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THE ADULTERESS
by Lisa Chaplin

The story you thought you knew about a woman you'll never forget...

Many think they know the story of David and Bath-sheba – the beloved king lured from faithful service by a young beauty bathing on a rooftop, and a love so strong, adultery, murder and war couldn’t stop it. But if that is the truth, why did God never once blame her? Why did she become a premier queen and mother to the greatest king in Israel’s history?

While in most Christian faiths her name is a byword for adultery, Jewish history, though quite often harsh with women, names this so-called siren The Great Lady. Bath-sheba was the only woman to sit in judgment at the right hand of not one, but two of Israel’s most famous kings: her husband David and her son Solomon, and she is still revered today, three thousand years later.

Adulteress is Bath-sheba’s story through her own eyes: the girl hated by her own people for the “curse” she carried; the young bride forced to the palace to pleasure a middle-aged king in crisis, and helpless spectator as her beloved husband Uriah is betrayed and murdered by his old friend, the king. The reluctant queen suffers enforced seduction, debilitating grief and blame for the deaths of innocent men. She hates the cause of her suffering with a passion as great as David’s obsessive love for her, and plots revenge.

When her desperate bid for freedom is foiled, and even after she learns the will of God for her life, she fights against it until it’s too late. David, finally forced to take the blame for his crimes, makes public restoration both to Bath-sheba and the widows of the soldiers he killed – but through his acts, his sons unleash their own darkest desires...incest, rape, betrayal, plots for regicide and murder...

A family at war with itself implodes – and within a few years Israel is plunged into civil war, and thousands of deaths are the result, including that of her beloved grandfather. Shocked by the results of her rebellion, Bath-sheba finally takes her place beside David. Using her “curse” – the ability to read the hearts and intentions of others – to restore peace to a shattered nation, Bath-sheba helps impulsive, mercurial David become the man and king he was always meant to be.

But the damage is done, especially to the four living sons she bears David. The worst hurt is the sweet, sensitive boy the family calls Jedidiah – the man who will become King Solomon. As a young man, he prayed for the wisdom to rule a nation well, but in matters of the heart, he proves himself all too much his father’s son. It’s only when history threatens to repeat itself that Bath-sheba understands how deeply the damage runs in the heart of her beloved son – and she’ll do everything she can to prevent disaster.

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