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The love story of King David and Bathsheba is known to most of us with a church background. However, for those not familiar with King David, let me briefly share a bit of history.

King David was appointed by God to the throne of Israel as a young lad. Once he was ruling as king, he took many wives, as did many of the kings during that time period. Some wives where taken to keep peace between countries, others were because King David had a weakness for beautiful women and Bathsheba was a very beautiful woman whom he lusted after. The thing is Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hitite, who was an officer in the king’s army.

Uriah and Bathsheba lived next door to the king’s palace and for some reason David happened to see Bathsheba bathing one evening. Lust drove him to send for her and they committed adultery that resulted in Bathsheba conceiving a child.

In Bible times adultery was punishable by death, which David knew, so in order to save Bathsheba, himself and their child, he ordered Uriah to the front of the lines in battle to insure his death. David had Uriah murdered to save his own skin.

Both King David and Bathsheba had to suffer the consequences of their sin, for murder and adultery is sin against God, however, there is a beautiful thread of redemption (atonement for guilt, deliverance from sin), that winds through their story and is present in each of our lives today.

While there were consequences to David and Bathsheba’s indiscretion, they were forgiven and then they were blessed. Bathsheba was no longer barren and went on to bear four sons. She and David shared a love neither of them seemed to have experienced before and David raised a godly son in Solomon, who later became heir to the throne and is known to be the wisest king to ever have lived. Jesus came through the line of David. God used David’s affair to continue His plan of redemption for all of mankind. He could have used someone else, but He did not. I, for one, am glad God chooses sinners to fulfill His purposes.

The best thing about this story is that it reveals the redemption we have in Christ. No sin is unforgivable and God has provided us a redeemer through Jesus Christ. Jesus paid the debt of our sin when He died on the cross. When we accept Christ as our Savior, God no longer looks at us in light of our wrong doing, as we tend to do to ourselves, but He sees us as new creatures without sin. Pretty amazing, but that is the grace of God. Free to all who will receive it.

I loved the way Jill Smith filled in this story with her creative imagination. It made me think again (for I read her previous book on Abigail, another one of David’s wives) what it might be like to be one of many wives and I am very thankful for a monogomous relationship. The thing Bathsheba had going for her was that she was David’s favorite wife and held a very prominent position in his house.

I am eternally grateful to God for using Kind David and his struggles to pen many of the Psalms so that we can know and understand that we can overcome our failures and restore our relationship with the Lord. When we feel far away from God, it is we who have left Him, not the other way around.

Bathsheba is a story of love, hope, forgiveness and the redemption we all long for deep within our hearts.

About the Author

Jill Eileen Smith has more than twenty years of writing experience, and her writing has garnered acclaim in several competitions. Her research into the lives of David’s wives has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times. Smith is the author of the bestselling Michal and Abigail and lives with her family in southeast Michigan.

“Available March 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

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