"Then it happened in the spring, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him and all Israel, and they destroyed the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah.
But David stayed at Jerusalem.
Now when evening came David arose from his bed and walked around on the roof of the king's house, and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful in appearance.
So David sent and inquired about the woman.
And one said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?"
David sent messengers and took her,
and when she came to him, he lay with her;
and when she had purified herself from her uncleanness, she returned to her house.
The woman conceived;
and she sent and told David, and said, "I am pregnant." (2Samuel 12:1-5)
Her hands were tied. As a woman in that era, she had no rights. no voice. no choice.
Bathing on the rooftop in the cool of the night was a common practice back then. It wasn't a place to put yourself on display. It was simply the place where you bathed.
David home - standing upon the roof top in the spring, when kings go to battle.
That wasn't common practice. His role was to be on the battlefield watching over his men, not on the rooftop watching the wife of his bodyguard, Uriah the Hittite and also the daughter of another of his bodyguards, Eliam.
Have you ever noticed the ripples produced when we are not in the place where ABBA wants us to be? The restlessness which comes upon us when not doing the will of God? How we always end up getting ourselves in a pickle, seeing we can't correct the situation on our own, and then we turn to ABBA, crying out for His help.
"Now when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she mourned for her husband.
When the time of mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife; then she bore him a son.
But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD .(2 Samuel 11:26-27)
So far, we have David the king, sending messengers for the woman he saw from afar and staking claim on her. Even though she belonged to another - Uriah - whom he happened to know, probably quite well. We then have David set up the execution of Uriah, after his plan to have the pregnancy lay on the husband and not himself, didn't go how he wanted it to.
"Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her; and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon." (2 Samuel 12:24)
I wonder often how Bathsheba felt about David. Did she fear him? Was she "star stuck" Was she a conniving woman who saw this as a way to get ahead in life? Did she stand up straight and look at the positives? Did she fall in love with him?
"and she gave birth to a son, and he named him Solomon
now The LORD loved him
and sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah for the LORD'S sake.
(2 Samuel 12:24-25)
"Jedidiah" - Beloved of The Lord
You realize, don't you, that you are His "Jedidiah". His Beloved.
No matter what sins in your life, when you repented and asked Jesus to be your Savior, He then covered you with His Grace and Mercy. Our ABBA promises us, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:36)
No matter what you have done. where you are/have been. He is there - arms outstretched - desiring nothing more than to bring you into His fold.
As He did with David. David - whom I have grown to love throughout the years of reading His Word. David - whom I relate to often. David - human - just like me. just like you.
David - "God testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.' (Acts 13:22)
Put your name in the place of "David" - You are His Jedidiah. Promise.
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