A No Hard Feelings Chat with Jessica, Emily and Kristen
Content note: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault, rape, coercion, abuse of power, trauma responses, victim-blaming, and spiritual harm.
The story of David and Bathsheba is often taught as a cautionary tale about lust, adultery, and David's eventual repentance. But what changes when we read it through questions of consent, power, silence, and coercion?
In this episode of No Hard Feelings, Jessica steps into the host seat with Emily and Kristen to explore the story of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. Together, they wrestle with whether David's actions can rightly be understood as sexual assault, why Bathsheba has so often been cast as a seductress or co-conspirator, and what it means to revisit one of the Bible's most beloved heroes with clearer eyes.
The conversation moves beyond the question of whether David committed adultery and asks harder questions about what consent could mean for a woman summoned by a king, in a patriarchal society where women had very little social, political, or bodily autonomy.
They also compare Bathsheba's story with Tamar's in 2 Samuel 13, including the different language used in the two passages, the role of women's voices in the narrative, and why the absence of visible resistance does not establish consent.
Finally, Jessica, Emily and Kristen sit with the difficult question: if David did sexually assault Bathsheba, what do we do with David now?
Can we still read his psalms? Can we recognise repentance without minimising harm? Can someone be spiritually significant, write beautiful things, and still be unsafe or deeply destructive in the lives of others?
In this episode, we discuss
- The familiar "David and Bathsheba had an affair" version of the story
- Bathsheba as a silent figure in a narrative centred on David
- The cultural and artistic sexualisation of Bathsheba
- Why the story has often been told through David's desire, guilt, repentance, and restoration
- The difference between explicit physical force and coercion through overwhelming power
- Why "she came to him" does not necessarily mean she freely consented
- Trauma responses including fight, flight, freeze and fawn
- The contrast between Bathsheba's silence and Tamar's voice in 2 Samuel 13
- Whether the absence of a particular Hebrew word settles the question of sexual assault
- Nathan's parable of the rich man and the ewe lamb
- Psalm 51, repentance, and the limits of a repentance story centered on the perpetrator
- Why David does not need to be either sanitized or cancelled
- What accountability, consequences, and redemption might mean in the story of David
A few questions to sit with
- Why have so many of us been taught to focus on David's repentance rather than Bathsheba's experience?
- What assumptions do we make when a woman does not visibly resist?
- What does consent mean when one person holds enormous political, social, and personal power over another?
- Can a person be gifted, spiritually significant, and still capable of serious harm?
- What does it mean to read Psalm 51 after taking Bathsheba's experience seriously?
- How might the church tell stories of repentance without making victims disappear?
References and further reading
Biblical texts
- 2 Samuel 11–12
- 2 Samuel 13
- Psalm 51
- 1 Kings 1–2
- Matthew 1:1–6
Scholarship and theological commentary
- Robert M. Davidson, "Did King David Rape Bathsheba? A Case Study in Narrative Theology."
- J. L. Andruska, work on David, Bathsheba, Dinah, and the lexical and syntactical case for sexual violation.
- Sara M. Koenig, "Bathsheba and Preaching in the #MeToo Era."
- Carmen Joy Imes, writing on David, Bathsheba, power, and consent.
- David E. Garland and Diana R. Garland, discussion of power, consent, and Bathsheba.
- Suzanne Scholz, Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible.
- Caryn Tamber-Rosenau, "Biblical Bathing Beauties and the Manipulation of the Male Gaze."
- Anne Létourneau, "Bathing Beauty: Concealment of Bathsheba's Rape and Counter-Power in 2 Samuel 11:1–5."
Articles and contemporary voices discussed
- Bonnie Kristian, "The Old Testament Calls Out Cancel Culture," Christianity Today.
- "Did David Rape Bathsheba?" GotQuestions.org.
- Clay Jones and Jean E. Jones, "Did David Rape Bathsheba?" Christian Research Institute.
- John Piper's comments on David and Bathsheba, as reported by Church Leaders.
- Rachael Denhollander's public comments on David, Bathsheba, power, and sexual violence.
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We would love to hear what this episode stirred up for you, what challenged you, and what questions you are still holding.
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