Bathsheba

The “thirteen attributes” portray YHWH as compassionate and forgiving, yet they are immediately followed by a declaration of divine justice (Exodus 34:6–7). The tension between these two aspects of YHWH’s character is visible in King David’s sin with Bathsheba: Nathan confronts him, he confesses his guilt, but the consequences remain in place. When David’s son Absalom rebels and he flees Jerusalem, David accepts this suffering as the price of his sin. Paradoxically, it is this acceptance that becomes the path to his restoration and return to the throne.

At the end of David’s life, he is old and cold, and his advisors find him a beautiful young virgin to keep him warm. They appoint her as sōkhenet, an administrator of the royal household, allowing her to play a key role as an official witness to the court cabal ensuring Solomon’s succession.

Following King David’s appropriation of Bathsheba and his role in the killing of her husband Uriah, YHWH dispatches the prophet Nathan to present a parable (2 Samuel 12:1–4). The parable features a ewe-lamb adopted by a poor man, which highlights David’s attempts to evade responsibility for his actions.

Abraham, Isaac and David are literally or figuratively blind to YHWH’s intentions. It is their wives who take decisive action to shape Israel’s future.

Bathsheba first appears as the object of David’s lust, then as the mother of Solomon, who pleads with the king to make her son his heir. And yet, a close look at her actions shows her to be someone with agency, able to manipulate her husband and even her son to ensure Solomon’s safety and rule.

Reading the Succession Narrative as anti-monarchic Greek tragedy.