2 Samuel 11:26

DAVID MARRIED BATHSHEBA; COVER-UP NO. 9

"When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord."

All of David's efforts to maneuver Uriah into resuming his relations with Bathsheba bear eloquent testimony to the fact that David really had no intention whatever, at first, of marrying Bathsheba; but there was no way to avoid it. She was already pregnant with David's child, and the situation required, absolutely, that David marry her.

"She made lamentation for her husband" (2 Samuel 11:25). "This whole episode suggests that she observed the form without the feeling of sorrow. She lost a captain and got a king for her spouse; and what an affliction that was! She must have shed reluctant tears and forced out groans from a joyful heart."[22]

We have called this marriage, "Cover-Up No 9." And that is exactly what it was. However long the `mourning' lasted, as soon as it was over, "David took Bathsheba as his wife, so that she might be married to him as long as possible before the child was born. He hoped thus to forestall any suspicion of premarital relations that might otherwise arise."[23]

"But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord" (2 Samuel 11:27). The next chapter carries the account of God's dramatic confrontation with David in the appearance before the king of Nathan the prophet. It was a moment of tragic sorrow for David and for all Israel.