Please read this passage before reading this homily.
The story is told simply. David is at home; he had not gone to battle. Bathsheba is at home; her husband is at war. She came from a prominent family, and she is described only as beautiful. David slept with Bathsheba and she conceived a child. This is the simple story.
Hollywood can add details to this. We can add details, but we need not. We should not add details that would put Bathsheba; she is simply minding her own business. We need not add details to David’s part; it was a one-time stand, but it produced a child.
David, however, does try to cover up the deed. He has Bathsheba’s husband summoned home, in the hopes that he would sleep with his wife and deflect attention from David’s deed. When the husband refuses, David had him killed.
In the end, the child is born, but dies shortly afterwards. David does marry Bathsheba and her second child is Solomon, who will succeed David as king. The sword, however, that killed Bathsheba’s husband, becomes a symbol of the bloodshed and strife that would mark the rest of David’s reign and the lives of the kings after him. David sets in motion the evil that would plague his house for years to come until the eventual death of the Age of Kings,
The Age of the Kings ends with the Exile of the children of Israel from their land. The hope of return from exile and the restoration of the kings lived on. Even into the first century of the Christian era, it was known who was of the house and family of David. Members of the house of David were watched by the rulers of Israel and by the Roman conquerors. All this flows from the historical results of the incident of David with Bathsheba.
In judging guilt or responsibility, we should note Bathsheba was hardly in a position to say no to David. In relationships such as this one, the one who has more power, whether this be physical, political, moral, or other kind of dominance, the responsibility rests on the greater in the relationship. Bathsheba is more victim than equal in this incident.
Perhaps marital entanglements are part of the lives of the rich and famous. They are also parts of the lives of the not-so-rich-and-famous. We are all entangled in sin even tough we try not to admit it or broadcast it. Addictions follow generation after generation in families. Our children tnd to repeat the faults of their parents. We are all in need of a call to repentance. In tomorrow’s reading (2 Samuel 12:1-7,10-17) God will send the prophet Nathan to call David to account for his sin. What kind of prophet do we need to call us to repent of our sinfulness?