Silence and Survival: Re-Reading Bathsheba Through Womanist and Feminist Lenses  

The story of Bathsheba, found in 2 Samuel 11-12 and 1 Kings 1-2, has long been one of the most contested narratives in biblical interpretation. The focus of dominant hegemonic readings has often fallen on David as king, focusing on his sin, repentance, and eventual restoration. Hegemonic readings have arguably sanitized David’s actions, interpreting them as a lapse in moral judgment, rather than an abuse of royal power. This attention on David has led to Bathsheba’s perspective becoming silenced or distorted. Such readings not only obscure the violence of the act but also perpetuate a theological culture that normalizes male dominance and female passivity. Bathsheba is frequently reduced to a temptress, an accomplice, or a victim whose voice is largely absent from the text. As Phyllis Trible memorably observed, ‘David is judged and forgiven; Bathsheba is victimized and forgotten.’^[1] In this framework, David’s repentance and the death of the child provide theological closure for him, but Bathsheba’s suffering is sidelined.

This essay seeks to recover Bathsheba’s voice through the integration of womanist and feminist hermeneutics, applied with tools of narrative criticism and reader-response theory. The aim of this work is to reframe Bathsheba’s story not as a moral cautionary tale or a mere backdrop to David’s sin, but as a theological witness to survival, resilience, and reclaimed agency. In doing so, this study models a survivor-centred hermeneutic for practical theology, one that urges churches and interpreters to listen to silenced voices as a theological imperative. It is important to recognize that traditional or hegemonic interpretations have often focused on David’s perspective while minimizing Bathsheba’s experience. Sara M. Koenig in her text Bathsheba Survives points out that scholarship has often ignored Bathsheba’s survival arc, treating her only as an object in David’s story.^[2] Such interpretations participate in what J. Cheryl Exum terms the “rape by the pen,” where patriarchal biblical narratives and their interpretations silence women by narrating them through male-centered frameworks.^[3]

Feminist criticism has provided restorative measures by attending to Bathsheba’s erasure and the sexual politics of the text. Exum’s Fragmented Women highlights how Bathsheba is both central to the narrative and yet deprived of subjectivity, noting: ‘the story is David’s, not Bathsheba’s, and her body is the ground on which male power is contested.’^[4] She further argues that ‘Bathsheba is acted upon rather than acting, seen rather than seeing, silenced rather than speaking.’^[5] Similarly, Suzanne Scholz in Sacred Witness classifies 2 Samuel 11 among biblical rape narratives, arguing that ‘Bathsheba is deprived of choice; the king’s summons is coercion by power.’^[6]

Womanist interpreters bring additional layers by situating Bathsheba’s silence within survival strategies. Renita J. Weems, in Just a Sister Away, emphasizes that biblical women’s silences often conceal agency: ‘Silence is not the absence of voice but the presence of strategy.’^[7] Wilda C. Gafney, in Womanist Midrash, articulates methods for amplifying silenced women, treating gaps in the text as invitations for recovery of marginalized perspectives. She argues that womanist readings ‘centre the lives of women whose stories were not meant to be central.’^[8] Gafney’s womanist lens interprets biblical texts, whilst particularly focusing on the intersections of gender, race, and class. Gafney argues that traditional readings of the Bathsheba narrative erase the realities of sexual violence and the lived experiences of Black and brown women who often find parallels in such stories. By centring Bathsheba’s victimization, Gafney not only critiques the biblical narrative but also its reception history within communities that have validated male authority at the expense of female autonomy. Koenig’s Bathsheba Survives is especially significant for integrating feminist and womanist concerns. Koenig reframes Bathsheba as a survivor whose later political agency in 1 Kings 1-2 testifies to resilience: ‘Bathsheba, who is first acted upon, later acts decisively in securing her son’s throne.’^[9]

This essay adopts a methodological framework shaped by narrative criticism, reader-response theory, and womanist and feminist hermeneutics. Narrative critics such as Robert Alter highlight the artistry of biblical narrative, particularly its use of gaps, ellipses, and tempo to shape meaning.^[10] Danna Nolan Fewell and David Gunn similarly stress that biblical stories are multivocal, requiring readers to attend to what is omitted as much as what is spoken.^[11] The implied reader, according to Wolfgang Iser, is positioned to fill gaps, and those gaps can be leveraged through feminist and womanist re-readings.^[12]

Bathsheba’s first appearance in 2 Samuel 11 is deeply troubling. The text notes simply that David “saw a woman bathing” (2 Sam 11:2), “sent for her” (2 Sam 11:3), and “lay with her” (2 Sam 11:4). Bathsheba speaks no words. The brevity of the narration obscures the violence inherent in David’s actions. As Exum insists, ‘The very terseness of the story reflects Bathsheba’s erasure; her subjectivity is collapsed into the king’s desire.’^[13] Scholz’s reading places Bathsheba’s experience within the continuum of biblical rape narratives: ‘the royal summons forecloses consent; Bathsheba is compelled into the king’s bedchamber.’^[14] Weems challenges us not to read Bathsheba’s silence as complicity. Instead, silence functions as survival: ‘when women’s words could cost their lives, silence was speech in another key.’^[15] Yet, as Gafney notes, womanist midrash invites us to imagine her grief and resilience: ‘we must supply the lamentations denied her in the text.’^[16]

In 2 Samuel, Bathsheba’s role is instrumental to David’s moral drama; the climax is Nathan’s confrontation with David, not Bathsheba’s experience. In 1 Kings, however, she becomes the hinge upon which the succession crisis turns, actively prompting David to secure Solomon’s throne. Bathsheba reemerges in 1 Kings 1, where she becomes central to Solomon’s succession narrative. Here, she is no longer a silent figure but a political actor. Alongside Nathan, Bathsheba approaches the aging David to secure Solomon’s kingship. “My Lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, “Your son Solomon shall be king after me: he shall sit on my throne,”” she reminds David (1 Kings 1:17). Her speech is persuasive and effective. Koenig argues that this transformation marks Bathsheba’s survival: ‘Bathsheba is no longer acted upon but acts decisively; her voice is instrumental in shaping the monarchy.’^[17] Exum notes the irony that Bathsheba, once voiceless, is now central in determining the royal line: ‘the text that silenced her now turns upon her speech.’^[18] From a womanist perspective, Bathsheba’s reappearance affirms the strategy of survival. Gafney insists: ‘women survive in the text not only by what they say but by what they do with the little power allotted them.’^[19] Bathsheba’s story begins in silence and suffering, and ends in voice, and authority. For today’s reader, Bathsheba’s story invites us to have open conversations on gender, agency, and justice. Her story offers readers a model of resistance, resilience, and reclamation. 

Hegemonic exegesis tends to focus on David’s repentance as the moral center of the story. However, this emphasis on David’s inner transformation neglects the material consequences of his actions and the trauma experienced by Bathsheba. It also diverts attention from the broader structures that allow such abuses to occur unchecked. Reading Bathsheba’s arc through feminist and womanist lenses yields significant insights for practical theology. Reading through these lens’ demands that churches recognize sexual violence in scripture not as marginal but as central. As Scholz warns, ‘to mislabel coercion as adultery is to reinscribe rape as sex.’^[20] If we do not recognize the violence that occurs in the scriptures, this will have a profound effect on pastoral care. For Practical Theology to thrive it must insist that stories such as Bathsheba’s be read truthfully. It demands that violence is acknowledged and named when it occurs. For this to happen, readings that prioritize male reputations, for example David’s repentance, over women’s experiences, such as Bathsheba’s erasure from her own story needs to end.

Creating feminist and womanist frameworks allow for a survivor-centred hermeneutic. Koenig’s insight that ‘Bathsheba survives’^[21] reframes her story. Thus, survival itself has become a form of theological testimony. Practical Theology can draw from this by affirming that survival is not just endured but is recognized as an act of resistance against systems of domination. Recognizing survival as resistance enables survivors to become teachers who through their strength, courage, and resilience will reveal God’s presence amid their traumas.

Finally, Practical Theology emphasizes that listening to silenced voices is a theological imperative. A survivor-centred hermeneutic reshapes practical theology by listening. That Bathsheba is forgotten or sidelined by many is a theological difficulty. To forget Bathsheba is to forget the countless survivors whose stories remain hidden. Womanist reading plays a vital role in keeping these stories out in the open. Weems notes that Gafney in her work insists that womanist midrash reads into the silence and ‘makes certain that women’s voices in Hebrew Scripture are not erased, are heard, and are reckoned with.’^[22] Practical Theology must model this same practice by creating ecclesial spaces where survivors are heard and believed. This shift challenges theologies of shame and silence that too often accompany abuse in faith communities.

Bathsheba’s narrative, when read through the combined lenses of feminist and womanist hermeneutics, moves from silence to survival, from victimization to agency. Hegemonic interpretations have traditionally framed this story around David, his power, his sin, and his repentance, while minimizing or erasing Bathsheba’s perspective. Such readings perpetuate theological cultures that normalize male authority and female passivity. By contrast, the feminist and womanist voices explored in this study insist that Bathsheba’s experience must be named as sexual violence, and that her silence cannot be equated with passivity but instead may conceal strategies of survival.

The literary and theological tools of Exum, Scholz, Weems, Gafney, and Koenig have illuminated how Bathsheba’s trajectory disrupts patriarchal closure. In 2 Samuel, her body is the terrain on which David’s power is exercised, but in 1 Kings she reemerges as a strategist whose words decisively shape the royal succession. This transformation demands that interpreters recognize survival not as marginal but as central to theological witness. Bathsheba becomes a figure through whom resilience, strategy, and voice are reclaimed, demonstrating that the silenced can yet shape history.

For Practical Theology, this rereading is more than an academic exercise. It calls congregations and interpreters to name violence honestly, to refuse readings that sanitize abuse, and to cultivate survivor-centred practices of listening and empowerment. To hear Bathsheba is to hear countless unnamed women silenced in both scripture and community. To centre her survival is to affirm that resistance and resilience are themselves theological testimonies of God’s sustaining presence. Thus, Bathsheba’s story offers a paradigm for reimagining both scripture and praxis. It reminds us that the task of theology is not only to interpret the text but also to transform communities. Silence must not mean erasure, and survival must be celebrated as a witness to justice, faith, and hope.

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[1] Phyllis Trible, Texts of Terror (Fortress Press, 1984), 40.

[2] Sara M. Koenig, Bathsheba Survives (Wipf & Stock, 2011), 23-24.

[3] J. Cheryl Exum, Fragmented Women (Trinity Press International, 1993), 171.

[4] Exum, Fragmented Women, 172.

[5] Exum, Fragmented Women, p 175.

[6] Suzanne Scholz, Sacred Witness (Fortress Press, 2010), 55-56.

[7] Renita J. Weems, Just a Sister Away (LuraMedia, 1988), 37.

[8] Wilda C. Gafney, Womanist Midrash (Westminster John Knox, 2017), 23.

[9] Sara M. Koenig, Bathsheba Survives (Wipf & Stock, 2011), 118.

[10] Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, rev. ed. (Basic Books, 2011), 66.

[11] Danna Nolan Fewell and David M. Gunn, Narrative in the Hebrew Bible (Oxford University Press, 1993), 13.

[12] Wolfgang Iser, The Act of Reading (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978), 167.

[13] Exum, Fragmented Women, 171.

[14] Scholz, Sacred Witness, 56.

[15] Weems, Just a Sister Away, 39.

[16] Gafney, Womanist Midrash, 46.

[17] Koenig, Bathsheba Survives, 122.

[18] Exum, Fragmented Women, 175.

[19] Gafney, Womanist Midrash, 50.

[20] Scholz, Sacred Witness, 56.

[21] Koenig, Bathsheba Survives, 118.

[22] See  Advance Praise for Womanist Midrash in open page of Wilda C. Gafney, Womanist Midrash

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References

Alter, Robert. The Art of Biblical Narrative. Rev. ed. Basic Books, 2011.

Exum, J. Cheryl. Fragmented Women: Feminist (Sub)versions of Biblical Narratives. 2nd ed. Trinity Press International, 1993.

Fewell, Danna Nolan, and David M. Gunn. Narrative in the Hebrew Bible. Oxford University Press, 1993.

Gafney, Wilda C. Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne. Westminster John Knox Press, 2017.

Iser, Wolfgang. The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.

Koenig, Sara M. Bathsheba Survives: A Literary and Theological Study. Wipf & Stock, 2011.

Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2002.

Scholz, Suzanne. Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press, 2010.

Trible, Phyllis. Texts of Terror: Literary-Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984.

Weems, Renita J. Just a Sister Away: A Womanist Vision of Women’s Relationships in the Bible. LuraMedia, 1988.

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© Anne Marie Foster, 2026. Feminist Theology Network Collaboration with Practical Theology Hub.

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