CHAPTER 12

(1035 B.C.)

NATHAN THE PROPHET

¹And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. (On Nathans last visit to David, as recorded in Chapter 7, the Prophet had brought the greatest message that could ever be brought to a mere mortal. He said to David that through his lineage would come the Messiah, the King of kings [II Sam. 7:18-19]. Now God, by the same Prophet, sends the worst message that a man could ever hear. Beautifully and strangely enough, because of the Grace of God, the second Message of doom because of Davids great sin does not nullify the great Message of honor and Redemption that had been given at the beginning.) And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.

²The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:

³But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

⁴And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man who was come unto him; but took the poor mans lamb, and dressed it for the man who was come to him.

⁵And Davids anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD lives, the man who has done this thing shall surely die (the correct translation should be, A man who would do such a thing is a wretch who deserves to die):

⁶And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity (the sentence that he passed, of fourfold restitution, is exactly in accordance with the Mosaic Law [Ex. 22:1]).

DAVID IS THE GUILTY ONE

⁷And Nathan said to David, You are the man. (Abruptly, and with sudden vehemence, comes the application to David himself. So skillfully had the parable been contrived, that up to this point David had no suspicion that he was the rich man who had acted so meanly by his poorer neighbor Uriah. And now he stood self-condemned! When we pass judgment, we had better be careful, as David, that we arent passing judgment on ourselves.) Thus says the LORD God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul (consequently, his sin was worse);

⁸And I gave you your masters house, and your masters wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto you such and such things.

⁹Wherefore have you despised the Commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? (All sin is against God. It is an insult to God, a slap in His Face, a denial of His Rulership, a threat against His Kingdom. It is the ruination of all that is good.) you have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon (what David had covered, the Lord openly and fully revealed).

THE PENALTIES

¹⁰Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house; because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. (And so it was! This sentence was fulfilled in the murder of Amnon [13:28], who had been encouraged in his crime by his fathers example. Upon this followed Absaloms rebellion and death [18:14]. And finally, when, in his last hours, David made Solomon his successor, he knew that he was virtually passing the sentence of death upon Adonijah, the eldest of his surviving sons. But what a fearful choice! For had he not done so, then Bath-sheba and her four sons would doubtless have been killed.)

¹¹Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house (this was fulfilled for political purposes by Absalom, under the advice of Bath-shebas grandfather [16:22]), and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them unto your neighbour, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun (Absalom, in his evil, fulfilled this prediction [16:20-22]).

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

¹³And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD (David had a true knowledge of God and, therefore, when charged with his sin, his first thought was not the punishment that would surely follow, but the injury done to God). And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die (Gods response to true Repentance was the same as it always has been; however, that does not abrogate the penalty for sin, which, incidentally, must be left up to the Lord and not man).

¹⁴Howbeit, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto you shall surely die (considering the stigma it would have carried, the Lord did the child a favor).

THE BABY DIES

¹⁵And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriahs wife bore unto David, and it was very sick. (If it is to be noticed, over and over again, the Holy Spirit refers to Bath-sheba as Uriahs wife.)

¹⁶David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth (he hoped that the Lord would have pity and change the direction).

¹⁷And 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 (grieved as he was at the childs sickness, and at the mothers sorrow, yet his grief was mainly for his sin; and he was willing that all should know how intense was his shame and self-reproach).

¹⁸And 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 spoke 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?

¹⁹But 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.

²⁰Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the House of the LORD, and worshipped (the sweet Psalmist of Israel knew the Ways of the Lord, and the Lord accepted his worship): then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.

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

²²And 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?

²³But 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. (Every single parent who has trusted Jesus Christ as his Saviour, upon the death of a tiny loved one, can say the same identical thing, because of the price paid at Calvary and the Resurrection.)

THE BIRTH OF SOLOMON

²⁴And David comforted Bath-sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him. (Sadly, I suppose that the majority of the Church world would curse the fruit of this union called Solomon. But the Scripture says, The LORD loved him.)

²⁵And he sent by the hand of Nathan the Prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD. (Jedidiah means beloved of the Lord. This child, of all of Davids sons, would ultimately rule Israel, and oversee its greatest prosperity, while, at the same time, being a Type of Christ.)

VICTORY OVER THE AMMONITES

²⁶And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.

²⁷And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters.

²⁸Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.

²⁹And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.

³⁰And he took their kings crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on Davids head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance. (As David came to take the surrender of the king of Rabbah, his eyes, no doubt, looked at the place by the wall where Uriah had died. Quite possibly, in Davids heart, he said of Uriah, as he had said of the child who died, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.)

³¹And he brought forth the people who were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem. (It is not known exactly as to what the brickkiln actually was; however, some think it may have been where the Ammonites sacrificed their children to the god Moloch. Perhaps David put some of the people to death in this way.)