Bathsheba, Hittites, and Genealogies

Now, you gotta see the irony in that...BATHsheba!

We aren't told much about this woman. She was married to a Hittite, one of David's mighty men. (Warning: Beginning rabbit trail here) The Hittites were a powerful nation that, though they'd been chased back and discouraged from settling near the Israelites, ruled a vast tract of land in the mountains of Turkey. They were not a literary society, so for many years archeologists knew little about them. In the early 1900s, archeologists (particularly the Germans, who believed the Hittites to be their ancestors) deciphered their language and discovered that the Hittites, far from being minor players, were a world power that rivaled Egypt and conquered Babylon.

Their language bears similarities to German--some words are nearly identical. For example, their word for "water" (vaser) is nearly the same. Probably of European origin, they may have migrated south through the Balkans.

The Hittite culture, in my mind at least, bears some similarities to American culture. Masters of chariot-making and iron work, they were most interested in government and laws, not poetry and art. Their laws were admirable, even by modern standards. Though inherited from the Old Babylonians (think Hammurabi), they were an improvement as far as fairness and reasonableness. They were not into despotic central authority. Only a handful of crimes were capital crimes (unlike Hammurabi's code, where you could be executed for getting rowdy drunk). They were non-dogmatic when it came to religion, tolerating any and all gods. (Sounds a bit like America too.) Their interests included colonies in far corners of the Mediterranean and trade. They spread Mesopotamian culture all over the ancient world through commerce. (Again, like America...the great cultural definer for most of the world.) They were sheep raisers and grain growers, who also had rich natural resources of silver, copper, and lead ore. They were the earliest makers of iron. You might say they were on the cutting edge of technology.

So, Uriah the Hittite was from no small tribe...he was a member of a powerful nation. What was he doing fighting for David? We're not sure. David attracted several foreign "mighty men," though. An outcast and renegade couldn't be picky about his friends. Any ally was a welcome ally.

The question is, was Bathsheba Hittite, or Jewish? We don't know that, either. She was the "daughter of Ammiel." (She is mentioned in the genealogy of I Chron. 3:5 as the mother of 4 sons...apparently remaining a favorite wife with David.) She is in the line of Christ, amazingly enough. She is even mentioned in the genealogy of Matthew, along with three other women...Tamar, Ruth, and Rahab. (Interesting...Tamar was an adulteress, Rahab a Canaanite harlot, Ruth a Moabitess.)

This alone--the fact that these four women of dubious repute were mentioned in Christ's genealogy--shows that God mercifully works through "sinners," and through unlikely people, non-Jewish people. It also shows that Christ was no "pure-blood" Jew by any means. God is not a racist.

Better stop here since I'm running the risk of information overload...but that genealogy really speaks to me. Bathsheba, a woman whose very name brings up shameful associations, and who was involved in the moral downfall of Israel's most beloved king, is honored (along with three other "strange women") with a place in the predominately male genealogy of Christ. Instead of covering up Christ's "less acceptable" roots, Matthew highlights them by mentioning these four women of ill-repute. That gives us all a lot of hope. It's God's righteousness, not ours, that brings about His perfect plan.