She Will Bear a Son: Bathsheba and the Good Shepherd

We have come to the hardest story in Jesus’ genealogy: the story of Bathsheba. Matthew doesn’t call her by name, only as “the wife of Uriah”. By referring to her in this way, Matthew is reminding us that Bathsheba is only in this bloodline because David, the shepherd of God’s people, took “with an unforgivable cruelty” (William Barclay) what belonged to another. Bathsheba’s life was divided in two by a terrible and traumatic evil: life “before” when she was the wife of Uriah and life “after” David sinned against her. How is God’s kindness and faithfulness seen in a story like this? Her Son will show us.

The story of David and Bathsheba is best understood from the perspective of the prophet, Nathan. After David took the wife of another man, got her pregnant and murdered her husband to cover up his sin, Nathan came to him and told him a story. He told him about a poor man who only had one beloved, precious lamb. This lamb was more than property to him. He cared for it like it was one of his children. The lamb felt so safe with her owner that she slept in his arms. But one day one of the man’s rich neighbors, who had plenty of sheep of his own, came and took the poor man’s precious lamb and slaughtered it and fed it to his guests for dinner.

Through his story, Nathan showed David what he had done. He took advantage of his position of power to take what was not his. He covered up his sin through deceit and treachery. As the king of Israel, David was called to be the shepherd of God’s people. It was his job to defend his house and protect his flock. It was his job to make them feel safe and create a place where they could flourish. He failed to do this. He did not defend or protect Bathsheba from himself.

Bathsheba is in the bloodline of Jesus for all the wrong reasons. She was caught up in the fallout of the sin of someone else. These words capture what I’m sure Bathsheba felt in her darkest moments: “My soul is bereft of peace. I have forgotten what happiness is. So I say, ‘My endurance has perished. So has my hope from the Lord.’ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.” (Lamentations 3:17-20)

Though no one else seemed to care about what Bathsheba lost, her agony was seen and known by God. Every child’s pain hurts the Father’s heart. God remembered Bathsheba. He remembered her pain, her loss, her lack of protection and safety. He remembered the nights she wandered the halls of the palace, aching for the loss of her husband and firstborn son. He remembered her afflictions and felt them even more acutely than she did. Because that is the kind of God that he is. He is the God who remembers.

He remembered Bathsheba and gave her a son. When Solomon was born, God sent Nathan back to David and Bathsheba, not to bear more words of confrontation for David’s sin, but with an assurance of God’s love. We are told that “the LORD loved him” and Solomon was also given the name “Jedidiah” which means “Beloved of the LORD”. (2 Sam. 12:24) Bathsheba held a beloved child in her arms as an assurance that our God is one who sees our pain and answers with his love.

It is through this beloved boy, Solomon, that Jesus eventually came to us. Bathsheba, who is only in the story of the Messiah because of the evil committed against her, is proof to all of our hurting hearts that God’s love triumphs over evil. God’s own beloved Son is the proof that our aching and wounded hearts need when we face the memories of our afflictions and wanderings. Because God’s beloved Boy didn’t just come to us as the perfect King. He came to us as the Good Shepherd.

The people of God had a mixed bag of good and bad kings who, like David, had all failed in some respect to be the shepherds they were called to be. Jesus contrasted himself with these other “shepherds” that came before him. He never took advantage of the weak or used his strength for selfish gain. He never devoured the sheep to satisfy his appetites or gratify his pride. He is a completely different kind of shepherd than the ones who came before him. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:14-15) He is the Good Shepherd who makes his sheep feel safe. In his arms, they find rest.

God remembered Bathsheba and God remembers you. We all bear the scars of evil on our hearts. It is easy to believe the lie that God doesn’t see and doesn’t care. It is easy to believe that evil always wins. Sometimes the night is so dark and hope feels so distant. But Bathsheba’s beloved Boy is proof that in the end, love triumphs over evil. Bathsheba’s beloved Boy is proof that no matter what we have endured, the Good Shepherd will make it right in the end. That day is coming for all of God’s children. And while we wait, the Good Shepherd tends to our wounds and cares for our broken hearts.

What was true for Bathsheba is true for every child of God that finds themselves wandering the halls at night, reliving their afflictions and sorrows. Evil has hurt us, but it will not have the final word. Sorrow lasts during the night, but with the dawn comes the memory of a better truth, a more eternal one: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:21-24)

The love of Bathsheba’s beloved Boy, the Good Shepherd our hearts long for, will have the final word, dear one.