Uriah’s wife. King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and he later married her. Bathsheba, also spelled Bathshua, was the daughter of Ammiel or Eliam (2 Samuel 11:3). She was and possibly the granddaughter of Ahithophel, the king’s adviser (2 Samuel 15:12; 23:34). Her Hittite husband was one of David’s top military heroes (2 Samuel 23:39).
While Uriah was fighting under Joab, King David saw Bathsheba taking her evening bath. After learning her name and that her husband was away, David sent for her and slept with her (2 Samuel 11:1–4). When Bathsheba told David she was pregnant, David called Uriah back to Jerusalem. David was hoping Uriah would sleep with his wife and make the pregnancy seem legitimate. But Uriah, feeling still on duty, slept with the palace guard and did not go home (2 Samuel 11:5–13). Frustrated, David sent Uriah back to the front lines and ordered Joab to put Uriah in the fiercest battle, where he was killed (2 Samuel 11:14–25).
After Bathsheba’s mourning period, David brought her to the palace as his seventh wife, and she bore him a child. The Lord sent the prophet Nathan to pronounce judgment on David’s sin through a parable. Nathan prophesied a series of tragedies in David’s household, starting with the death of Bathsheba’s baby (2 Samuel 11:26–12:14). David confessed his sin and repented, but the baby became sick and died. Psalm 51 is David’s psalm of repentance after Nathan confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. David comforted Bathsheba, and they eventually had more children (2 Samuel 12:15–25).
David had 19 sons by his seven wives (1 Chronicles 3:1–9). Bathsheba had four sons:
Shimea (also spelled Shammua, 2 Samuel 5:14; 1 Chronicles 14:4)
Solomon
Nathan and Solomon are in the New Testament lists of Jesus's ancestors (Luke 3:31; Matthew 1:6). Bathsheba also appears in Matthew’s list of Jesus's ancestors as “she who had been the wife of Uriah.” Near the end of David’s life, the prophet Nathan told Bathsheba that David’s son Adonijah (by his wife Haggith) was planning to take the throne. Bathsheba and Nathan persuaded David to make Solomon king as he had promised (1 Kings 1).