When looking at Chapter 11 of 2 Samuel, we can see initially that the author does well to describe the setting. We are given the time of year, as well as our main character and where he is currently, which is the city of Jerusalem. We are also given some description, which isn’t a very common technique—it rarely exists without a reason in the Bible. We are told that Bathsheba is very beautiful, which is an important descriptor because it helps to explain the nature of David’s interest in her.
Beyond description, this chapter also utilizes dialogue frequently. Most often the statements elicited either give a command or assert a truth. When a truth is asserted, it is almost as though the author is using the dialogue to give simple narration. For example, at one point Bathsheba tells David, “I am pregnant”, where the narrator could’ve simply stated that she was pregnant. This device makes the audience feel as though they are up to date on information as it happens.
Along that same notion of the timeline, we see some temporal gaps in this chapter. For example, some small conversations can take up an entire paragraph yet Bathsheba marrying David and having a son only takes a sentence. Not only is different amounts of time allocated to different lengths of writing but there are also spatial movements; from the battlefield back to Jerusalem, the setting
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Themes: As a whole, when looking not only at this simple chapter but the entire David and Bathsheba story, a very common theme can be found—sin followed by forgiveness. This crops up over and over again in the Bible, exemplified especially in the cycle of Judges, where people forget the Lord but He is able to move past it and forgive them. In the David and Bathsheba story, we see this theme, David covets his neighbor’s wife, only to be forgiven by the Lord—albeit with a few consequences. The Hebrew Bible presents us with a God who is powerful yet just. His taking of David’s son as punishment proves that point