Alternative Views of Bathsheba in the David and Bathsheba Story

Review of the previous post

The previous post, post number 13 of 23, was the third post in a series of seven posts discussing the ramifications of Bathsheba’s actions as they relate to viewing her as a “victim”.

Preview of this post

This post, post number 14 of 23, is the fourth post in a series of seven posts discussing the ramifications of Bathsheba’s actions as they relate to viewing her as a “victim”.

Bathsheba was not a victim

• Advancement of Uriah

Bathsheba may have thought that she could improve Uriah’s lot by being “close” to David (see Jason’s excuse for dumping Medea for the Princess in Euripides’s story  “The Medea”).

However, if Uriah’s advancement was the objective of Bathsheba’s plan, it did not work because Uriah was eliminated based on David’s orders. After Uriah was eliminated, Bathsheba could either change her objective of advancing Uriah to being a plan for her own advancement to Queen, or she would have to simply fade into being one of David’s many wives.

Since later events showed that Bathsheba became quite powerful (see 1 Kings), it is clear that she did not simply fade away. Since Uriah was dead, this leaves only the plan for her own advancement.

Preview of the next post

The next post, post number 15 of 23, is the fifth post in a series of seven posts discussing the ramifications of Bathsheba’s actions as they relate to viewing her as a “victim”.