Summary

In this verse Bathsheba clarifies the motive behind her coming to the king. She told him that if he did nothing, she and Solomon would be counted as offenders. The Hebrew verb root used in the verse is “hayah,” which is the simple state of the verb to be. The word counted is an interpretation, not a translation. It rightly inserts the idea that being offenders would be how they would be looked at in men’s eyes and not necessarily in the eyes of God.

The word translated here as offenders is translated “sinners” in other places. Again, this translation supplies the idea that was surely in Bathsheba’s mind, namely that the sin would only be an apparent sin, and not a real transgression of God’s law.

Bathsheba believed that both her and Solomon’s lives were in danger because Solomon was younger than Adonijah, and he had not followed Adonijah; moreover, he had not been invited to Adonijah’s celebration. This view, as we have seen, was the opinion of Nathan.

Now that we have come to the end of Bathsheba’s first speech to David, we can make an application. When a person’s life is threatened for no just cause, while there is a solution in the law, it is appropriate and proper to apply to that authority for protection. Paul did this a number of times during his ministry. If it is necessary to suffer for Christ’s sake, we should be willing to do so, but that fact does not forbid us from applying to the powers that be to rescue us.