Text: 1 Kings 1:1-40

I choose to integrate the reading of the scripture into my reflections this morning. I did this for a couple of reasons. First, because I don’t get to read scripture very often and I thought this would be a fun story to read. And second because as I go along, I’m going to do some narrative commentary. This is going to be watching the DVD with the comments feature on – remember those??

Our focus today is Bathsheba, and before I begin, I wonder: What is the story that most of you would remember about her? What is her place in the Biblical story? (David’s temptor; wife of Uriah; assaulted by David)

In her first appearance in the Biblical text, she has basically no agency. She is acted upon rather than being a person who has choices. This story plays out very very differently. It takes place much later in the lives of David and Bathsheba. We begin in 1 Kings 1:1
1 King David had become very old. His servants covered him with blankets, but he couldn’t stay warm. 2 They said to him, “Allow us to find a young woman for our master the king. She will serve the king and take care of him by lying beside our master the king and keeping him warm.” 3 So they looked in every corner of Israel until they found Abishag from Shunem. They brought her to the king. 4 She was very beautiful. She cared for the king and served him, but the king didn’t have sex with her.
This little introduction says everything about the state of the king and his capacity. David – a king known for his vigor, his prowess in battle, his active libido, his force of leadership – is now diminished. He is a shadow of his younger self. He is so weak he has not even enough energy to stay warm. So diminished that even when his courtiers find him a beautiful young woman, it does nothing for him. In his apparently 
5 Adonijah, Haggith’s son, bragged about himself and said, “I’ll rule as king myself.” He got his own chariot and horses with fifty runners to go in front. 6 Now Adonijah’s father had never given him direction; he never questioned why Adonijah did what he did. He was very handsome and was born after Absalom. 7 He took advice from Joab, Zeruiah’s son, and from the priest Abiathar. They assisted Adonijah. 

8 But Zadok the priest, Jehoiada’s son Benaiah, the prophet Nathan, Shimei and his friends, and David’s veterans didn’t join Adonijah. 9 So Adonijah prepared lamb, oxen, and fattened cattle at the Stone of Zoheleth, next to En-rogel. He invited his brothers (the royal princes) and all the citizens of Judah who were the royal servants to come. 10 But he didn’t invite the prophet Nathan, Benaiah, David’s veterans, or his brother Solomon.
So here we have David’s oldest living son, with his father the king still old, but still very much alive, claiming the position of king for himself. I say he was the oldest living son because David’s first two sons, Adonijah’s half brothers Amnon and Asolom, each met an early end.  – the first killed by the second after he assaulted their sister Tamar, the second died in an attempted coup against his father.

Adonijah is also, in a way, attempting a coup. The text says he’s never been challenged or questioned – or guided – by his father, the king. So there’s a little bit of entitlement and assumption there. And he’s described as very handsome, which is a bit of a clue that he’s a bit shady. 

This is a more quiet take-over than his late older brother, though, as he assembles all his contingent around him. They are the northern kingdom people. The Judah people. These are the folks who served with David before he moved the seat of power to Jerusalem and became king of the united kingdom with Jerusalem at the center. 

Along with these supporters the faction including Joab, Abiathar, some of his supportive brothers and citizens of Judah, the northern region, they prepare a coronation feast. The problem is it is a faction. Not everyone is included or consenting to this turn of events. As the story continues in verse 11.
11 Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Did you hear that Adonijah, Haggith’s son, has become king, but our master David doesn’t know about it? 12 Let me give you some advice on how you and your son Solomon can survive this. 13 Go to King David and say, ‘Didn’t my master the king swear to your servant, “Your son Solomon will certainly rule after me. He will sit on my throne”? Why then has Adonijah become king?’ 14 While you are speaking there with the king, I’ll come along and support your words.”
Nathan and Bathsheba were, of course, two of the ones who were excluded from the party. And, more to the point, from the reign that Adonijah is attempting to establish. If Adonijah and his people prevail, there will be no place for them. But it is not at all clear that David made any such promise to Bathsheba. Or even that Solomon is interested in the job. But Nathan can see the writing on the wall.

Now even though Adonijah is older, Solomon is David’s first son to be born when David was in power over the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah and so may have that as a legitimate claim. And there haven’t been any inherited kingships at all yet in Israel. But it does seem like this is a scheme that Nathan has cooked up to alert David to Adonijah’s activities and at the same time plant a story in his mind that Solomon has already received a promise.

Nathan is depending on the feebleness of old David’s memory – that he’ll buy this claim. And he also needs to enlist Bathsheba, someone whose history with David allows her entry into his intimate spaces and conversations and promises potentially made in the throws of passion.  Together they’ll have a two-flanked approach: Bathsheba calling on her relationship with David in the private sphere of the bedroom and Nathan backing her up with his knowledge of David’s public life.
15 So Bathsheba went to the king in his bedroom. The king was very old, and Abishag from Shunem was serving the king. 16 Bathsheba bowed down on her face before the king. The king asked, “What do you want?”
I can just imagine this scene. Not that Bathsheba was under any illusion that David was monogamous, but coming into his room and seeing this poor girl who’s been coopted into being basically a human hot water bottle for this old man. I imagine the disdain Bathsheba must have for David – who has similarly used her (only worse) – and the empathy for this girl. And having to be dignified and keep all of that under wraps.
17 She said to him, “Your Majesty, you swore by the Lord your God to your servant, ‘Your son Solomon will certainly rule after me. He will sit on my throne.’ 18 But now, look, Adonijah has become king, and my master the king doesn’t know about it. 19 He has prepared large quantities of oxen, fattened cattle, and lamb. He has invited all the royal princes as well as Abiathar the priest and Joab the general. However, he didn’t invite your servant Solomon. 20 As for you, my master the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you to tell them who will follow you on the throne of my master the king. 21 When my master the king lies down with his ancestors, then I and my son Solomon will become outlaws.”
Why I find this so interesting is that Bathsheba takes Nathan’s suggestion and really runs with it. Nathan suggested just planting a little seed of doubt. But Bathsheba is absolutely insistent. “You swore it!” she says. She invokes his love of God and the seriousness with which he takes his vows before God. 

She goes on to play on his ego: How could he possibly allow his upstart son Adonokah to rally his northern allies behind David’s back? Everyone knows about it! And finally she touches on both his legacy and his familial obligations: he needs to protect her and Solomon from exile or death that would be certain if Absolom prevails. She is masterful!
22 While she was still speaking with the king, the prophet Nathan arrived. 23 The king was informed, “The prophet Nathan is here.” Then Nathan came in before the king and bowed his face to the ground. 24 He said, “My master the king, you must have said, ‘Adonijah will become king after me and will sit on my throne.’ 25 Indeed, today he went down and prepared oxen, fattened cattle, and lamb in large numbers. He invited all the royal princes, the generals, and Abiathar the priest. They are eating and drinking with him, and they said, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’ 26 Adonijah didn’t invite me, your servant, Zadok the priest, Jehoiada’s son Benaiah, or your servant Solomon. 27 If this message was from my master the king, you didn’t make it known to your servant. Who should follow you on the throne of my master the king?”
Nathan doesn’t follow his own script either. He doesn’t really back up Bathsheba’s story, what he does is follow her lead down the ego-stroking path. Surely David is so powerful that Adonijah could not have organized this self-coronation without his knowledge and consent! Nathan then embellishes the celebration a little by boosting the numbers and adding shouts of ‘love live!’ 

But also, he reminds David, you should know that some key people were not included…key southern leaders and figures. He’s calling attention to Solomon without even needing to say anything beyond what Bathsheba already has. If David knew about all of this, hmm, why weren’t we invited??
28 King David answered, “Bring me Bathsheba.” She came and stood before the king. 29 The king made a solemn pledge and said, “As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued me from every trouble, 30 regarding what I swore to you by the Lord, Israel’s God, ‘Your son Solomon will certainly succeed me; he will sit on the throne after me’—I’ll see that it happens today.”

31 Bathsheba bowed down with her face to the ground. She honored the king and said, “May my master King David live forever!”

32 King David said, “Bring me Zadok the priest, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son.” They came to the king, 33 who said to them, “Take with you the servants of your masters. Put my son Solomon on my mule and bring him down to Gihon. 34 There Zadok the priest and the prophet Nathan will anoint him king over Israel. Blow the ram’s horn and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’ 35 You will follow him. He will enter and sit on my throne, and so he will succeed me as king. I have appointed him to become ruler over Israel and Judah.”
It’s like with Bathsheba’s and Nathan’s intervention David suddenly remembers that he’s the king. It’s like he expands back into his role. And I can imagine Bathsheba smiling secretly even as she’s bowing before David because he’s doing exactly what she planned for him to do! She’s secured her place – and her son’s place – in David’s royal lineage and legacy.

I’m not sure what responsibility David feels like he has toward her all these years after his first forced encounter with her. After their first child died. Perhaps he’s a complete dupe or maybe he’s making good on the mistakes he made as a younger king – redemption for himself and for Bathsheba. She’s exacting a kind of revenge and he accepts it.
36 Benaiah, Jehoiada’s son, responded to the king, “Yes, may it happen as the Lord, the God of my king, says. 37 Just as the Lord was with my master the king, so may he be with Solomon. May his throne be even greater than the throne of my master King David.” 38 Zadok the priest, the prophet Nathan, Jehoiada’s son Benaiah, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule. 

They led him to Gihon. 39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. They blew the ram’s horn, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!” 40 All the people followed him playing flutes and celebrating. The ground shook at their noise.
The story finishes with a real and true coronation in which David gives his full blessing and the leaders of the united kingdoms in Jerusalem preside, including a priestly anointing calling on God’s blessing on the choice of leader.

 This is almost a ‘happily ever after’ ending. It’s not the end of the BIG story, the biblical narrative. But it is the end of Bathsheba’s story in scripture. We get to see her full arc. Even though the story that most of us remember her for is one in which she doesn’t have any choice or agency or even any personality beyond being beautiful, here she has a resolution – her redemption – or revenge, depending on how you look at it.

In Korea there’s a genre of television dramas that are historical palace intrigue. These are essentially soap operas that follow the lives of emperors and princesses and of course the lowly servants and all the conflict and intrigue. I guess maybe it’s the Korean version of something like Downton Abbey – maybe crossed with Game of Thrones?

This story reminds me of that. It’s just a good story. A story that doesn’t necessarily need to have a lesson or a moral emerge from it but that does fill out our understanding of some of the key figure in that larger story of God’s engagement with human history. A story that complexifies and humanizes the people who God chose to lead.

God’s people are complex and human. Biblical figures – they’re just like us! And may we be open to God’s story continuing within and through our complicated and human selves. Amen.

—

Image: Arent de Gelder: Bathsheba makes an appeal to David

—