2 Samuel 12:15

_AND NATHAN DEPARTED UNTO HIS HOUSE. AND THE LORD STRUCK THE CHILD THAT URIAH'S WIFE BARE UNTO DAVID, AND IT WAS VERY SICK._ The Lord struck the child ... and it was very sick. The first visible chastisement inflicted on David appeared on the person of that child which was the evidence and monument of his guilt. His domestics were surprised at his conduct, and in explanation of the singularity it is necessary to remark that the custom in the East is to leave the nearest relative of a decreased person to the full and undisturbed indulgence of his grief, until, on the third or fourth day at farthest (John 11:17), the other relatives and friends visit him, invite him to eat, lead him to a bath, and bring him a change of dress, which is necessary, from his having sat or lain on the ground. The surprise of David's servants, then, who had seen his bitter anguish while the child was

15-25 David now penned the 51st Psalm, in which, though he had been assured that his sin was pardoned, he prays earnestly for pardon, and greatly laments his sin. He was willing to bear the shame of it, to have it ever before him, to be continually upbraided with it. God gives us leave to be earnest with him in prayer for particular blessings, from trust in his power and general mercy, though we have no particular promise to build upon. David patiently submitted to the will of God in the death of one child, and God made up the loss to his advantage, in the birth of another. The way to have creature comforts continued or restored, or the loss made up some other way, is cheerfully to resign them to God. God, by his grace, particularly owned and favoured that son, and ordered him to be called Jedidiah, Beloved of the Lord. Our prayers for our children are graciously and as fully answered w...

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 12:1 JEHOVAH SENT NATHAN UNTO DAVID. Though David had remained unrepentant for nearly a year, for we read in 2 Samuel 12:14 that the child was born, yet we are not to suppose that there had been no compunctions of conscience. A man could scarcely pass from utter callousness to a state of mind so tender as that depicted in Psalms 51:1 without some preparation. Assuredly David had suffered much mental distress, but he had given no outward sign of contrition, and possibly, but for Nathan's message, he might have overpowered his conscience, and his self-reproaches have become less frequent and agitating. More probably he was slowly ripening for re

AND NATHAN DEPARTED UNTO HIS HOUSE,.... His own house, which probably was in the city of Jerusalem, having delivered his message, and brought David to a sense of his sin, and declared to him from the Lord the forgiveness of it; yet for the honour of religion, and the stopping of the mouths of blasphemers, the death of the child is threatened and foretold, and then Nathan took his leave of him, having nothing more from the Lord to say to him: AND THE LORD STRUCK THE CHILD THAT URIAH'S WIFE BARE UNTO DAVID; for so she was, and not David's wife, when this child was begotten of her; and, as a mark of God's displeasure at the sin of adultery, the child was struck with a sore disease by the immediate hand of God: AND IT WAS VERY SICK; even unto death, as the event showed....

2. THE MESSAGE OF GOD AND DAVID'S CONFESSION AND THE BEGINNING OF THE CHASTISEMENT CHAPTER 12 _ 1. The Lord's message through Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1)_ 2. David's anger (2 Samuel 12:5) 3. Thou art the man! (2 Samuel 12:7) 4. The chastisement (2 Samuel 12:10) 5. David's confession (2 Samuel 12:13) 6. The death of the child announced (2 Samuel 12:14) 7. The death of the child and David's grie

2 SAMUEL 12. DAVID'S REPENTANCE. CAPTURE OF RABBAH (J). The section concerning Nathan (2 Samuel 12:1_ a_) is sometimes regarded as a later addition by some one who was anxious to point out and emphasize the moral; but this view is not generally held. Only 2 Samuel 12:10 need be regarded as editorial. The chapter is important because it shows that the primitive ideas as to the morality of Yahweh were very real, though they might be defective in some directions. 2 SAMUEL 12:1. Nathan, by parable and admonition, brings David's guilt home to him; he makes penitent confession. Yahweh puts away his sin, which is thought of as a kind of disease, which would of itself kill the sinner, if it were n

The Death of the Child 15. _strake_ An archaism for _struck._Cp. ch. 2 Samuel 20:10....

_God's Judgment._ 2 Samuel 12:7-23 7 And Nathan said to David, Thou _art_ the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if _that had been_ too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. 9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife _to be_ thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will rai

12:15 sick. (b-22) Or 'sick unto death.'...

DAVID'S REPENTANCE AND PARDON. THE CAPTURE OF RABBAH 4. To dress for the wayfaring man] We may notice Eastern ideas of hospitality: cp. Genesis 18:3....