"And they told the king, 'Behold, Nathan the prophet is here.' And when he came in before the king, he bowed with his face to the ground." — The announcement (*hinne Natan ha-navi*) frames Nathan's arrival as news to the king, yet this *news* has been coordinated with Bathsheba. Nathan's *prostration* (*va-yishtachav al-panav 'artsa*) performs the same deference Bathsheba used, yet the prophet's gesture carries additional weight—it is the obeisance of divine messenger before the authority that both stands above him and beneath the divine authority he represents. The theatrical choreography of entrance, announcement, and prostration creates the impression of formal court procedure, even as the scene orchestrates a political intervention.

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