Talk:Bathsheba

i don't get it

WELL THERE were several things for David to be afraid of Uriah was his best friend and of course sin AGAINST THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.. Yes David did get her pregnant this account does not clearly tell the story as it is in the bible .. When he was unable to get Uriah to sleep with his wife the bible records that he was sent to the front line ,which even today makes you a prime target. So he was sure to be killed. The man is correct when they were involved with war a man was not able to make love to his wife..I think WHAT is most important that was left out about this account is The baby died.. This was directly from the lord to show David that he was not above correction..

"Hearing that her husband was with the army, David temporarily abducted her; but fearing the consequence of his act, he summoned Uriah from the camp as the bearer of a message. He hoped to hide the consequence of his own complicity in Bath-sheba's condition, and dismissed Uriah to his wife with a portion from the royal table. But Uriah, being probably unwilling to violate the ancient Israelitish rule applying to warriors in active service (see Robertson Smith, "Religion of the Semites," pp. 455, 488), preferred to remain with the palace troops."

I have no idea what this is supposed to mean. I don't get what David fears the "consequence of his act" is, or whether he forcibly raped Bath-sheba, or what Bath-sheba's "condition" is (did she get pregnant, or what?), or what the "ancient Israelitish rule applying to warriors in active service" is. Can someone who knows something about this explain it better? 216.195.164.111 19:04, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Happened, that Bathseba got pregnant and David gave Uriah some days off that he would visit his wife and sleep with her to give (later) some explanation for the pregnancy. But Uriah followed the custom, that during war time men do not sleep with their wives (or as long as his fellow soldiers were putting their lives on the line). --Aethralis 13:09, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

IMO this article presupposes both a particular POV and a high level of knowledge. The text is quite obscure, as illustrated above, without this assumed knowledge.

The POV is more difficult to deal with. Should the tense be present, as it is, which makes it read like a movie script? Or should it be past, like the current Aaron article, which would make it read like history? Either way, we are expressing a POV. Andrewa 16:31, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

David in Rabbinical Literature

Removed text:

For further details see David in Rabbinical Literature.

This has been there since at least February, and looks like it should be a wikilink, but there's still no David in Rabbinical Literature article (nor can I see any evidence one has been merged and/or deleted). Andrewa 16:17, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Is Bath-Sheba's name the origin of the word "Bath"?

If so, that should really be in the article.

This is definitely not the case. "Bath" in english coms from old-english bæð "immersing in water". "Bath" in Bathsheba comes from hebrew בת - daughter. --Aethralis 11:55, 12 June 2006 (UTC)

Removed sentance

I removed the sentance that says that Bat-shua and Batsheba were the same. Bat-shua in 1 Chronicles is Judah's wife.mikey 20:36, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Bathsheba's ethnicity

It has been confirmed that Bathsheba was a descendant of Noah's son Ham (who uhm.. did not produce people of lily-white complexion). When I view Bathsheba's article, the picture shows a lily-white female?? I think it best to remove the picture. It's beyond misleading. Panda —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 4.159.230.175 ([[User talk:4.1 59.230.175|talk]]) 22:31, 17 February 2007 (UTC).

No, "Sheba" was a descendant of Ham in the Genesis "Table of Nations". "Bathsheba" is an unrelated Biblical character, an Israelite, and the wife of King David and mother of Solomon. Besides, the two are spelled differently in Hebrew. "Sheba" the kingdom is spelled with a final letter Aleph, whereas "Bath sheba" is spelled with a final letter 'Ayin.

Art, and especially religious art, is way above skin color criteria. Disdero 16:33, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Disdero, you may want to consider what a narrow-minded 12 year-old will assume when they look at that picture..

Dear Anonymous, I assume few "narrow-minded 12 year-olds" analyse Bathsheba skin on Wikipedia, or elsewhere. Please propose any other picture of your choice, on the Talk page, before destroying regular wikipedians contributions. I would prefer we do not enter in a cycle of rv & undos. Cheers Disdero 22:02, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

I assume few "narrow-minded 12 year-olds" analyse Bathsheba skin on Wikipedia, or elsewhere ..precisely, they'd just erroneously assume she was white. I will try to find a more fitting picture that is free to display on the article. And were all the pictures chosen by these 'regular' contributors discussed 'on the talk page' before they were embedded into the article?

Why would anyone assume Bathsheba was anything other than white? She has a Hebrew name, her father has a Hebrew name, and nowhere is it suggested that she is remotely foreign (as opposed to, say, her husband who is always "Uriah, the Hittite"). Yes, she was probably more tan than generally pictured, but racially, she was white. Like the other Jews of the time. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Edmund Blackadder (talk • contribs) 00:38, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Change picture

It seemed to me that we had Bathseba bathing well covered. I thought I would add a depiction of another phase of her life, tending to an aging David. No offense intended to those that preferred the other painting.--Nowa 02:18, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

paintings

As long as you're showing various artistic renderings of Bathsheba, why not use Rembrandt's? CharlesTheBold 02:32, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Seems that this painting "David and Bathseba" is not labelled correctly. The artist Jan Matsys (or Massys) has a very different style and painted a different picture that year. As shown here: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/activite/detail_parcours.jsp?CURRENT_LLV_PARCOURS%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226917&CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226756&CURRENT_LLV_CHEMINEMENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226756&bmLocale=en This is a another very beautiful picture, and I'd love to know the author and to see the entire picture. Kelley Reid (talk) 23:58, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Bath-Sheba or Bath-Shua?

Is there a connection between the story of 'the daughter of Sheba' who becomes David's wife, and the 'Queen of Sheba' who visits their son Solomon after David had died and Solomon had taken the throne? Sheba was a territory in southern Arabia or Ethiopia/Eritrea (suggesting that both Bath-Sheba and the 'The Queen of Sheba' were black). It seems too much of a coincidence.86.3.135.243 (talk) 17:39, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

No. Bathsheba was not the Queen of Sheba (a woman who ruled in her own right), she was the Queen of Israel and Judea, since she was the queen mother of Solomon. --Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 02:55, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Why are all the pictures of her nude?

Was she the first pornstar? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Finest1 (talk • contribs) 23:41, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Because that is how artists imagined her.--76.176.130.141 (talk) 21:38, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

It is in the manner of classical art Spanglej (talk) 12:31, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Actually, Bathsheba is depicted in art as being nude, because presumably this is the condition in which David found her, when she was having her bath. c.f. 2 Samuel 11:

"2 And it came to pass at eventide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon."

Was she willing or a victim?

Are there any traditional views as to whether Bathsheba was (a)a victim of David's lust or (b) a gold-digger who deliberately attracted his attention? Actually, there must be some tradition to one effect or the other! Should not that be mentioned? Tom129.93.17.220 (talk) 21:37, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

In the bible it states that King David had her husband put on the front line of battle, where he was killed. David then courted Bathsheba and wed her. So, technically, it could be seen as willing. --Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 02:53, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Also, in the Bible it says that Bathsheba sent a letter to David to notify him that she was pregnant... preceding the husband's move to front lines. To me, that sounds like she was keeping it a secret from her husband and furthering her culpability.Kelley Reid (talk) 00:58, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Old Testament?

Why is there only a reference to "the Jewish bible"? The story is in the second book of Samuel in the Christian Old Testament, as well as in the Torah frame. Why no mention? Please add it in. Spanglej (talk) 12:31, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Do you not know what the Jewish Bible is? The Torah is the Jewish Bible. It's the same thing.. --Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 00:07, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Leonard Cohen's hallelujah

The song also talks about Bathsheba. "There was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord" - "you saw her bathing on the roof". Please include the ref. Spanglej (talk) 12:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

That has nothing to do with the article, nor does it benefit the article in any way. --Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 02:54, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

The name Bathsheba is neither 'uncertain', nor 'Hittite'

It is well-documented, and is Hebrew and means "daughter of the oath". Compare the name "Elisheba", meaning "my God is an oath" or "my God is sustenance".

Furthermore, Uriah "the Hittite" had a Hebrew name, lived in Israelite society, spoke Hebrew, practiced the Israelite religion, and served in Israelite army - his tribal origin notwithstanding. Wikipedia should stick with facts, rather than conjecture and red herrings.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.68.95.65 (talk) 15:40, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Request for external link to comparison of Bathsheba and Susannah

I'm seeking consensus from this community to include a link to this page: http://beckydaroff.com/stories/bathsheba_susannah.html. This page compares the themes of Bathsheba and Susannah in Baroque paintings. Both are stories of biblical women who bathed while being spied upon, and paintings of both themes take advantage of the opportunity to represent a nude woman. Images from this page are linked to entries in 'Stories in Art,' my searchable database of paintings that tell stories. I do not benefit in any way from additional visits to this site, other than the gratification that a stranger might appreciate how different artists handle similar themes because of my project. Please ask any questions you may have, and thank you for your consideration. Bdaroff (talk) 01:37, 15 June 2011 (UTC)

Why is it in arabic and not greek?

There is no reason why her name should be written in Arabic and not Greek or Latin. We should include all languages of the books where she features, or just feature the Hebrew. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.176.140.34 (talk) 05:11, 30 January 2012 (UTC)