“David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he went to bed with her (for she had been purified from her uncleanness). Then she returned to her house.”-2 Samuel 11:4
There are two Hebrew words pertinent to our story of David and Bathsheba you should know.
The first word is TUMAH.
This word means ritual impurity or uncleanness.
It refers to a spiritual or ceremonial state that makes a person or object temporarily unfit to enter the Temple or to partake in certain holy activities (like eating certain offerings).
TUMAH can result from various causes, such as:
Contact with a dead body…
Certain bodily emissions (seminal emission, menstruation)…
Skin infections (Tzara’at)…
Childbirth…
It’s important to note that TUMAH is not the same as sin.
A person could be ritually impure without having committed any moral wrongdoing.
It’s more about ritual status before God, especially concerning worship in the Temple.
The second word is NIDDA.
NIDDA refers to a woman during her menstrual period and for a set time afterward, according to the laws in the Torah and Jewish tradition.
More specifically, Nidda can mean:
A woman in a state of menstrual impurity…
Or…
The status itself of ritual impurity caused by menstruation.
While in the state of NIDDA, a woman was considered ritually impure (טְמֵאָה – teme’ah) and could not:
Enter the Temple…
Participate in certain religious rituals…
Engage in sexual relations with her husband (according to traditional Jewish law, until immersion in a mikveh after the menstrual flow has ended and a waiting period has passed)…
The laws of nidda come primarily from Leviticus 15:19–30 and are part of the broader laws of tumah and taharah (ritual impurity and purity).
Like TUMAH, being a NIDDA is NOT sinful.
It’s a ritual status, not a moral judgment.
So why all of a sudden this hardcore lecture on the ritual laws concerning purity and cleanliness?
Because these two Hebrew words are very pertinent to our story of David and Bathsheba.
See, when a woman gets her period, she becomes ritually unclean.
While she’s on her period, she and her husband aren’t supposed to have sex.
If they do, he becomes ritually unclean too.
And even after her period ends, she has to wait 7 more days before she’s considered clean again.
On the 8th day, she brings two kosher birds (the cheapest sacrifice) to the Temple, takes a special bath called a mikvah, and boom – she’s clean again.
So in total, she’s ritually unclean for about 10 to 14 days.
Again, let me reiterate that a woman being unclean because of her period is NOT a sin.
She didn’t choose it.
It just happens.
On the other hand, if a man sleeps with her during that time, that’s a sin.
Why?
Because he’s choosing to break God’s command.
So I mentioned this yesterday but when David first laid his eyes on Bathsheba, she wasn’t just taking a normal bath.
It was her MIKVAH…
Or the special bath that women take on the 8th day after their period to become ritually clean again.
This was the final step in the ritual purification process.
Now guess what?
David was fully aware of this.
So when he brought her to his palace, the Biblical narrator is making it clear she was officially clean.
What’s interesting is that David was okay with committing adultery…
But he wanted to make sure Bathsheba was ritually clean before he did it.
In other words, he obeyed one Torah law only to break a much bigger one that normally required the death penalty if violated.
So let’s get our bearings here.
David sleeps with Bathsheba a day or two after she’s become ritually clean.
This is about 10 days after her period ended.
This means she would have been as fertile as a spring meadow after a rainstorm.
And by the way, people back then knew this stuff.
None of this was a mystery.
That’s why the Bible points it out.
Bathsheba was young and healthy.
So the chances of her getting pregnant were really high.
And David knew it.
Did he stop to think about it?
Possibly.
But we all know what happens when we let our hormones and testosterone get hog wild outta control.
Either way, he wasn’t clueless about what could happen.
And sure enough, we’re told after Bathsheba returned home she sent word to David that she had a bun in the oven.
Another key point we shouldn’t overlook is there is no way the pregnancy could have been the result of Bathsheba having normal sexual relations with her husband because he was away serving military duty on the battlefield.
The fact that she had just had her period and needed a MIKVAH (ritual bath) to become clean again tells us she was NOT pregnant when she slept with David.
Ya feel me?
It’s pretty clear who the father was.
So what’s the takeaway for today?
We can be just like David sometimes—following the rules when it’s convenient…
But choosing to ignore God’s bigger commands when it suits our desires.
David followed the law about Bathsheba being ritually clean…
But then he ignored the law about adultery.
It shows how easy it is to justify our actions when our desires take over.
Ya feel me?
You can’t pick and choose which parts of God’s law we follow.
The truth is, all of His commands are important.
Whether it’s something small or big…
Obeying God means obeying all of it…
Not just the parts that are easy or that we like.
If David had been true to God’s law…
He could have avoided all the mess that followed.
So ask yourself:
Are you choosing to follow God’s commands?
Or just the ones that are convenient for you?
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Woe to you, teachers of the law
and Pharisees, you hypocrites!
You give a tenth of your spices
—mint, dill, and cumin.
But you have neglected
the more important matters of the law
—justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
You should have practiced the latter,
without neglecting the former.”
-Matthew 23:23
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