WWUTT 1700 Q&A Holy Spirit Pronouns, Talking to Your Teen, Did David Rape Bathsheba

Q&A Preview: Holy Spirit Pronouns, Talking to Teenagers, and David and Bathsheba

Can we say that the Holy Spirit is a woman? Why or why not? How do we talk to our teenagers about difficult topics? And did David rape Bathsheba? The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky, who is not in studio with me this week, but God willing, she will be back next week. We've been on the road the last couple of weeks, currently on vacation. So I recorded all of this in advance.

If you are new to the program, you've not been a regular listener of when we understand the text. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I do New Testament study. On Thursday, an Old Testament study. And then on Friday, we do a Q &A.

We take questions from the listeners. Now in the New Testament study, I've been in 2 Corinthians and in the Old Testament study, the book of Ecclesiastes. And this first question that I have to answer today has to do with where I'm going next in my Old Testament study.

This is from Ethan in Oklahoma. And he says, Dear Pastor Gabe, thank you for your podcast and for posting your sermons as well. While listening to your study in 2 Corinthians, I've also gone back to listen to the sermons you did in 2 Corinthians.

That was a couple of years ago, three, four years ago. I can't remember how long it was. I did 2 Corinthians now. Anyway, Ethan says they have been edifying for me as well. It's great to have that kind of free library of Bible teaching.

I hope it will always be free. Me too, Ethan. I don't have any plans or intentions in charging anybody to listen to this stuff. As long as, you know, whatever podcast service provider I'm using is able to let me keep it free, then this stuff will always be out there.

Ethan goes on. My question is actually in regards to your Thursday study. What are you planning to do after Ecclesiastes? I know that Song of Solomon is next on the list, and I have never heard a Bible study in Song of Solomon.

Have you ever taught through it before, and are you planning on doing it on the podcast after Song of Solomon? Are the prophets? Are you planning on going through the prophetic books? Thank you again for all your hard work.

Well, I appreciate your email, Ethan. Yeah. With regards to what I'm doing right after Ecclesiastes, I'm going to go right on to Song of Solomon. So we're just a couple of months away from that. It'll be sometime during the summer that I'll probably get into Song of Solomon.

Where am I going right after that? Well, I haven't decided yet. I don't know if I'm going to go right into Isaiah or if I'm going to go back to Genesis. That's the name of a ministry, isn't it? Back to Genesis.

Yeah, that was the radio program that Dr. John Morris used to do, if I remember right. Not to be confused with Ken Ham's ministry, which is Answers in Genesis. I have gotten the two confused before. Anyway, so if you've been a longtime listener to the podcast, if you remember back to when I started doing Old Testament on Thursday, that actually lined up with the Old Testament study that I was doing in my own home.

So I would teach, you know, there was a book of the Bible that I was going through in the sermon series. That would be Sunday on the podcast. I've got a New Testament book I'm doing Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

And actually, I was doing that through four days of the week. Wasn't that right? Monday through Thursday. And then on Friday was the Q &A. I would do a wrap up of the stuff that we had studied earlier in the week.

Somewhere in there, I decided to do the Old Testament on the Thursday study, and that lined up with the Old Testament study I was hosting in my own home. So wherever we were in the Old Testament study on Thursday at my house, that was also what I was doing on the podcast.

And where did we start? Wasn't it in the book of Judges? So I've not done Genesis through Joshua. After finishing Song of Solomon, that's the end of the wisdom books. And so I've kind of been debating whether or not to go on to Isaiah or if I want to go all the way back to Genesis and do the books of the law plus Joshua since I haven't been through that yet.

So, yeah, I don't know. I'm still I'm still debating that. I would welcome your feedback. Where do you think I should go next back to Genesis or keep going through Isaiah? I would be open to suggestions.

You can submit your questions or your suggestions to when we understand the text at Gmail dot com. All right. Thank you again, Ethan. Your email was very encouraging and happy to answer your question as well.

The Holy Spirit’s Pronouns and Why Gendered Grammar Does Not Change Doctrine

This next one comes from Jason. He says, Hi, Pastor Gabe. Greetings from California, where at least the climate hasn't turned woke. But in the never ending journey for evangelical woke ism, there seems to be a trend claiming that the Holy Spirit is actually a woman.

The arguments used by woke heretics who support this claim seems largely based on the Hebrew word Ruach, which is considered feminine. They also say the Greek translation for the Holy Spirit is a gender neutral word, Numa, which means spirit, suggesting the Holy Spirit's gender is unknown.

There are even Christian websites that claim that it doesn't matter. If we use he, she or even it, so long as we understand the Holy Spirit is a person. To me, this reeks of rank heresy. I'm curious how we as Christians can respond in a loving but firm manner to reject this doctrine.

Keep pressing towards the goal. Thank you so much, Jason. Yeah, it is. It is false teaching to say that the Holy Spirit is a woman or can be referred to with feminine pronouns. The Bible does not do that anywhere.

And you're playing fast and loose with the text when you want to say that the word Ruach is feminine or that Numa is gender neutral. I don't know that my pronunciation of the Hebrew is is exactly correct there, but I know that it needs to sound like you're really coming from your throat when you pronounce a word like that.

So the Hebrew word Ruach, you know, honestly, it demonstrates that a person doesn't know much about languages. Just because a word is feminine doesn't mean it applies to something female. You understand what I mean?

So if you've studied foreign languages and you have masculine and feminine words, that doesn't mean this pertains to men and this pertains to women. So using that Hebrew word Ruach to describe spirit, the noun may be feminine as the part of speech.

But that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit can be referred to as a woman or as something effeminate. You understand? So let's consider let's consider another example. Psalm 23. You're surely familiar with it is a Psalm of David.

It begins. Yahweh is my shepherd or in most translations, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Verse three, he restores my soul.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Now, the word there for soul in Psalm 23, three, just like Ruach, the word for soul is also feminine. Who is talking? It's David that is talking.

Is David saying that his soul is a woman or is effeminate? No, that's not what he is saying. It's the part of speech. But that doesn't mean just because we might refer to the word as being feminine. It doesn't it doesn't mean now that can be attributed to something effeminate.

The word Psalm is a masculine word. So are Psalms only for men and women shouldn't sing them? No, absolutely not. So that is not the way that we apply that labeling of speech. And if you're able to do any further study on that, talk to somebody who is a linguist, somebody who has experience in foreign languages, especially a language that's not English, because we don't really use masculine and feminine parts of speech in our language.

In Spanish, there's masculine and feminine in French. So talk to somebody who knows a foreign language. Ask them about that. I remember asking my French teacher when I was in high school. Yes, I took French.

I didn't take Greek. I took French, Spanish in grade school, French when I was in high school. Anyway, I asked my teacher about that one time and I said, why is this word masculine and why is this word feminine?

You know what she said to me? Just because there's there's not really a reason why these words are masculine. And these words are feminine. That's just the way the language was constructed. It's just the way it came about.

So, again, just because a word might be considered feminine, that does not mean that it now has to be attributed to to anything female. The word judge in the Old Testament judge is feminine. It's a feminine word.

But there was only ever one woman judge, right? That was Deborah. So we're all the men not to be judges. That was a position that only women were supposed to hold. No, it's Deborah. That's the anomaly, not the rest of the men.

So just because again, just because a word is feminine, that doesn't mean now it can only be attributed to women and we can play fast and loose with the text and ascribe to the Holy Spirit feminine pronouns or say that the Holy Spirit is a woman.

That is that's false doctrine. The way that the Holy Spirit is revealed in Scripture is masculine. Now, the spirit is certainly spirit, which means he doesn't have a physical form. Same with the father.

The father is spirit. Jesus says to the woman at the well in John chapter four. So you can't paint the father as looking like a man or the Holy Spirit in the same sort of a fashion. There's no form to them.

When Jesus took on flesh and dwelt among us, he became the God man. He is very God and very man. So, of course, he looks like a man because he has a human body. But that's not the case with God, the father and the Holy Spirit.

Now, that's difficult for us to grasp. I talked about, you know, making an image of God, raising up a graven image last week that that was in some of the questions that I answered there. We should not try to depict God or the Holy Spirit in imagery because there's no way to do it, not to mention the second commandment.

Do not raise up a graven image. So we should not try to image God or the Holy Spirit in that way. The way that we image God is we are imitators of Christ. So we show who God is through our behavior in submission to the Lord, desiring to grow in godliness.

Godliness means God like. So we desire to be like God, to grow in holiness as we have been given the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That's how we image God. We're not going to paint pictures of the father or of the Holy Spirit since they are spirit.

They do not have form. Nonetheless, they have revealed themselves in masculine ways. The father, the Holy Spirit is only referred to as he with masculine pronouns throughout the scripture. God has chosen to reveal himself this way.

And so that is the way we must refer to God to decide we want to call the Holy Spirit woman. That says something about your heart. That doesn't say something about the Holy Spirit. That's because you want to rebel against scripture and because you fear man rather than God.

If you fear God, then you better refer to God and worship God the way that he says he is to be honored. And as he has revealed himself with masculine pronouns, then that is the way that we should refer to God.

It's really astonishing to me that we have the culture in which we live that are that people are trying to say. There's even some professing Christians out there that are trying to say that you must refer to a person according to their preferred pronouns.

But apparently that doesn't matter with God. Since God has said his pronouns are he and him, but people don't want to refer to God that way. They want to make God in their image. And so fashioning him into a woman in whatever way that they can, you have that heretical book, the shack that was written where God, the father is depicted as a, uh, an overweight black woman.

That's just blasphemous to do that. But it's, it's done to appease man. It is not done in any way to honor the Lord. Look at what the scripture says. Refer to God and honor him according to what is written in his word, the Bible, not the way that we want to do it, but the way that God has said he is to be honored.

How to Talk to Teenagers About Sex, Boundaries, and the Gospel

All right. Thank you again for your question, Jason. We go on to this one from Robert. This goes back to the episodes that we did on, uh, talking to your kids about difficult subjects. Okay. So Robert says, pastor Gabe, when it comes to speaking with our kids about their bodies and who can and cannot touch them, who their bodies are meant to be shared with spouses and when, et cetera, how would you approach these conversations with a teenager?

Let's say a parent was saved later in life and their kids already went through puberty. What would be a good approach? Thank you for that question, Robert, when Becky and I were talking about those episodes after we finished that up, uh, we were, we were saying between each other, we probably could have done a little bit more there to specify, like when you talk with your teenager, it's like this.

When you talk with your little kids, your little children, it's like this. And I don't think we were that specific. Nonetheless, I still think you approach this with your teenagers the same way. Don't just assume, especially for you parents out there who may have come to faith later and you're seeing a biblical, uh, ethic of sexuality.

Whereas previously you had a worldly ethic. Now you have more biblical ethics based on what the scripture says. So given that you became a Christian later in life, how are you going to talk to your teenager about these things?

Don't just assume that they've already learned this stuff. And so now there's nothing for you to add to them or teach them about still sit down and have a conversation with them about what they know about their bodies, have the scriptures there so that you might be able to tell them we've been made in the image of God.

We have been commanded by God to honor him with our bodies. That's Romans 12, 1, 12, 2 says, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So we're not following with the pattern of the world we are doing with our bodies.

What God has said to do with our bodies. Now, what is that supposed to look like? Sex is meant for marriage, and there are parts of your body that no one else is supposed to see or touch except your spouse.

And only for the marriage bed, only for when you get married. And just as Becky and I said in those programs, you teach your kids, no one's allowed to touch these private parts of your bodies. And if anyone ever does, you come and tell mom and dad.

And so when you have that conversation with your teenager, same thing. In fact, with my teenage kids, I've got a teenage daughter and a son who's a preteen. But even as they're getting older, I'm still going to remind them of those things that we talked about when they were younger.

I still want to remind them that if something happens, somebody touches you in a way that, you know, you should not be touched, that they have violated your privacy and they have tried to touch parts of your body that are are meant only for your spouse.

You still come and tell mom and dad, and we are not going to shame you. We are going to protect you. Now, if our teenage son or daughter puts themselves in a situation where they are doing something immoral, well, they're probably going to get punished for that.

And they need to know that there's going to be consequences for their actions. But we still want them to know that they are loved and they can come to us to talk about those kinds of things so that they have somebody they can trust and is going to handle the matter.

And if something unjust has been done to them, then we are going to seek justice on their behalf to see to it that the wicked person will be punished for the evil that they have done, especially if they've done something illegal.

So I hope that helps, Robert. Now, of course, we're talking about extreme cases there. You still want to open a dialogue with your teenager in such a way that that is communicative, right? It's good shared communication with your son or your daughter saying to them, once again, what God expects of us as far as sexuality is concerned.

God created sex for marriage. It's meant to be enjoyed between a husband and a wife only in the context of marriage. Teach your kids that if they sin, if they if they go too far in a relationship and either they have sex or it becomes something where it's like, you know, making out, it becomes heavy petting or something like that.

There's still impurity that's happened there. There there is still something that is sexually immoral, and they need to understand that they've sinned so that they would repent of that and turn to Christ.

And he will forgive. He forgives and restores. Let that be part of your conversations with your kids. Like Becky and I said, with any of these things that we talk about with our kids, have the gospel in there that children may know we are sinners.

And there are times along the way where we're probably going to cross that line and we're going to do something according to our flesh instead of honoring the Lord. And when we have sinned, when we have broken his law, may we be convicted over that.

Psalm 119, 109, David says, though I take my life in my own hands, I will not forget your law. And I am thankful for those things that my parents instilled in me, the word of God that they taught me so that when I was out on my own, when I was taking my life in my own hands, when I was doing my own thing, even when I would sin, there would be conviction over that because my parents taught me the truth.

So I knew that this was wicked, the Holy Spirit's convicting my heart, and I felt miserable over it so that I would repent of that sin and not repeat it and seek forgiveness from God. Teach your children that as well, that even if they cross that line, even if they don't save their bodies for their spouse or they do something impure, don't don't treat it as something that's like not a big deal.

It is a big deal because scripture says Colossians 3, 6, the wrath of God comes against sexually immoral behavior like this. But ensure that your parents don't get or parents. I don't know. Maybe you need to sit down and have this conversation with your parents, too.

I don't know. Anyway, hey, the the gospel is transforming the families of all kinds of generations, right? Absolutely. So maybe you do need to sit down with your children and you need to have this kind of conversation with them.

Maybe your kids have already gone too far. Whatever it is, make sure the gospel is there. They understand God does forgive. He will heal and restore. And in that restoration, putting you on the path of righteousness, just like I quoted from Psalm 23, three, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

We're rescued from the path that leads to destruction in hell and we're put on the path of righteousness that leads to heaven. So make sure your children know that, that the gospel is there and all that we talk about.

The gospel is ever present, that we know we have sinned against a holy God and it is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we are forgiven our sins and we have everlasting life. Amen. Now, the things that we give to our children when we teach them the law of God, as Paul says in Galatians, the law is a tutor and it helps to be our teacher.

It guards us and protects us from going into a worse direction than we would go if left to ourselves. But doing the right thing doesn't save. What saves is Jesus Christ. And we receive the grace of God by faith in him.

So remember that about these things that you teach with your kids. This is not legalism. It's obeying God according to what his word says. But even the obedience of God in this sense, attempting to keep the law will not save a person because we can't keep the law.

We are sinful from our nature and even at the point that we decide we want to start obeying God, we've already sinned against him. So we can't do it perfectly. It is only by faith in Jesus that we are forgiven of our sins and cleansed of all unrighteousness.

And we wear his righteousness that we may do good in a way that is pleasing unto the Lord so that we may live lives of holiness in these bodies acceptable unto God. And this is our spiritual act of worship.

Praying for you, Robert. Thank you again for your question. Now, this last question here, this is the one that's a little more adult in content or a little more mature subject matter. I understand the last question probably was too, but you've been so warned.

I'm going to play a video here. This is the what video that I did on David and Bathsheba. Did David rape Bathsheba? Let me play that video and then I'm going to respond to this next question. You know the story of David and Bathsheba, right?

David took a walk on his roof one afternoon and saw Bathsheba bathing. So he had her brought to him and spent the night with her. Bathsheba sent word to David she was pregnant. So to cover the affair, David had her husband Uriah killed in battle and quickly married Bathsheba.

Now, there's been a growing interest in saying David raped Bathsheba. Some have gone as far as insisting we must interpret the story this way or else victims of abuse will feel betrayed by the church.

That sounds too much like current social concerns are being imposed onto the text. Setting aside varying definitions of rape, the Bible doesn't say David raped Bathsheba. In fact, First Kings 15 .5 says David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

Besides, you could make as much of a case that Bathsheba seduced David, bathing in the afternoon where she knew the king would be taking his constitutional. You might say, but the Bible doesn't say that.

Exactly. Here's what the Bible does say. David was a shepherd turned king of Israel. He was entrusted to shepherd the people of God, and he took another man's wife and had that man killed. From the line of David would come the greater shepherd king, Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for the sheep.

In mourning over his sin, David prayed, deliver me from blood guiltiness. Oh, God of my salvation. And the Lord was merciful to him, no matter the sin, whether it's adultery, rape, theft or murder. Forgiveness is found in Christ when we understand the text.

So in light of that issue, I received this email from Diane, who said, Dear Pastor Gabe, I have a question about an issue that keeps showing up in women's ministry. They are pushing the interpretation that David was a power rapist with Bathsheba.

I don't see how the text says that, but I can't read original languages. If you already talked about this topic, please just send me a link. Thank you much. Lee Diane. Well, I appreciate the question.

And you're right, Diane. This is a subject that is becoming increasingly more common. Even John Piper has addressed this subject. And Piper said that David raped Bathsheba TGC. The Gospel Coalition has written articles on this, perhaps the most prominent place that you will find pushing this idea that David raped Bathsheba is in the Me Too movement that has infiltrated evangelicalism, also referred to as the church to movement.

Rachel Denhollander in one of her books talked about this very thing that David raped Bathsheba. There was an article that was done back in October of 2019 based on something that Rachel Denhollander put out on Twitter.

She said David did not fornicate. David raped. She went on to say, if you understand the power dynamics and you understand the Hebrew and you look at the Levitical examples and discussion of rape and you understand what Nathan is saying in his parable that's in reference to Nathan confronting David in Second Samuel Chapter 12, it is abundantly clear, Denhollander says from the text that David raped.

And she went on to say, it's important that we get that right. Rachel Denhollander is twisting the text. There is nothing in the Bible at all that says anything about David raping Bathsheba, just like was said in the video that I just played.

It sounds more like current cultural trends are being imposed upon the story than actually reading the story for what it is. David was out on his roof. Bathsheba was bathing. He saw her and he wanted her.

So he sent for her. She came to him. They slept together. All intentions there, according to what we have in the text, is that the two of them committed adultery. Denhollander's case is that because David was king, he used his power to rape Bathsheba and she could not have said no because David was a man in power.

So therefore, this was forced upon her and she did not have any decision in the matter whatsoever. This is woke hermeneutics. It is taking the the modern intersectional perspective of power dynamics and imposing it onto the text and attributing to David sins that he did not commit.

Now, don't get me wrong. David did wicked here. He took another man's wife. He committed adultery for that alone. He deserved to die. Then he has Uriah killed to try to cover up the issue. So he's guilty of adultery and he's guilty of murder.

That's pretty serious. Twofold. Now he deserves the death penalty for what it is that he has done. Now, Denhollander claims that Nathan's parable to David exposes the fact that David raped Bathsheba. Let's look at that.

Second Samuel, Chapter 12. And this is following the story of David and Bathsheba and having Uriah killed, which was in the previous chapter in Chapter 11. So Second Samuel, Chapter 12. I'm beginning in verse one.

And the Lord sent Nathan to David, Nathan, the prophet. He came to him and said to David, there were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little you lamb, which he had bought.

And he brought it up and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms. And it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him.

But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.

Verse seven, Nathan said to David, you are the man or you've probably heard this interpreted thou art the man as it is in the King James. Nathan goes on, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight?

You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your house and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. And he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son for you did it secretly.

But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the son. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.

Then Nathan went to his house. Now, Rachel Denhollander claims that this parable clearly states that David raped Bathsheba. Let me read her quote once again. She said, if you understand the power dynamics.

So, again, that's taking power dynamics of a modern intersectional philosophy and imposing it onto the text, not according to what the text actually says. But she claims if you understand the power dynamics and you understand the Hebrew, not true, and you look at the Levitical examples and discussion of rape and you understand what Nathan is saying in his parable, it is abundantly clear from the text that David raped.

Now, where does Denhollander go first? She goes first to power dynamics. The Hebrew doesn't expose rape. The Levitical examples don't expose rape. I'm not even sure what that means because Denhollander doesn't reference them.

What the law says in Deuteronomy 22, 24, is that if she does not cry out, then she's guilty of adultery. The man and the woman are guilty together. He did not violate her because she went along with it.

And everything in the text seems to indicate to us that Bathsheba was perfectly in compliance with this adulterous relationship that she had with David. As I said in the video, you could make just as much of a case that Bathsheba seduced David as you could make the case that David raped Bathsheba.

Now, you're willing to you're welcome to argue with that and say, well, the text doesn't say that she seduced David. That's exactly right. It doesn't. So you can't say that about Bathsheba with with a sense of credibility.

And you cannot say of David that he raped Bathsheba. Rachel Denhollander's conclusion on that is only because he was a king. That's it. It's really not from the text. It's certainly not in the parable.

Did you hear anything in the parable there in 2 Samuel 12 that would have indicated to you that David raped Bathsheba? Now, John Piper argues that because it says in verse four that the rich man took the poor man's lamb, it's that word took that indicates that David raped Bathsheba.

That is an absurd argument, because in Ruth chapter four, verse 13, it says that Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Are we to assume there that Boaz took a woman beyond her will? I mean, if we're going to interpret it that way in 2 Samuel 12, we have to interpret it that way in Ruth 412.

Ruth 413, I thought of that example because I was studying Ruth at the time that I read that particular article from John Piper and where he's talking about using that word took indicates that David raped Bathsheba.

He took her against her will. I'm going, no, that can't be right, because the exact same word in Hebrew is used in Ruth 413 about Boaz taking Ruth. So you can't say that that word automatically reveals to us that David therefore took Bathsheba against her will.

All understanding of this particular story is that Bathsheba was willing, not against her will. This was not power rape. As you have heard it explained to you, Diane, this is a relatively new phenomenon.

It is a new argument to make the claim that David raped Bathsheba. Recently, Larry Alex Taunton, who is a journalist, he searched 20 Old Testament commentaries that were written before the year 2000. So you're just talking about commentaries that are 20 years old or older.

And he said in 20 of those commentaries, he did not find one mention of any commentarian, any theologian saying that David raped Bathsheba. This is a new thing. And again, it's the it's the woke hermeneutics that have been imposed upon this text to read it that way.

It is not according to what the text says. Now, in Second Samuel, we do have a story of actual rape, and it's in the very next chapter. You read about David and Bathsheba in Chapter 11. You read about Nathan rebuking David in Chapter 12, and then the child that was born to David and Bathsheba died.

Then Solomon was born to David and Bathsheba. And of course, Solomon is the one that succeeds David on his throne. Then in Chapter 13, you have the story of Ammon and Tamar. Ammon is one of David's sons.

Tamar is his half sister, and he rapes her. And that story is clearly rape in Chapter 13. And it looks nothing like the relationship that was there between David and Bathsheba. Bathsheba was not taken against her will.

She committed adultery with David. Tamar was very clearly taken against her will. Compare the two stories. Go read Second Samuel 11 and Second Samuel 13 there. And that is by the providence of God that the text is laid out this way.

There is no excuse for this to be reading things onto the text that are not there, especially when you have a story of actual rape that occurs just a chapter later. I appreciate your comment, Diane, your question.

And I hope this was helpful for you. You can either take this particular podcast and share it with somebody, or you can share the video that I played. And I'll send you the link to both in my response to your email.