Sunrise in Gihon: Revisiting David and Bathsheba

By Stephen C. Coates

From the introduction to Sunrise in Gihon:

“This volume addresses a question about the stories in the Old Testament: do they support the notion that a patriarchal order is part of some divine plan and reflects the natural order of things, or do these stories support the idea that the patriarchy is underpinned with falsehood and the injustice of presuming male privilege over females? In reconsidering the story of David and Bathsheba, I draw the second conclusion.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 21, 2024
• ISBN: 9798369421642

Stephen C. Coates

Stephen C. Coates is a writer and landscape painter in watercolor. This is his first published book.

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Copyright © 2024 by Stephen C. Coates.

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Rev. date: 05/17/2024

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Sunrise in Gihon

Our Escape from Jericho: A Memoir

Introduction: King David and Bathsheba of Gihon

KING DAVID AND BATHSHEBA OF GIHON

Chapter 1 The Provocation and the Relationship

Chapter 2 Reaction

Chapter 3 Tamar and Absolom

Chapter 4 The Birth

Chapter 5 Revenge, Rebellion, and Reunion

For Jean

Acknowledgements

I extend my thanks to several family members for reading prior iterations of this work: my sister Susan Antonick; sister-in-law Nancy Coates, and two of my cousins, Jane Unander and Bruce Cameron Elliott. It was Bruce, a published author himself, who steered me toward a prose form rather than the stage version those four had read. For that guidance, I am especially thankful. And, of course, I am eternally grateful to my wife and editor, Jean Fulton, for the many editorial suggestions, thoughtful queries, and idea sharing, all of which vastly improved the flow, clarity, and structural soundness of this work. I truly could not have completed this volume without her professional guidance, emotional support, and continuous encouragement.

Introduction: Sunrise in Gihon

This volume addresses a question about the stories in the Old Testament: do they support the notion that a patriarchal order is part of some divine plan and reflects the natural order of things, or do these stories support the idea that the patriarchy is underpinned with the falsehood and injustice of presuming male privilege and superiority over females? In reconsidering the story of David and Bathsheba presented in I and II Samuel and I Kings, I draw the second conclusion.

I was moved to revisit the story of David and Bathsheba through a process of careful rereading and literary analysis, which led to some compelling discoveries. As I employed what I believe is a novel process of explication suited to the King James Version of the Old Testament, the story that my explorations revealed was so timely and compelling that I wanted to share it with others.

This book comprises two sections: Our Escape from Jericho and the centerpiece of this work, King David and Bathsheba of Gihon. Our Escape from Jericho is in the form of a memoir by the character named Rahab, inferred from the account in II Joshua. Rahab, a heroic woman who operated an inn/brothel on top of the wall of Jericho, was, as the mother of Boaz, an ancestor of King David. King David and Bathsheba of Gihon is a retelling of the story of David and Bathsheba presented as novella with dialogue.

In its totality, this narrative offers an alternative story that illuminates a culture of women that began with the wives of the patriarchs, which questioned and, at times, openly challenged the patriarchal order established by Abraham in Canaan. It presents some of the key female characters in the Old Testament, such as Tamar, Rahab, and Bathsheba, as courageous and pivotal actors in the stories. It links the house of David to the wives of the Hebrew patriarchs—by teachings, not by heredity. It also positions David and Bathsheba’s relationship as a love story based on mutual respect and admiration.

Our Escape from Jericho

A Memoir

I and my sisters are part of a female-friendly culture. We trace our ancestry to Judah and Tamar, but it was not easy to live among the sons of Abraham, or among the Canaanites when we became outcasts from the tribe of Judah. My story is about how we found our way back to Ephrath, the place where Tamar grew up.

We, the daughters of Zarah, are every bit as much members of Judah’s tribe as the descendants of Pharez. And we have our stories to tell, just as the sons of Pharez tell theirs. Many of our stories are about the same ancestors in stories told by the sons of Pharez, but we see our ancestry very differently. The sons of Pharez begin their stories with depictions of violence or a struggle for primacy—primacy that often stems from a sense of destiny or a will to rule. That is how the story of Pharez begins. Ours are about women who kept the oath.

According to Pharez’s descendants, he was the firstborn of Tamar and Judah; that is how they begin their story. Our story concerns Zarah. The sons of Pharez say Pharez and Zarah were twins, and so say we. But they also say Pharez and Zarah were both males. We say that Zarah was a girl child; let me explain with some background on Zarah’s origin story.

Judah was a warrior and a leader of men. His valor and intelligence made him so. He became wealthy, but his house was built on sand. He married the daughter of Shuah, a wealthy merchant woman who made her fortune in the processing of wool and the production of textiles. She was shrewd and without honor. Judah’s marriage to the daughter of Shuah was nearly his downfall. He almost lost all that he gained.

Shuah’s daughter gave Judah three sons. But the sons were spoiled by privilege and the indulgence of Shuah and her daughter. By the time Judah realized his mistake, marrying for wealth and the power that wealth begets, he had lost the loyalty of his sons. He made a plan. The plan was to name a grandson his heir, passing over his sons. To do this he needed to provide his eldest son with a wife who would raise a worthy heir. In Ephrath¹ he found Tamar. She was virtuous, wise, and courageous. In the eyes of Judah, she possessed in abundance all the qualities the daughter of Shuah lacked.

Judah’s eldest son, Er, was made to take Tamar as his bride. Shuah could see what Judah had in mind, and she intervened to thwart his plan. She counseled Er, Marry Tamar as Judah demands, but do not impregnate her.

Er married Tamar as Judah demanded, but he ignored and abused her. He practiced anal intercourse to deprive her of children and showed no tenderness in doing so. And he threatened Tamar with greater violence if she disclosed his disobedient and cruel intent.

Despite Er’s threats, Tamar confided Er’s deceitfulness to Judah’s aunt, Rachel. When Rachel told Judah, he confronted Er, and a fight to the death ensued. Judah slew his eldest son and charged his next eldest, Onan, with the duty to restore Er’s line of inheritance by siring an heir by Tamar according to custom. This plan did not succeed any better than the first. Onan also perished, but not by Judah’s sword; Shuah poisoned him so that he could not produce an heir.

Judah then promised Tamar to Shelah, his youngest son, but not until Shelah was old enough to marry. The prospect of marrying into the family of Shuah was so repugnant to Tamar that she met with Judah privately and poured her heart out. She pleaded with him not to force her to marry Shelah. She confessed to Judah that she had grown to admire and love him and would gladly provide him an heir, if only he would sire the child himself. Judah was taken aback and explained the many reasons that such a course of action was not possible. There were morays, traditions, and customs of inheritance that had virtually become law. But Tamar was unrelenting, and eventually her profession of love won him over. And, he confessed, he had grown to love her, too. She was the kind of woman he should have married.

Together they conceived a plan that they were convinced would work if they were willing to risk all to carry it through. They planned to rendezvous in the shearing grounds where Judah would impregnate Tamar, expressing the love that he felt for her. He would then return to his men with the story that he had used the services of a prostitute who was veiled at the time. He would say that he had left his signet and staff with the prostitute to hold in lieu of payment, knowing that Tamar would not be there when his men searched for her to bring her the goat that was promised as payment. When Tamar was taken before Judah to be convicted and burned as a harlot, she would produce the signet and staff, implying that she was entitled to ensnare her father-in-law because while Judah’s son Shelah had become of age, Judah had not arranged a marriage to him as he said he would.

My ancestors trace our roots to Zarah, one of the twins born to Judah and Tamar. Unlike the story told by the descendants of Pharez, in our telling Zarah was the firstborn of the twins. Zarah pushed her hand from the womb just long enough for the midwife to tie a scarlet thread to one of her fingers. But the unborn Pharez pushed his sibling aside in his haste to be first. And so it was, ever after. The descendants of Pharez sought primacy. They pushed others out of their way to have it.

But we trace our ancestry to Zarah. Every time we are pushed aside, we add a thread to the one that was tied to Zarah’s finger. Now it has become a scarlet rope stout enough and long enough to lower a man down from the walls of Jericho and strong enough to bind our clan in sisterhood. We care for one another when we are abused. We honor one another when we are despised without cause. We feel pride when we are debased.

Pharez was counted as the firstborn of Judah and Tamar and therefore received the title of chief. He also received the lion’s share of Judah’s wealth. As a result, the sons of Zarah were often unable to defend and preserve the honor of their daughters and their sisters. Frequently they were given in marriage to men who were wealthy enough to keep them, even if the men were old, cruel, or undesirable. Truth be told, they were often sold to the owners of brothels—brothels owned by uncaring men and brothels operated by priests.

I operated an inn located in Jericho, on top of the city wall. It was, in fact, a brothel as well as an inn. This was quite usual. But I did not treat my women with contempt. I showed them kindness. Our way of life was not an easy one, but we lived and worked with mutual regard that bound us together like the scarlet rope we kept and lengthened year by year.

That rope saved us when two spies sent by Joshua, the Hebrew leader, stayed with us. We cared for them first as guests and again when they were discovered as spies. I learned from one of my women that one of our Canaanite guests had discovered the spies, and that this guest intended to inform the king of Jericho of them. I had no love for the elders of Jericho. It had become harder and harder to insulate my sisters from the abuse of the