Bath-Sheba was destined to marry David since the six days of Creation, but she came to him in a painful manner (Sanhedrin 107a).

And his wife you have taken to be your wife (II Samuel 12:9). You are legally married to her (Shabbos 56a).

David the shepherd, David the slayer of the Philistine Goliath, Israel’s greatest adversary, David the poet, David the King of his people, possessed medos, wondrous Jewish attributes. Unfortunately, as the prescient Samuel had already announced, the monarchy, by replacing the theocracy with the rule of man, corrupted the souls of even the best leaders. As Saul succumbed to the pressures of the throne, so did David lose himself in the pursuit of royal perquisites.

This led to sin and shame, and no amount of rabbinical eisegesis can erase the sin and shame that permeate the narrative of David and Bath-sheba. He saw her "up on the roof." A woman, fair to look upon, performing her nightly ablutions. He saw, he sent, he sinned with the beautiful wife of Uriah the Hittite, David’s faithful soldier. Bath-Sheba becomes pregnant, and loyal Uriah is, with the complicity of David’s commander, Joab, done away with at the front lines of battle.

It is an ignominous episode, and its conclusion is handled better biblically than rabbinically. Bath-Sheba bears David a son, but the King is warned by his adviser and prophet, Nathan, that the child will bear the imprint of his father’s guilt and die for his sins. In one of the most poignant passages of the than rabbinically. Bath-Sheba bears David a son, but the King is warned by his adviser and prophet, Nathan, that the child will bear the imprint of his father’s guilt and die for his sins. In one of the most poignant passages of the Bible (II Samuel 12:15-23) the agony of David and Bath-sheba’s grief is depicted. Yet "joy cometh in the morning." The Lord forgives his favored servant, and Bath-Sheba becomes the vessel for one of Israel’s greatest kings, renowned for his literary flair, his wit, and his inestimable wisdom. This is Solomon, whose name is derived from shalom, an appropriate appellation, as Divinity takes steps, as He had done generations earlier by sending the dove to Noah as a coda to His anger, to restore the relationship between Himself and His people.

And Bath-Sheba? Certainly her yichus, her rightful place in Israel’s royal history, is legitimized and assured through the birth of the wise Solomon. She gave birth to three lesser known sons as well (I Chron.3:5). Immortalized biblically, she becomes as prominent iconographically. Paintings by Hans Memling, Lucas Cranach, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Poussin render different poses of the Bible’s greatest poseur. Her visage is, in the lyrics of Nat King Cole,"unforgettable."