“When the wife of Uriyah heard that Uriyah, her husband, was dead, she mourned her husband. When the mourning was over, David sent and took her home to his palace, and she became his wife and bore him a son.”-2 Samuel 11:26-27
2nd Samuel Chapter 11 closes with Bathsheba receiving the tragic news of her husband’s death.
We’re told she mourned.
Per Torah protocol, this would’ve lasted 7 days.
Afterward, we’re told David sent for her, and “she became his wife and bore him a son.”
This took place immediately.
Why?
Because by this point Bathsheba must’ve at least been two months pregnant.
It would’ve been impossible to hide since the baby inside of her was growing bigger by the day
So by David hastily taking her to be his wife, he maintained his cover-up…
And this also protected Bathsheba from public humiliation if it was revealed she had a child out of wedlock.
See, in those days, it was normal for a man to marry a widow who had lost her husband.
Recall that David married Abigail under similar circumstances.
As far as we know, the Lord didn’t have any problem with it.
The Hebrew structure of verse 26 also makes it clear David took Bathsheba as his wife immediately after her mourning.
Now I usually close with a takeaway…
But instead, today I wanna close with a pattern.
You know how much I love Biblical patterns, don’t you?
So lemme start by asking you this.
Which other descendant of David became pregnant out of wedlock?
It was none other than Yeshua’s mother Miriam, right?
Recall she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
Afterward, her fiancé Joseph, in order to protect her from public shame, took her to be his wife.
Obviously, the circumstances and the motives of the parties involved are far from identical…
But we can’t ignore the pattern on display here.
See you all next time.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Here is how the birth of Yeshua the Messiah took place.
When his mother Miryam was engaged to Yosef,
before they were married,
she was found to be pregnant from the Ruach HaKodesh.
Her husband-to-be, Yosef,
was a man who did what was right;
so he made plans to break the engagement quietly,
rather than put her to public shame.
But while he was thinking about this,
an angel of Adonai appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Yosef, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Miryam
home with you as your wife;
for what has been conceived in her
is from the Ruach HaKodesh.
She will give birth to a son,
and you are to name him Yeshua,
[which means ‘Adonai saves,’]
because he will save his people from their sins.”
-Matthew 1:18-21
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