2 Samuel 12:7-23

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 raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.

12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

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.
16 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
17 And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

18 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?
19 But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.
20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshiped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

21 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.

22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?

23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

6.

What was Nathan's announcement? 2 Samuel 12:7

Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. The Septuagint in one of its texts adds, Who has done this! Nathan would hardly have needed to add this latter clause, when he said that David was the man that he was talking about. David caught the point. The robbery of the darling is the real point of the parable, but the guilt of the man was the thing that Nathan brought to David's attention. David had judged the man worthy of death, and then Nathan told him that he was the man he was talking about.

7.

Why did Nathan recall God's blessing on David? 2 Samuel 12:8

God had made David like the rich man of the parable who had herds and flocks. Nathan reminded David that God had given him his master's house. He had inherited everything that had been Saul's except for the bit of land that was his family's heritage. Nathan even said that David had been given Saul's wives. We have no other indication of David's possessing the concubines of Saul. Rizpah, one of Saul's concubines, had been in the care of Ish-bosheth, and Abner was charged with having tried to take her for his wife (2 Samuel 3:7). More than likely, this is a reference to the face that David had received Michal, Saul's daughter, as his wife, since there is no specific mention of David having any of Saul's wives or concubines.

8.

How had David despised the command of the Lord? 2 Samuel 12:9

One of the Ten Commandments was thou shalt not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). David had broken this commandment. He had lain with another man's wife. Another commandment was thou shalt not kill (Exodus 20:13). David had brought about the death of Uriah. It was specifically stipulated in the law that a man should not covet his neighbor's house, his neighbor's wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his ass, or anything that was his neighbor's (Exodus 20:17). David had broken all these commandments and conducted himself in a very sinful way.

9.

What penalties were pronounced? 2 Samuel 12:10-11; 2 Samuel 12:14

The penalties pronounced on David were manifold. Some were personal and immediate; some general and to be fulfilled in the future. All brought grief to David. This is a list of them:

a.

The sword should never depart from David's house.

b.

God would raise up evil against David in his own house.

c.

David's own wives were to be taken from him by a neighbor.

d.

The child which was to be born was doomed to die.

e.

The penalty of death was put away for the time, yet David suffered the indirect consequences of it.

10.

How did David receive these penalties? 2 Samuel 12:13

David cried out, I have sinned against the Lord. Echoes of this cry are found in Psalms 32:5, where David said, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin, and in Psalms 51:4 where David said, Against Thee and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest. One can only wonder if this were also in the mind of Solomon as he wrote, He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13).

11.

How would the enemies of the Lord blaspheme? 2 Samuel 12:14

David was a man of God. He was a man chosen by God to lead the people of Israel. Men round about would come to hold God Himself in disrepute because of His selection of such a man as David. It is the old story of people blaspheming the name of God as they say, Look at the preacher. See how sinful he is. Surely the God he talks about is not righteous or just. A Christian is often the only Bible a careless world will read. What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?

12.

Why did David pray against God's decree? 2 Samuel 12:16

God's promises are sometimes conditional. When man changes, God's purposes are seen in a different light. Jonah went into Nineveh preaching that in forty days the great city would be destroyed. The king and all his subjects repented of their wickedness and clothed themselves in sackcloth putting ashes upon their bodies, and fasting before the Lord. They prayed mightily unto God and repented of their evil. They stopped the wicked things which they were doing, saying, Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his fierce anger that we perish not? (Jonah 3:9). God saw their works and Nineveh was spared. The tense of the verb used in describing David's beseeching God on behalf of the child, his fasting, his going in and lying all night upon the earth, points to the fact that he made a habit of doing these things. It became his daily routine.

13.

Why did the elders interfere? 2 Samuel 12:17

The leaders of the kingdom had great influence on David and they were concerned for his physical and mental well-being. Their concern was on his behalf, but they were not trying to interfere with his spiritual life. It was the same kind of concern that Saul's servants had for him when he had eaten nothing as he made his ill-fated trip to see the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:23).

14.

Why did the servants think David's actions were strange? 2 Samuel 12:18-21

The crisis came on the seventh day, and the child died. The servants were afraid to tell David that the child was dead. They had seen his extreme grief and agony while the child was ill, and they were afraid that he would not be able to stand the shock of the news that the child had died. David heard the servants whispering, and reached the conclusion that the child had died. He asked them directly if this were so, and they affirmed that it was. At that point, David arose from the earth where he had been lying, bathed himself, anointed himself, changed his clothing, and went to the house of God to worship. After that he came back to the palace and ordered that they should give him something to eat. David's journey to the house of the Lord must have been to the temporary tabernacle which David had made to house the Ark of the Covenant. All of this was contrary to what the servants had expected. They had expected that after the child had died he would be even more vexed and grieved.

15.

Did David believe in a future state? 2 Samuel 12:23

None will doubt that David had faith in prayer. None will doubt that David believed that God could be prevailed upon to answer a fervent, earnest prayer. None can doubt that David believed in a peaceful, complete home in heaven. Did David not say, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me? (2 Samuel 12:23). His conduct after the death of the child was therefore only what might be expected. While the child lived, he was in deep anguish of soul, hoping that God would spare him. When the child died, David knew that he could not bring him back to life. His hope was thereafter fixed on a reunion in Heaven.