- What does “at the return of the year” mean (II Samuel 11:1)?
- What does the text mean when it says “she was purified from her uncleanliness” (II Samuel 11:4)? What is the nature of this “uncleanliness”?
- This is clearly one of the more difficult passages in the Bible. How could the King of Israel commit adultery and then murder? There have been many attempts in the past to justify David’s actions or acknowledge his sin in this instance. There is a statement in the TalmudReferring to one of two collections, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, edited in the 6th century, that contains hundreds of years of commentary, discussion, and exploration of the ideas in the Mishnah. One could describe it as Mishnah + Gemara = Talmud that reads, “Anyone who says that David sinned with Batsheva is simply wrong!” What are some of your thoughts on this chapter?
- For the incident of Avimelech’s death see Judges 6:25.
- Note that, although David seemed to successfully hide the incident from the people, he could not conceal the incident from God. Clearly there is theological meaning to this fact.
