“In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house.“

2 Samuel 11:1-4 

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December 15, 2025 

What was Bathsheba to do? A woman alone, her husband off fighting the king’s war, with David’s men standing at her door. What went through her mind as they took her from her house? What did she feel when ushered into the presence of this powerful, celebrated king who held not only her life but her husband’s in his hands?  

David was appointed by God to lead and protect his people, but instead of being faithful to his calling, he abused his position of power to violate a woman who caught his attention while innocently bathing to cleanse herself according to God’s law. After finishing this abuse, he sent her home to pretend like nothing had ever happened. David might have thought the wounds his sin inflicted were invisible—but God saw them.  

Bathsheba was betrayed and abused by a king who should have protected and defended his subjects. But what she did not yet know was that one day, a King would be born who would “reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” (Isaiah 9:7). 

While David remained at home instead of going to war, Jesus left His heavenly home to fight the battle against sin and to set us free from the deadly ways it infects our hearts and hurts those around us. We all, like David, have sinned against Him and hurt others. And we all, like Bathsheba, have suffered pain as the result of others’ sin.  

But that is not the end of the story. During Advent, we anticipate the Child who was born to free us from the oppression of sin. We rejoice as we remember that He will one day come again, and sin and sorrow will be no more. 

Questions for reflection and discussion: 

  • How has others’ sin hurt you?
  • How has your sin hurt others?
  • How have you found healing in Christ? 

 Church Reading Plan: 1 Kings 18; 1 Thessalonians 1