Chapter 2: The Sin

She came to the palace that night. David slept with her. Then she went home.

Scripture adds one detail that matters: she had just purified herself from her monthly uncleanness. This was a ritual cleansing required by the law of Moses after a woman's cycle. It means she could not have been pregnant before that night. There would be no ambiguity about the father.

Weeks passed. Then a message arrived from Bathsheba.

BATHSHEBA“I am pregnant.”— 2 Samuel 11:5

Two words in Hebrew. Enough to unravel a kingdom.

Bathsheba's husband was at war. She was carrying the king's child. And under the law of Moses, adultery was punishable by death for both the man and the woman. If the truth came out, it would destroy them both.

David did not confess. The man who had always turned to God turned to his own mind instead.

David began to think like a man trying to protect himself. He needed Bathsheba's husband home in her bed so the child would look like his. He needed a lie that no one would question.

He sent word to the battlefield: bring me Uriah the Hittite.