Bathsheba Second Samuel Summary Chapter 11

“Second Samuel” chapter 11 begins with David sending off his messenger, Joab, while David stayed in Jerusalem. David decided to go onto the king’s roof where he saw a beautiful woman bathing, and found out who she was, Bathsheba. He sent messengers to take Bathsheba and once she arrived he took her to bed, and impregnated her. David once again sent Joab to bring back Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, to have sex with Bathsheba to cover up the pregnancy, but it failed. David then, wrote a letter to put Uriah front line to die, which worked and David was able to marry Bathsheba after she was done mourning. Sakenfeld arguments two different questions on how David was able to see Bathsheba bathing and how she ‘came’ to David. The first argument of how David was able to see Bathsheba, explains how Bathsheba was not careful and was being immodest or even purposely attracting David. I do not agree with this argument because it coincides closely with the issue of rape in today’s society, in which people tend to look at the victim’s clothing saying she should not wear revealing clothes because it provokes/distracts ‘men.’ This idea of shaming the victim and allowing the lust of men to be superior can also be seen in this passage, because David sent his messengers to
bring Bathsheba to sleep with her and does not realize that she was simply bathing, a normal occurrence. The second part of this argument, that Bathsheba was purposely was trying to seduce David, I could see more practical but still not accurate.
Sakenfeld uses her example of walking through a garden of Manila and encountered a man bathing (somewhat secluded area), but she kept moving and tried not to stared. I saw the connection Sakenfeld was trying to make in the sense that Bathsheba was simply trying to bath (did not know she would be seen) and David could have looked away. This argument still relates back to my viewpoint on the issue of rape, because the victim did not do anything wrong it was the rapist who decided to act with power. This leads to the second main argument, how exactly Bathsheba ‘came’ to
David. I agree with Sakenfeld’s statement at the end that there is not enough context to prove whether or not Bathsheba came willingly to David. The fact that David was a king, could explain why Bathsheba ‘willingly’ went to David, because she could not say no to a king. This again goes back to the idea of the rapist acting on their power to ‘seduce’ the victim, and in this case the victim is a woman with no say in what goes on with her life because she must submit to men/the king. The cultural context of women being inferior to men is shown, and Bathsheba still had little/no description in what should be done in her case because of this. Therefore, Bathsheba is a victim, not the seductress.