Batsheva

He wanted to know me
And my name
I was defined by two men already¹
But he felt no shame
He wasn’t my husband
I wasn’t his wife
But when the king says go²
If you don’t, it’s your life
And you wouldn’t dare tell him no.

He called me a beauty³
A sight to behold
Told me he loved me
I wasn’t his to hold
He came and saw
And conquered me
So I’ll tell you the truth
Not all will is free

Enthralled by my body
Had to ruin our lives
Why did he want me
More than all of his wives?
Michal or Achinoam or Haggith or Eglah
Abigail or Abital or Maacah
He could have gone to any that night
But when the king has an urge
He need not fight

The king can walk away undefiled
While I’m left with
An illegitimate child
And a husband at war
And an awful feeling that the king will want more

I know he planned for
Uriah to see
Me, his wife, and lay with me
So he would never know
What he did that night
He sent for my husband to return from the fight
But he was foolish and didn’t know then:
Uriah was always loyal to his men⁴
He would never leave their side
If only he were more selfish
He might have survived

Uriah went back into the fray
Our Majesty did all he could to put him in harm’s way⁵
An arrow, they say, took his life
But I know who is truly to blame for all of my strife

How generous of the king to wait
The proper mourning period before our marriage date⁶
He left me to sob in sorrow and scream⁷
But as soon as he could
He made me his queen

Natan came
Just to proclaim:
Cursed be the king!
For what he has done
He had a whole flock
Uriah just one
So cursed be the king!
And cursed be his son!
Cursed be his household, punished in kind!

Well cursed is the next woman he’ll find.

For cursed am I!
And cursed was my son!
The king had so many children
And I had just one
He wasn’t Uriah’s
But I wouldn’t have cared
Yet my child was punished⁸
For our affair

My husband is dead
So is my son
And I’m left alone, I have no one
Except for the king
Isn’t that great?
He sends me his love
I feel only hate

Now I have
Another baby
And I’m hoping that maybe
He’ll be the one good part of this whole mess
My Solomon will be the next king⁹
And he’ll fix everything
But if he doesn’t rule right
If his actions are bad
I blame that night
And I blame his dad

Footnotes

¹“And the king sent someone to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, ‘She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam [and] wife of Uriah the Hittite.’” (2 Samuel 11:3)

²“David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he lay with her” (2 Samuel 11:4)

³“The woman was very beautiful” (2 Samuel 11:2)

⁴“Uriah answered David, ‘The Ark and Israel and Judah are located at Succoth, and my master Joab and Your Majesty’s men are camped in the open; how can I go home and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As you live, by your very life,-a I will not do this!’” (2 Samuel 11:11)

⁵“‘Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he may be killed.’” (2 Samuel 11:15)

⁶“After the period of mourning was over, David sent and had her brought into his palace; she became his wife” (2 Samuel 11:27)

⁷“When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she lamented over her husband” (2 Samuel 11:26)

⁸“The Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and it became critically ill” (2 Samuel 12”15)

⁹“She bore a son and she named him Solomon. The Lord favored him” (2 Samuel 12:24)