to David's action with regard to Bathsheba. Nathan noted that Yahweh would punish David's house for Uriah's murder and taking his wife, and would let someone close (רֵעַ rea) to David take away / seize (לָקַח laqach) all his wives and have him lie with / rape (שָׁכַב šākab) them in broad daylight for everyone to see (2 Samuel 12:9–12). King David at once confessed his sin and expressed sincere repentance. Shortly after Bathsheba's first (unnamed) child by David was born, Yahweh struck it with a severe illness (2 Samuel 12:15). David pleaded with God to spare his child, fasting and spending the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground (2 Samuel 12:16–17), but after seven days the child died (2 Samuel 12:18). King David accepted this as his punishment, went to the house of Yahweh and worshipped him (2 Samuel 12:20–23). Bathsheba later gave birth to David's son Solomon. In David's old age, Bathsheba, based on David's promise, secured the succession to the throne by Solomon, instead of David's elder surviving sons by his other wives, such as Chileab (), Adonijah () and others (). David's punishment came to pass years later when one of David's much-loved sons, Absalom, led an insurrection that plunged the kingdom into civil war. Moreover, to manifest his claim to be the new king, Absalom had sexual intercourse in public with ten of his father's concubines, which could be considered a direct, tenfold divine retribution for David's taking the woman of another man in secret (). Judaism Relationship to Ahithophel Several scholars see Bathsheba as the granddaughter of Ahitophel, as do passages in the Talmud. The argument is that she is called the daughter of Eliam in 2 Sam. 11:3, and 2 Sam 23:34 mentions an Eliam, the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, one of David's "thirty". The assumption is then that these two Eliams are the same person. However, in 1 Chronicles the names are very different: Bathsheba is called Bathshua the daughter of Ammiel in 1 Chronicles 3:5. And in the list of David's thirty in 1 Chronicles 11:36 we have Ahijah the Pelonite. Some have also questioned whether Ahithophel would have been old enough to have a granddaughter. In rabbinic literature Bathsheba was the granddaughter of Ahithophel, David's famous counselor. The Aggadah states that Ahithophel was misled by his knowledge of astrology into believing himself destined to become king of Israel.