2 Samuel 12:18

_DAVID THEREFORE BESOUGHT GOD FOR THE CHILD; AND DAVID FASTED, AND WENT IN, AND LAY ALL NIGHT UPON THE EARTH._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 IT CAME TO PASS ON THE SEVENTH DAY, THAT THE CHILD DIED,.... Not the seventh day from its being taken ill, but from its birth; for it cannot be thought that David should fast seven days: AND THE SERVANTS OF DAVID FEARED TO TELL HIM THAT THE CHILD WAS DEAD; lest he should be overwhelmed with too much sorrow: FOR THEY SAID, BEHOLD, WHILE THE CHILD WAS YET ALIVE, WE SPAKE UNTO HIM; to rise from the ground, and eat food: AND HE WOULD NOT HEARKEN UNTO OUR VOICE; we could not prevail upon him to do the one nor the other: HOW WILL HE THEN VEX HIMSELF IF WE TELL HIM THAT THE CHILD IS DEAD? or should we acquaint him with it, "he will do mischief" w to himself, to his body; he will tear his flesh to pieces, and cut and kill himself; this they were afraid of, observing the distress and agony he was in while it was living, and therefore they concluded these would increase upon hearing of its...

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....

IT CAME TO PASS ON THE SEVENTH DAY, THAT THE CHILD DIED— Thus was the first instance of the divine vengeance upon David's guilt speedily and rigidly executed. Other instances of it were fulfilled in their order before his own eyes; and the dreadfullest of all the rest, _the sword shall never depart from thine house,_ sadly and successively fulfilled in his posterity; from the death of Amnon by the order of his own brother, to the slaughter of the sons of Zedekiah by the king of Babylon. Indeed, David's guilt was more signally and dreadfully punished in his own person and in his posterity, than any guilt that I ever heard or read of in any other person since Adam. The Jews are of opinion, that his own decree of repaying the robbery _four-fold,_ was strictly executed upon him. And as he was professedly punished by the death of one of his sons for the murder of Uriah, they imagine that the...

_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

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....