2 SAMUEL CHAPTER 12 Nathan by a parable reproveth and threateneth David, 2 SAMUEL 12:1. He confesseth his sin, and is pardoned, but the child must die, 2 SAMUEL 12:13,14: David mourneth and prayeth for it whilst life was in it; after is satisfied and cheered: the reason, 2 SAMUEL 12:15. He goeth in... [ Continue Reading ]
Noting David's many wives and concubines.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE POOR MAN HAD NOTHING, SAVE ONE LITTLE EWE LAMB; designing Uriah, with his own and only wife. Which he had bought; as men then used to buy their wives; or, had procured. Lay in his bosom; which David might take for hyperbolical expressions of his tender care of and affection to it; although there... [ Continue Reading ]
A TRAVELLER: this some make to be the devil, whom David gratified by his sin; but it rather seems added for the decency of the parable.... [ Continue Reading ]
This seems to be more than the fact deserved, or than he had commission to inflict for it, EXODUS 22:1. But it is observable, that David now, when he was most indulgent to himself, and to his own sin, was most severe to others; as appears by this passage and the following relation, 2 SAMUEL 12:31, w... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART THE MAN; thou hast committed this crime with great aggravations; and out of thine own mouth thy sentence hath proceeded, and thou art worthy of death.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY MASTER'S WIVES, or, _women_, as that word is elsewhere used; as NUMBERS 31:18. And though we read not a word of God's giving, or of David's taking, any of Saul's wives into his bosom; or, which is all one, into his bed; yet (which I think to be aimed at here) it might be according to the manner... [ Continue Reading ]
THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD, i. e. those laws of God which forbade thee to do this thing, by not giving them that respect and observance which they deserved. URIAH THE HITTITE; that valiant, and generous, and noble person. HAST TAKEN HIS WIFE TO BE THY WIFE: this he mentions amongst his other sins;... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL NEVER DEPART FROM THINE HOUSE, during the residue of thy life; as appears from the following history.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL RAISE UP EVIL, to wit, the evil of punishment. OUT OF THINE OWN HOUSE; from thy own children and family. BEFORE THINE EYES, i. e. openly, so as thou shalt know it as certainly as if thou didst see it, and yet not be able to hinder it. GIVE THEM, i.e. I shall by my providence give him power ov... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL DO THIS THING, i.e. I will execute this judgment. This God did by inclining David's heart to leave his concubines to keep his house, and so to come into Absalom's power; by giving up Ahithophel to his own carnal policy, which readily suggested to him that wicked and desperate counsel; and by... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SINNED AGAINST THE LORD; I now freely confess that sin which I have hitherto so wickedly smothered; and I have deserved all these and far heavier judgments for it; and I am more troubled for my sin against my sovereign Lord and gracious God, than for the shame and punishment that follow it. H... [ Continue Reading ]
TO BLASPHEME, i. e. to reproach both God and his people, and the true religion. For though these were not concerned in David's sin, the blame and shame of which should have been appropriated to him; yet heathens and wicked men would, according to their own evil minds and malicious hearts, fasten the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD STRUCK THE CHILD with some sudden and dangerous distemper.... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID BESOUGHT GOD FOR THE CHILD; supposing the threatening might be conditional, and so the execution of it prevented by prayer. WENT IN, to wit, into his closet, as MATTHEW 6:6, to pray solitarily and earnestly, as he had done with others. Or this word may only note his progress and continuance in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ELDERS OF HIS HOUSE; the chief officers of his kingdom and household who were there present. This excessive mourning did not proceed simply from the fear of the loss of the child; but from a deep sense of his sin, and from the Divine displeasure manifested herein; and particularly from a just ap... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE SEVENTH DAY; either, 1. From the beginning of the distemper. Or rather, 2. From the day of his birth, which is the most usual way of computation of men's days or years; for it is apparent that this happened during the time of David's fasting and lying upon the earth, 2 SAMUEL 12:20, which i... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
INTO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD, i. e. to the tabernacle, to confess his sin before the Lord, and to own his justice in this stroke and the other threatenings, and to deprecate his great and just displeasure, and to acknowledge God's rich mercy in sparing his own life, and to offer such sacrifices as wer... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
For God's threatening of the child's death might be conditional, as that was of Nineveh's destruction, JONAH 3:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE SHOULD I FAST, seeing fasting and prayer cannot now prevail with God for his life? I SHALL GO TO HIM;_ into the state of the dead, in which he is, and into heaven_, where I doubt not I shall find him.... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID COMFORTED BATHSHEBA; who was now much dejected, both for her former sin, which she truly repented of, as may be gathered from PROVERBS 31:1, &c., and for the loss of that child which was very dear to her, and which might seem to be the only tie of David's affection to her; which being now dead... [ Continue Reading ]
Either because of the Lord's love to him, as the name signifies; or because the Lord commanded him to do so.... [ Continue Reading ]
i.e. That part of the city where was the king's palace, where he ordinarily resided; though now it seems he was retired to a strong fort.... [ Continue Reading ]
The same royal city so called, because it either stood beside the river, or was encompassed with water, both for defence and delight. Although the words are by some learned men rendered thus, I HAVE TAKEN, or _intercepted_, or _cut off water from the city_; which well agrees, both with the words, et... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE IT; for having taken one part of the city, he concluded the remaining part of it could not long stand out. LEST IT BE CALLED AFTER MY NAME; lest I have the honour of taking it. Thus he seeks to ingratiate himself with the king, by pretending great care for his honour and interest.... [ Continue Reading ]
DAVID, GATHERED ALL THE PEOPLE TOGETHER; either because Joab needed more help for the storming of the city; or, at least, for the prosecution of the victory, and execution of justice upon the whole land; or because he would have them all to partake of the spoil of the city, which was there in great... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WEIGHT WHEREOF WAS A TALENT OF GOLD, or rather, _the price whereof_, &c. For as the Hebrew _shekel_ signifies both a weight, and a piece of money of a certain price; so also may _mishkal_, as proceeding from the same root. And, in general, the same words both in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin are prom... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE THAT WERE THEREIN: the words are indefinite, and therefore not necessarily to be understood of all the people; for it had been barbarous to use women and children thus; but of the men of war, and especially of those who had been the chief actors or abettors of that villainous action again... [ Continue Reading ]