Bathsheba, Liaison to Kings: Study Notes on Women in the Bible Series

By Drs. Monique Van Helvoort

Bathsheba was familiar with the court. Her family served the king. That same king saw her and used all means to have her. It is clear that she knew her way around these royal politics, and she made sure that her son became the next king. It was politics avant la lettre, as described back then in the Bible. From raising children, to being profess

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Oct 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781647730314

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BATHSHEBA, LIAISON TO KINGS

Study Notes on Women in the Bible Series

Drs. Monique van Helvoort

Books in This Series of Study Notes on Women in the Bible

by

Drs. Monique van Helvoort

Rahab, Scarlet Woman (Book 1)

Leah and Rachel, Becoming Matriarchs (Book 2)

Eve, of Mankind (Book 3)

Ruth, a Friend in T-Ruth (Book 4)

Bathsheba, Liaison to Kings (Book 5)

The ideas, insights and suggestions contained in these books are not intended to substitute for professional consulting. The author respects each individual’s right to make their own decisions.

Dedication

To the three brothers: Wim∞, Harry∞, and Gerard, who redeemed their genealogy through their gentle love.

Acknowledgement

I thank those who instilled wisdom in me, through all the conversations in which knowledge becomes beautiful and is brought to understanding and to wisdom. It is brought to life.

Understanding Women in the Bible: Meet Bathsheba, Liaison to Kings

Study Notes on Her Personal Message and on the Universal Message of Her Life

Introduction

First you met Rahab, a scarlet woman in the Bible, then you got to view Leah and Rachel; they became the matriarchs of a nation. Then Eve showed herself at the beginning of mankind. Ruth then spoke to me and through me. They all gave me insights into their lives, and they shared their life lessons with me to write down. They all are formidable women of the Bible. Bathsheba now takes the stage; she is known for her beauty and her marriage to a king, and she was also heavily involved in the politics of her day.

I have studied the Bible intensely since 2006. It is something that I consider to be a big achievement, according to my own measurement of success. On my own, through others by listening and speaking to them, and by learning to listen to God’s voice better and better, I live and learn to live in a healthy and happy way. One day at a time.

I live in Aruba and was born in Curaçao, in the Caribbean Islands. I went to school here, and studied later in the Netherlands, and received a bachelor’s degree in two teaching subjects. I later studied governance and received my master’s degree that carries the title drs. doctorandus in our educational system. While studying the Bible, I have come to realize that Solomon should have had a double PhD in governance.

I choose to read and study the Bible in English (King James Version), and as aiding tools I have Bibles in different languages and different translations. Our daily language in Aruba is Papiamento; the instructional language in most of the schools is Dutch. We are closely affiliated to the US, so English is used on the whole island, as is Spanish. All three and even four languages are part of these study notes and my insights, and together they lead to this series on Women in the Bible.

The first message that my heavenly Father gave me in specific words, in 2006, came through clearly: they were para keto, in Papiamento, the native language; in English that is well known as be still. And so, I did; I stood still and listened. It was only later that I encountered the biblical text "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10 KJV). That was when I was really silenced—at awe, really. It made God and the Bible all so very real; and at the same time, reality became unreal. How is that so, you might ask? Let me explain how it works with me: I ponder about the character I am going to write about; I have studied it before. I sit still and think about what she would mean to the world and to me. Her reality comes to this world.

As a child I was fascinated with Bathsheba—there was a beautiful drawing of her in my children’s Bible. As an adult female, that picture changed a bit. Studying Bathsheba now made me be still longer than with the previous women that I studied. Her beauty must have been dazzling, and so if I focused on her beauty—and as that was my thinking—not much else came through. That was when I reconsidered, and sat still, and then I got to understand a different part of her. I could see her and get my interpretation on what she was and represented. That is Bathsheba and the lesson she brought to me, and that is what I share with you in this book. Her own son wrote about beauty; he must have seen a lot of it, as he had many women, and he puts it this way in Proverbs 31:30 (KJV),  Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

I stood still, and Jesus became my author. What is beauty if it has no godly soul?

The study notes and the thoughts I have on the character that I describe are shared in this book, written for both women and girls, and they actually have the same value for men. I wrote down my understanding so that the reader can decide if they want to receive the knowledge I bring, and they can decide to purchase the book it if it pleases them. I write in each book from the point of view of a woman in the Bible for two reasons. The first is that I myself am a woman. The second is that I have realized that people still convince girls and women that they are limited, which is completely untrue in my belief—as I can do and be everything I want to do and be, and I stand on my own two feet. These two messages I received from my late (earthly) dad.

I wanted to share life messages for and from women of the Bible, as the Bible is the oldest universal bestselling book, so that women know that they can do everything they want to—as it was created in them to do so.

I emphasize that the same principle counts for men. And yes, in the same way, women can learn the life messages of the male characters in the Bible. It just so happens to be that I am a woman, so I chose the women in the Bible for this purpose. As a woman or as a man, you and I can learn from their lives, as these personas and their lives are descriptions on some level of my own life—and probably of your life as well. So, the life stories are from the Bible, and I share with you my study notes and my interpretations of the facts about the woman and her life message. Bathsheba was born with natural beauty, but she brought so much more to the table as she lived at the court where the decisions were made and her husband was the king.

These study notes and the messages consist of my own study insights, as I am not a clergywoman. I am, however, a student of Jesus and the Word of God.

So, I present to you this palette of diverse women, each one a biblical as well as a worldly character. I invite you to get to know her; and through her, to get to know a bit more about yourself. Read about how I color her life as I imagine it to be back then, before her lesson, and as I color her life as I imagine it to be after her lesson has been learned; these are my imaginary tales of Bathsheba. You will receive the factual text as it is presented to us in the Bible; the daily life that I write about is simply my imagination that I present to you. It is there to bring the person to life and into our daily world. Be prepared that the imaginary description that I introduce as a part of the character’s daily life might sound gruesome, offensive, or even not done to your modern ears and eyes, or not in concordance with your educational level or social and political correctness. I invite you, however, to have an open mind, as they lived before Jesus ever came to save the world—and He did not come to save them, and us, for no reason.

In each book I present you with my study notes on her persona, a short fictional version of her life, the factual version of the Bible, and derived from that, her personal message for us as readers. As God’s ways are unknown to me, each book received an additional part. While studying the