Bathsheba too

By Tyler Tankersley

When I was a teenager, a speaker at a youth camp once told us the story of David and Bathsheba (see 2 Samuel 11). The speaker described that David was standing on his roof and Bathsheba was bathing on her roof. He told us that Bathsheba tempted David with her lustful nakedness to the point where David could not longer resist this temptation. The speaker addressed the girls at the camp to tell them that their job is to dress in ways and act in ways that do not tempt their "brothers in Christ."

Later in life, I actually read the story of David and Bathsheba for myself. I came to the realization that nowhere in the text does it say that Bathsheba did anything purposefully tempting. In fact, bathing on one's roof was a common practice. The story of David and Bathsheba is not about temptation; it is about power dynamics and sexual assault. It is the story of a powerful man who has allowed that power to trick him into thinking that he can do whatever he wants and take whatever he wants with no consequences. Instead of laying the blame for this situation on Bathsheba, the speaker at that youth camp should have blamed the responsible party: David.

Our culture is currently going through a reckoning over the treatment of women in our society. According to some reports, as many as 1 in 4 women have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace from a male supervisor. Statisticians are quick to point out that those are just the women who report such incidents and the actual number is likely much higher.

It seems every day that we are reading about another leader who is being held accountable for their treatment of women. It is a problem that infects both liberal and conservative leaders. Whether it is Bill Clinton's power dynamics with Monica Lewinsky or the way that Donald Trump has talked about women in the past, there seems to be a sickness in the hearts of men of power that compels them to feel they are not answerable for the way they treat women.

At the grocery store the other day, I heard two men in front of me talking about current events. They were complaining about the #MeToo movement and one of them lamented, "Well, I guess we men have to be super-careful with the way we talk to gals now." I wanted to and should have said, "Yeah. That's the point." The #MeToo movement certainly has not gotten everything right, but it is pushing us, as a culture, to realize that all people are to be treated with the dignity, autonomy, and respect that they deserve.

Bathsheba deserves to have her story retold. This is not the story of an illicit affair between two consenting adults. It is a story about a man who has allowed sin and his position to cloud his judgment. Perhaps this current period in our culture is an opportunity to repent of the way women have been treated. Maybe we can collectively pray, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).