Bathsheba: Power and the Male Gaze
Faith of Our Mothers 11
The Abuse of Bathsheba by King David of Israel: How the Bible can be Re-explored in stories of violence against women. 2 Samuel 11:1 – 12:7
The following Reflection contains information and descriptions in a biblical story about sexual violence, misogyny, patriarchy, sexism and wilful ignorance, from the Bible. The critique included in this Reflection may cause distress. Please take care in reading and using this Reflection and seek help if you need it.
Bathsheba is a woman abducted from her home by Israel’s King David, because he covets her. The text tells us she is bathing when David first sees her; purifying and cleansing herself after her monthly period had ended in accordance with Jewish purification laws. David watched without permission and coveted her. Rather than controlling his lust, he had her brought to him and ‘he lay with her’.
This euphemistic description slides over David’s rape, after which Bathsheba became pregnant. To hide his sin from her husband, Uriah, and from his own conscience, David compounded his abuse by sending Uriah to the battle front to be killed. Uriah had refused to sleep with his wife while his men were fighting on the frontline, showing himself to be far more ethical than David. Uriah’s decision meant he could not be made to appear responsible for the pregnancy, so David made a different plan. Uriah was to be murdered, and others also had to die with him to make it look like a war casualty.
It is an appalling story of terror, sexual violence and murder. David comprehensively steals Bathsheba’s personhood, robbing her of any autonomy of decision-making. It is a significant example of coercive control over someone without power to resist the most powerful person in the kingdom.
Many biblical commentaries blame Bathsheba for causing David to be overcome with lust as he watches her bathing. The underlying assumption is that she would have been glad to catch David’s eye, that what happened was her fault for not behaving appropriately, that she would have been grateful to be married to a king – isn’t that what every woman wants? - and it all ended ‘happily ever after’ anyway, with her son on the throne as the next king. If David was caused to sin, according to this assumption, the cause was Bathsheba’s seduction of an otherwise good man.
Bathsheba is not the first married woman David added to his harem (2 Sam 3:15-16), and this is not the last rape to take place in his household (2 Sam 13). When we read this story as adults, laying aside the version we were taught in Sunday School, it is clear that Bathsheba is not the problem. David is the problem. David is here behaving exactly as Samuel had warned the people that their kings would behave (1 Sam 8).
This biblical story, like many others, speaks powerfully of patriarchal abuse, misogyny, with the implicit acceptance of the ownership of women, the use of sexual violence and rape to control and maintain male power and oppression to keep the status quo. We see the bland willingness of those with privilege to let the darkness overwhelm the light.
We live in a different culture, context and time. You might argue that my critique uses our present culture’s values and expectations to interpret a story thousands of years old. However, our recognition of persistent gendered violence shows how little has changed across millennia. Such Bible stories depict a lived reality for many women today, raising trauma and despair as Bible texts are weaponised to control and oppress women, while David continues to be considered a Biblical hero. It is shocking to see biblical commentaries continue to downplay the experience of violence against women and children, and implicitly support its purpose of keeping women under control and subordinate in the church, rather than offering a way forward with a different, more helpful interpretation and exegesis.
Research suggests three out of every five women between the ages of 15 and 65 experience family and domestic violence, whether physical, sexual, economic, emotional, social, spiritual and coercive. The veil is being lifted on what is happening in our own homes, churches and communities. One woman is killed every four days in Australia by an intimate partner. The horrific statistics indicate a war of terror against women. These places are war zones.
So, this isn’t simply a story about how men should behave ethically. It is truth telling about rape, gender-based violence and abuse of power, of oppression, control and a denial of God by David refusing to take responsibility for his actions, as it is by all who commit violence against women or any other human being. David wanted Bathsheba and he was going to take what he wanted. Because he could. Then she had to marry her rapist.
In our churches we still hear the same stories by people claiming to be Christians, who have perpetrated physical and sexual gender-based violence on partners, wives and children. Their interpretation of biblical texts to conform God’s love to suit their patriarchal purposes has enabled violence and abuse to continue within their families, sanctioned by those around them. Research undertaken within the Anglican Church of Australia tells us so directly.
Jesus was opposed to all forms of oppression, violence, discrimination, control, hatred, privilege and misogyny. Gospel justice does not include these as acceptable pathways to salvation. Women scream around the world, “Enough is enough!”
Our church can bring God’s light into this darkness to show the Truth of what is, what has been and what will be. We share hope-filled Gospel justice, mercy and love inside and outside the churches in our messy honest ways to make this violence a story of the past. We must retell these Bible stories in ways that never give implicit approval for texts of terror which oppress or promote violence against women. God’s Christlike gaze of love and peace tells the stories differently.
Let’s pray:
As we know ourselves encompassed into the male gaze, we remember and know you as Creator birthing all life, as healing Word and enlivening Spirit. We pray in grief to you for safe spaces, generous healing, and restoration. Into the life stealing patriarchy overwhelming our living, we pray to you Sister for care, compassion and listening. Into the hungry look of the passerby, the watcher and the voyeur, we pray to you saving Ruach to guide us into your new creation into the blindness and ignorance of the wilfully complacent, we pray for fierce winds to blow away the shadows and bring this brokenness to your light Into the complicity of all who desire and covet, we pray for steadfast courage and truthfulness. Into the scapegoating, blaming and shaming, we pray for God’s love to shine in the darkness. We pray for hope, justice and peace. Amen
The Ven. Dr Lucy Morris is Rector of the Anglican Parish of Buderim, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. She is also the Archdeacon of the region. She chairs the diocesan working group on Domestic and Family Violence and is working with others on active peace-making. She has long been interested in and an active feminist and witness for women’s rights in the church and more broadly. Lucy’s blog is: www.Lucymorris.com.au and she also has a Facebook page and her work can be found on the Parish Website https://buderim.anglicanchurchsq.org.au; and Facebook www.facebook.com/StMarksBuderim
With Love from Rev Margaret
The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (2 Sam.11:1–12:7). 1989. Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Thank you for this message and its bluntness with no room to move or otherwise justify. I take it into my heart and my soul, into my non negotiables, and marker of all my conduct.