her husband's out in the field. David sends for her. Remember that verb. It's a verb of power. He sends for her, and she comes, because a king in the ancient world had absolute power. She cannot refuse him. And besides that, she has no idea why he is sending for her. She doesn't realize that he has been leering at her and spying on her. She thinks maybe he has some news about her husband, Uriah. We can just guess that. And she hopes that it's not bad news. So in any event, she cannot turn him down. She comes. Remember that all of Israel loved David, including her husband, Uriah. In fact, scholars surmise that he idolized David. And this is why the Scriptures are so careful to tell us that Uriah was a Hittite, that is, an idol worshiper, not a Jew. But in fact, he had converted to Judaism and joined David's army. He shouldn't have been fighting in David's army. And what scholars say is that he knew of David's reputation, the Goliath killer, the giant killer, and of his reputation as a fabulous warrior. And men want to follow great men. And so he idolizes David, because of this reputation as a warrior and a leader. And he converts to Judaism so he can fight in David's army. Seven times the passage tells us he's a Hittite and not a Jew, because it wants us to know that David just shoves aside the admiration that he knows Uriah has for him. It means nothing, finally, when he wants his wife. And of course, Bathsheba shares Uriah's admiration of David. So she comes, not expecting anything bad. And once she's in his chambers, David takes her. That's the Bible's word: "takes her." This is a verb of force. He takes her. He forces himself upon her. It's unwanted sex. He rapes her. Rape does not have to be violent. It can be unwanted, but because of the situation, you cannot say no. Then David sent her home. There's that verb of power again: sent. He has no intention of marrying her. He uses her for his lust and then sends her away. End of story. Or so he thought. He gets word that she's pregnant. He's got to cover this up. He arranges for Uriah to come to Jerusalem, fully expecting that Uriah, after being away so long, will go in to his wife, Bathsheba. But he doesn't. He says he cannot do that while his fellow comrades are in the field fighting. He has too much integrity. So he sleeps on the palace steps. David gets Uriah drunk. He still does not go home to sleep with his wife. He sleeps on the palace steps. By now, David is desperate. His plan to cover it up has not worked, because Uriah has too much integrity. So, as we read in the Scripture, he arranges with his general, Joab, for Uriah to be put at the front of the fighting, and for the army to slowly withdraw from him, so that he is killed. Only then does David marry Bathsheba. And it's only to further cover up what's happened. Since everyone knows Uriah has not been home, but she has become pregnant and will deliver a baby, what's he to do? Marry her, so that the baby looks like his legitimate baby. What's happened here is murder at a distance. Murder via a letter. The powerful king instructing his general, "Get him killed." It's about power. Absolute power. He thinks it's a perfect murder and a perfect cover-up. But God knows. There are no secrets from God about anything anyone does. And that's a big teaching of the story of Bathsheba. There are no secrets. So God sent Nathan, His prophet, to confront David. And Nathan tells him this story about a rich man who had a large flock of sheep, who comes and takes the only lamb that a poor man has. A lamb that the poor man loved, and so did his daughter. And as soon as David hears this, emotionally he says, "He shall die." And that's when Uriah says, "You are the man." You see, the lamb in the story, and this is a further piece of evidence, the innocent lamb in the story, is Bathsheba. She's the only wife of Uriah, whom he deeply loved. And she's stolen by David, who has eight wives and 10 concubines. And that's why Uriah, when he confronts him, says, "Is that not enough? 18 women is not enough, and you have to steal another man's wife?" Lust has always been a problem for David. Enough was never enough for him. So that's the story Nathan tells him, and it convicts David of sin. Notice who's not in the story: Bathsheba. She's not present. He doesn't use this story to confront Bathsheba. She's not even there. In fact, she's the little lamb in the story. That's my further piece of evidence that she's a virtuous woman, and not what the preachers say. We often overlook the fact that Bathsheba is not included in Nathan's confrontation. Nowhere in the Bible is she blamed for what happened that night. Not a bad word is said about her. But verse 27 of chapter 11 says David had done evil in the sight of the Lord. That is never said of Bathsheba. Now, she was raped by a powerful man, and she had no options, and she's exonerated. People will say, "But God said that David was a man after His own heart. David could not possibly have done this bad thing." What they neglect to tell you is that God said that of David before he accumulated all of these wives and concubines, and before he did what he did to Bathsheba and Uriah. After that, God never says that of David again. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It did in 1000 BC with David. And it's still doing it today in our world. Power numbs the conscience. And what happens with power is you just want more power. You can never get enough control over people. There is this pleasure in controlling people. Power corrupts. And so in Psalm 51, when David makes his great prayer… Do you know that Psalm? He pours out his heart to God and says, "I have sinned. I've sinned against You." And he prays that his heart would be cleansed, white as snow. This great prayer of repentance has no parallel with Bathsheba. Bathsheba doesn't pray a prayer like that, because David's the one who has done the evil thing, not her. She's a victim. And that's my third piece of evidence. I wrote my senior thesis in philosophy at Stanford on the French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre. And I did so because I was a new Christian, and I knew he was a very famous atheist, and proud of it. But he was an atheist not because of scientific evidence, and not because of logic. He simply said that he did not want a God from whom you could keep no secrets to exist. He described the Christian God as a God who looks through the keyhole of your bedroom door. There are no secrets from this God, and therefore he decided not to believe in Him. "He does not exist," because Sartre didn't want to be held accountable by a supreme being. That's kind of a lame reason to be an atheist. But I tell you today, most people who are very proud of their atheism are not atheists because they can really give you scientific evidence or logic. In the end, they just don't want to be accountable. One of the big teachings of Bathsheba's life is what David found: you can keep no secrets from God. That has helped me so often when I have been tempted: "One day I will have to give an account of this." Imagine with me Bathsheba leaving David's chambers late that night. She walks out of his bedroom into the anteroom, where his servants and guards are, and her face is flushed crimson with shame, because she knows exactly what they're thinking. They are thinking she is just another one of David's conquests. And the gossip begins. The gossip begins. Have you ever been gossiped about? Untrue stories, exaggerated stories told about you, that shamed you, that really separated people from you? Have you ever lost a job because somebody deliberately started gossip about you to ruin you? It happens. Bathsheba teaches us: don't condemn people for what they have done when you don't know the whole story, or the options they had or did not have. In 1000 BC, Bathsheba had no options with a king with absolute power. There was no #MeToo movement. We can't read this through 21st-century eyes. "Why didn't she tell other people?" Because she would have been killed immediately. And nobody would have believed her, because he was idolized as the Goliath killer. Women were singing songs about him. Everybody was in love with him. They would not believe her over David. She knew that. There was no #MeToo movement. The best thing I read last week in my research was something to say to gossips. It was, "Excuse me, here's your nose. I found it in my business." I love that. "Here's your nose. I found it in my business." I'm going to remember that one. Gossip is evil in God's sight. It hurts reputations. It turns people against people. I wish I could convince us, as Christians, to be light, and not part of the darkness of gossip in this community. It takes courage to cut a conversation short. But when you know that it's moving towards gossip, and you listen, do you realize you're enabling sin? You're enabling. Amen. And to cut it short is actually to save a person from sin in God's eyes. But it takes courage. I can only say this. Remember: whoever gossips to you will gossip about you. Yes, they will. Another proof that Bathsheba was virtuous, and not to blame, is the family she came from. You don't often hear this, but in chapter 23, there's a whole list of men who were most trusted by David and who were seen as the most virtuous in Israel. Her father, Eliam, is on that list, one of his closest friends. And so is her grandfather, who, it turns out, is David's closest advisor. Both men are from her family. Scholars say that she was obviously born into a very godly family, who passed on their virtue to her. Scholars tell us that her name, Bathsheba, actually means "dedicated to the Lord," "dedicated to God." Add to that this important piece of evidence. Her grandfather, later, after this incident, betrays David when an insurrection, a rebellion, arises against him. He goes over to the other side. Why would one who was so close to David, and such a friend to David, join a rebellion? Revenge. Payback. Because you see, that family knew their daughter. And they knew Bathsheba would not be involved in some kind of affair with the king, and she would not be involved in the killing of her husband. They knew that Bathsheba, their daughter, was virtuous. They knew the gossip was a lie. And so the grandfather joins the rebellion as payback. That's my fourth piece of evidence. There's something else that's important. Bathsheba has four children by David. She names them Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. Nathan? Wait a minute. That's the name of the man who exposed David and brought him to repentance. Why would you name one of your children after the man who exposed your husband? Because, in doing so, David came to deep repentance, and his huge ego was humbled, and he became a person capable of loving. And that's why their marriage develops into a very good marriage. The Bible has no problem talking about other women in the Bible who had their problems, like Eve and like Jezebel. And it has no problem talking about problem marriages, like those of Sarah and Abraham, and Rebecca and Jacob. But there are no problems in this marriage. In fact, it becomes closer and closer. And the reason is that Nathan had given them a fresh start, as David came to repentance. And surely there is a marriage here that's almost broken. And I promise you that God will bless and empower a fresh start, if there's real repentance. The blaming stops. The excuses stop. The keeping of the record of wrongs stops. That's not productive. It never is. Repentance is what gives a marriage a fresh start. And surely that rings a bell with someone here whose marriage could be better. Secondly, Bathsheba teaches us: never waste your time trying to explain things to people who are committed to misunderstanding you and believing the worst. A lot of us have wasted a lot of life trying to convince somebody who doesn't want to be convinced that what they believe is not true. What is stunning is that Bathsheba never does that. She never seeks revenge. She never tries to change anyone's mind about their accusations against her. She never tries to stop the gossip, because it's futile. There are some people who want to gossip, and you will never stop it. She believed other people's opinions of her were not important. Only God's opinion was important. And God said she was not guilty. I hope you'll grab on to that. Only God's opinion is important. Ignore the rest of the noise. She teaches us that other people's opinions only affect us if we let them in, if we let their opinions inside our head. Don't. Just stop them. Change your thoughts. Bathsheba ignored other people's opinions. And if she could do that, we can do that. So don't say, "I can't help it. I can't help it. It just gets me down." Don't say that, because as long as you say you can't, you won't. If Bathsheba could do it, you can, too. Believe that. And stop saying you can't. Whoever is trying to bring you down, remember this: whoever is trying to bring you down is already below you. So ignore them. There's one other piece of Bathsheba's story that preachers rarely tell you about, and it is that she is the author of Proverbs 31. Yes, she is. It's the greatest chapter in the Bible on what it means to be a virtuous woman. And I know it's shocking for some people to hear. She is the source of that chapter. The proof of it is verse one of Proverbs 31, which says, "The words of King Lemuel, which his mother taught him." So King Lemuel writes this, because his mother taught him what he's writing. Well, Lemuel turns out to be a nickname that Bathsheba gave to Solomon. That's what scholars have discovered. And she gave him that nickname because he kept marrying Egyptian women with idols. He was just a poor picker of women. And so she's really trying to save him a lot of grief, by teaching him, "This is what a virtuous woman looks like. Lame brain, this is what she looks like." And he writes it down. This would be the height of hypocrisy, except that this is really a self-description of Bathsheba. A woman of virtue whom a powerful man abused, but she did not crumble. God said she was blameless, and she continued to live virtuously, despite what the gossip was. And that's a real reminder to us. If people are saying bad things about you, live in such a good way that other people won't believe it, because of the way you're living now. That's your best defense. And that's what she does. Third, Bathsheba got a fresh start by forgiving David. David… listen to what he did. He forced unwanted sex upon her. He raped her. He murdered her husband. He betrayed her father and grandfather. He ruined her reputation. He used her for his lust and then discarded her and sent her home. Wow. And she forgave him. She had every right to be bitter and to punish him, but she forgave the unforgivable. There's no record of her ever wanting to get even. The Bible's not shy about telling the truth about women who are on the wrong side of the truth. But never is a bad word said about her. Instead, their marriage gets better and better. She has four children by him. She's an example that the best marriages are between two great forgivers who don't keep a record of wrongs. C. S. Lewis wrote, "To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven you of the inexcusable." Any other choice is hypocrisy. True, isn't it? You and I have been forgiven the inexcusable. So forgive others, too. That's the only way you get a fresh start. We do not read of her being bitter and angry. She was a virtuous woman. And part of her being virtuous was that she forgave the inexcusable. That's part of being virtuous. Not just in the sexual area, and in telling the truth, and all this. Part of being virtuous is forgiving other people for the inexcusable. Not to forgive is immoral. It's actually immoral in God's eyes. Well, that's my defense of Bathsheba. I read a stunning line this last week in my research. It said, "Being unwilling to forgive is a terrible thing to do to ourselves." Think about it. Oh Lord, chip away at us, and help us not to be hearers only, but doers. To walk in the light, and in abundant life. Wherever this message about Bathsheba affects us, Lord, help us to act on it. We pray in Your name, Jesus. Amen.