Texts: II Samuel 11-12, I Kings 1-9, and Psalm 51



11″ x 14″



Bat Sheva was married to Uriah the Hittite; she's standing by a pot with patterns taken from Hittite pottery designs. Her husband was at war. One day, while she was bathing on her roof, King David saw her and was struck by her beauty. He had her brought to the palace... and a month later, she informed him that she was with child. David brought Uriah back from the battlefront, hoping he would lay with his wife and the child could be seen as his... but Uriah refused the comfort of home while his comrades were in the battlefields. David even tried to get him drunk so he would go home to see his wife... but Uriah was too honorable. So David sent him back to the battle with a note for the army commander to put Uriah on the front lines, then to withdraw without telling him -- ensuring that he would be killed. Uriah died on that battlefield, and Bat Sheva went into mourning -- and the child in her womb died as well. Once her mourning period was over, however, David married her, and they later bore Solomon, who would become the next King of Israel, and the one to build the Temple. After all, with shenanigans like this in his past, David wasn't pure enough for the task -- but his son would make the dream of a Temple in Jerusalem come true.