David had many wives. But there are a few whose stories stand out today — for reasons that are heartbreaking.

What if Bathsheba, Maacah, Ahinoam, Haggith, or even Michal had written in diaries?

What would they tell us today?

I know David had other wives, but these stand out for reasons that stay with me.

Bathsheba, mother of the infant who died following David’s adultery with her and his sin against Uriah. She was also mother of Solomon, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab.

Ahinoam, mother of Amnon, who tricked and raped his half-sister Tamar.

Maacah, mother of Absalom and Tamar. Absalom plotted for two years to kill Amnon for raping his blood sister Tamar. Sweet Tamar, who ended up living in Absalom’s home after she was raped.

Haggith, mother of Adonijah. Adonijah, who plotted to overtake David’s throne as David was nearing the end of his life.

Michal, who remained childless after mocking David for dancing before the LORD as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem.

Oh what stories these tell. What an array of events that would be newsworthy in our day.

Did these women write in diaries of the heartaches of each of these events?

Did they gather in rooms together to argue or maybe even hold one another, crying in tears as they watched their grown sons and even daughter Tamar face such atrocities?

Did they pray and ask God for answers as they endured these traumas and heartaches?

Bathsheba having lost an infant. Such heartbreak!

Would she have written about Uriah and how she missed him?

Would she have penned psalms like David, daring to write about the betrayal and everything that had happened between herself, David, and Uriah?

Would Bathsheba have written about events as she eventually came face to face with David near the end of his life, confronting him to protect the throne so Solomon could take his place?

Yet it would be Bathsheba’s son Nathan who would belong to the genealogical line recorded in Luke that leads to Jesus.

According to the traditional interpretation that Luke records Mary’s family line, this would be the line leading to Mary, who bore Jesus. What joy and excitement that would bring!

King Solomon’s line and Nathan’s line!

Bathsheba is not simply a woman who disappears after Solomon’s birth. She eventually becomes the queen mother.

Uriah dead. Her infant dead.

Nathan confronting David.

Years of turmoil inside David’s household. Then eventually her own son is king, and when his mother enters, King Solomon rises, bows to her, and seats her at his right hand.

Sweet victory in the face of such sorrow.

Maacah,  how did she cope, having to endure all of this from her perspective as a mother, as her son Absalom killed Amnon for raping her virgin daughter Tamar?

Was she angry at David for having done nothing to punish Amnon?

Did she write of these delicate moments? Did she cry with Tamar? Did she plead with Absalom to forgive Amnon or even his father David?

Was Maacah angry with Ahinoam, Amnon’s biological mother? Or maybe Ahinoam was angry with Maacah? Or did they comfort one another?

How did she feel after knowing it was Absalom who tried to usurp the throne of his father David and ended up dying a cruel death; his head having gotten caught in a tree, an entanglement that led to Joab, David’s commander, thrusting three weapons into him, after which Joab’s men struck and killed him.

What about David’s wife Ahinoam herself? Did she resort to tears as she witnessed Amnon’s moral failure in having raped Tamar? Did she warn him not to go to the sheep-shearers’ event that Absalom invited him to, in fear he would be betrayed?

Did she cry for Tamar? For Amnon? For Maacah?

She lost a son too, not just once as he crossed the line to rape his half-sister, but again as he too was betrayed and killed by his half-brother Absalom.

Haggith, mother of Adonijah.

What did she feel as David grew old and her son declared, “I will be king”?

Did she plead with Adonijah not to pursue the throne?

Or did she feel it was wrongfully handed to Solomon?

Was she urging Adonijah to fight for what she felt belonged to him, or did she know God’s divine providence was already at hand as Solomon became the next king?

Was she angry with Bathsheba for having gone to David concerning Solomon, and that David had ordered Solomon to be anointed king instead?

Did she watch everything her son had hoped for disappear in a single day?

And when Adonijah fled in fear and took hold of the horns of the altar, did Haggith fear that her son was about to die?

Did she pray before the LORD to spare Adonijah’s life for his attempt to take the throne?

What must she have felt when she learned that Solomon had spared her son’s life, on the condition that Adonijah would “prove himself a worthy man”?

Only to later discover that Adonijah went even further, asking Bathsheba to request that Solomon give him Abishag the Shunammite as his wife, the young woman who had cared for David in his old age.

Was she angry with Solomon? With Bathsheba? With David? Or even with Adonijah himself for refusing to leave the throne alone?

Solomon perceived Adonijah’s request as yet another claim to the throne, and this time he ordered Adonijah’s death.

Did Haggith wonder how differently everything might have ended if her son had simply accepted that Solomon would be king?

Did she grieve over the ambition that ultimately cost her son his life?

This would mean Haggith lost a son too.

Did someone come and tell her that her son was dead?

What was that day like for Haggith?

Whatever she thought about her son’s actions, whether she supported his pursuit of the throne or pleaded with him to stop, Scripture does not tell us.

But her grief must have been real, regardless of the reasons why.

Another mother in David’s household had lost her son.

Another woman whose name we read in only a few verses had an entire life behind that name.

She was still his mother.

What would Haggith have written in her diary?

And then we see Michal, childless after her own mockery. We do not know if she ended up childless because God shut her womb or because David never visited her intimately again after her mockery.

But did she cry through lonely nights of regret? Did she yearn for sons and daughters?

These are stories and traumas that our news would have broadcast from the rooms of the royal family had it been today’s timeline.

Real people. Real stories. Real heartbreak.

And yet, real victories as we see God move onto the scene.

Do not think your dilemma is different.

Do not feel alone in all that you face.

Your story may be hard and defeat feels certain, but go back to the Bible and read of those long before us.

If they had diaries, we would see real scars. Real trauma.

Real victories as family lines made their way from generation to generation leading up to Mary and Joseph, and the eternal throne of Jesus Christ.

Mary and Joseph too endured, as they traveled to protect this precious gift of promise, Jesus Christ.

Victory was always certain then, and victory is certain even now.

Hold onto the promises of God’s Word.

Jesus never breaks a promise, He never fails. God is not a man, that He should lie… (Numbers 23:19).

We serve a God that shares with us the frailties of men and women long before us who achieved victory, not because they were perfect, but because they trusted in the God who is perfect:

Jesus Christ.

Historical Picture

The Wives & Children Born in Hebron

During his early seven and a half years ruling from Hebron, David had six different wives, each bearing him one son.

1. Mother: Ahinoam of Jezreel

Son: Amnon (The Firstborn)

What he did: Driven by obsessive lust, he faked an illness to trap and assault his innocent half-sister, Tamar. His moral failing and David’s subsequent lack of discipline fractured the family line and led to his assassination by his half-brother, Absalom.

2. Mother: Abigail (The widow of Nabal)

Son: Daniel (also called Chileab)

What we know: Absolutely nothing scandalous is recorded about him. He completely disappears from the biblical narrative after his appearance in David’s genealogy. Because he was the second son but is never again mentioned as a contender for the crown, it is possible that he died young, but Scripture does not tell us what happened to him.

3. Mother: Maacah (Princess of Geshur)

Son: Absalom

What he did: Plotted for two years to assassinate Amnon to avenge his sister Tamar. He later launched a ruthless rebellion, stole the hearts of the men of Israel, forced his father David to flee Jerusalem, and attempted to take his father’s throne. He was ultimately killed during the battle after his head became caught in a tree.

Daughter: Tamar

What happened to her: Highly praised for her beauty and identified as a virgin, she was tragically violated by Amnon. She pleaded with Amnon not to commit such wickedness and afterward publicly demonstrated her grief and shame. She then lived desolate in the home of her full brother, Absalom.

4. Mother: Haggith

Son: Adonijah

What he did: Capitalized on David’s frail, aging state and attempted to establish himself as king. His attempt failed when David ordered Solomon to be publicly anointed king. Solomon later executed Adonijah after he asked for Abishag the Shunammite as his wife, a request Solomon interpreted as another claim upon the kingdom.

5. Mother: Abital

Son: Shephatiah

What we know: Scripture gives us virtually no information about his later life. He appears in the genealogy as David’s fifth son born in Hebron.

6. Mother: Eglah

Son: Ithream

What we know: Much like Shephatiah, Scripture gives us virtually no information about his later life. He appears in the genealogy as David’s sixth son born in Hebron.

The Wives & Children Born in Jerusalem

After taking total control of Israel, David moved the capital to Jerusalem, where he added more children to his lineage.

7. Mother: Bathsheba

Firstborn Infant (Unnamed): Became sick and died on the seventh day as a divine consequence announced by Nathan the prophet following David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his killing of Uriah.

Son: Solomon (Jedidiah): The chosen heir. He overcame Adonijah’s attempt to take the throne, built the First Temple, and presided over a period of extraordinary wisdom and wealth. Later in life, he spiritually fell away as his foreign wives turned his heart toward foreign gods.

Son: Nathan: Lived outside the royal succession recorded through Solomon. Centuries later, the genealogy recorded in Luke 3 passes through Nathan, the son of David. According to the traditional interpretation that Luke preserves Mary’s family line, this is the ancestral line leading to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Sons: Shammua (also called Shimea) & Shobab: Both are named as sons of David and Bathsheba, although Scripture gives us very little information about their lives.

8. Michal, David’s Wife and Saul’s Daughter

Children: None. The Bible explicitly notes after Michal despised David in her heart and mocked him concerning his dancing before the LORD that she had no children until the day of her death. Scripture does not explicitly tell us whether God closed her womb or whether David ceased having marital relations with her afterward.

9. Other Named Jerusalem Sons (Mothers Unspecified)

The Bible lists additional royal sons born in Jerusalem: Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.

Scripture gives us little or no narrative information about these sons, so we do not know the details of their individual lives.

The Biological Family Behind the Story

David + Ahinoam = Amnon
David + Maacah = Absalom and Tamar

This means Amnon was the half-brother of both Absalom and Tamar.

Absalom and Tamar were full biological brother and sister, sharing both David as their father and Maacah as their mother.

So when Amnon raped Tamar, he raped his own half-sister.

When Absalom killed Amnon, he killed his own half-brother for what he had done to Absalom’s full biological sister.

David + Haggith = Adonijah

Adonijah was therefore the half-brother of Amnon, Absalom, Tamar, Solomon, Nathan, and David’s other children.

David + Bathsheba = Shammua/Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon

Solomon and Nathan were therefore full biological brothers.

Solomon and Adonijah were half-brothers.

And behind all of these events were their mothers:

Ahinoam.
Maacah.
Haggith.
Bathsheba.
Michal.

Real women. Real mothers. Real families.

Which brings us right back to the question:

What if they had written in diaries?

What would they tell us today?