2 Samuel 12:1-31
1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
3 But 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,a and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
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 neighbour, 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,b 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 vexc 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 worshipped: 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.
24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah,d because of the LORD.
26 And Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city.
27 And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah, and have taken the city of waters.
28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be callede after my name.
29 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.
30 And he took their king's crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David's head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in greatf abundance.
31 And he brought forth the people that 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.
2 Samuel 12:1. The Lord sent Nathan to David. The substance of the mission, the visitations he foretold, the perfect accomplishment of them, as well from that very day as in future ages, leaves not a vestige of doubt of the divine authority of the prophet. Who but a man of God would have dared to speak as Nathan to an absolute monarch in the zenith of conquest and glory; and to add, The sword shall never depart from thy house? The child of lawless desire died presently; Absalom assassinated Amnon, and was himself pierced in the oak. Jehu slew forty two of David's house going to Jezebel's feast; and Athaliah, hearing of the death of her father and her husband, slew all the seed-royal in Jerusalem, except Joash an infant, who escaped in his nurse's arms. Thus the strokes of justice continued to fulfil the word of the Lord by Nathan till the final Babylonian captivity, when Nebuchadnezzar slew sixty six of the rebels, many of whom were of David's line.
2 Samuel 12:14. The enemies to blaspheme, by uttering slanderous speeches against religion, and against all classes of professors, as though the whole church were composed of hypocrites and deceivers. The Ammonites, on hearing of this, would be among the foremost to utter malignant words, but assuredly words of gross ignorance concerning the scrutiny of heaven, the characters of justice, and the nature and fruits of true repentance. See on Psalms 51.
2 Samuel 12:30. A talent of gold. Three hundred shekels, or seven pounds and a half, is the lowest estimate of the weight of this crown. The candlestick of the tabernacle weighed a talent. This is joined with the precious stones.אבן aben, stone; probably some large diamond, as the two in the crown of Portugal, of which fac similes may be seen in the British Museum.
2 Samuel 12:31. And put them under saws for decapitation, and made them pass before Moloch their idol, where infants had been consumed, to be burned alive in the brickkilns. These were the rebels first lawfully condemned, and the soldiers put them to death in a wanton manner, as was the practice of the gentile world, being enraged that Rabbah had sustained a siege of twenty months. Under these circumstances, could it be expected that the ringleaders of this rebellion should receive a pardon. What a mercy that David did not burn the city; what a favour that he should place Shobi, son of Nahash, on the throne. While we lament the wanton cruelties of the soldiers, surely there is no need of the rebels to complain of David. See 2 Samuel 17:27.
REFLECTIONS.
In the preseding chapter we left the victorious monarch awfully loaded with the worst of crimes; and after the first alarms and struggles of conscience, as after the cessation of acute pains, stupor seized his mind: and a more awful state can scarcely be conceived. The man so abandoned to accumulated guilt is not qualified to perform any religious duty: and if the Lord should come and surprise him in his slumber, who for ten thousand worlds would be found in his situation? So for nine months David slept, chasing away as well as he could the recollection of his sins, and the idea of Uriah's bloody ghost. But so circumstanced, life could not be life to him; nor could he rejoice in all the prosperity of his throne. All his days were spent in pensive gloom, and his anguish oft betrayed itself by secret sighs. The morning however arrived when tidings were brought of the birth of a son. This, for the moment, would elevate his soul; he would think that heaven, overlooking his sin, had blessed his marriage; that he should again taste happiness on earth, and that the mystery of his crimes would remain partially concealed. Scarcely, it is presumed, had he indulged these hopes, than Nathan solicited an audience. He entered the chamber; grief and indignation were painted in his countenance, and the king at once perceived that something calamitous had occurred. The prophet laid before him a striking case of real woe, and almost unparalleled in the annals of wickedness. It interested all the powers of his soul; for self love, which blinds us to our own sins, leaves our eyes wide open to the faults of others. The king, deeply affected, by an oath of the Lord declared that the tyrant, whomsoever he might be, should surely die. Nathan, unfolding the moral of his parable, replied, Thou art the man. And like the prophet who came to Eli, and like Daniel before Belshazzar, he recited the kindness of the Lord in placing him on the throne, and unravelled all the mystery of his sin. Nathan, like a faithful minister of God, proceeded next to pass the divine sentence, nor softened one iota of his message. He declared, because of Uriah's blood, that the sword should never depart from David's house; a sentence executed on the broadest scale, as the subsequent history will unfold. He announced that David's wives should be ravished, not secretly like Bathsheba, but openly before all Israel; and Absalom, though with different views, executed this part of the sentence. The prophet closed his awful mission by announcing a mortal sickness on the infant begotten in adultery, that no man in future might ever sin under the cloak of David's example. The monarch, thunderstruck and appalled to receive this message, and to hear those sentences from God, acknowledged the whole of his guilt. He exchanged his robe for sackcloth, and his throne for the dunghill. Grief was his food, and tears his drink. He poured forth all his soul in the fifty first psalm, for grief is eloquent, and anguish will utter its woes. He spared not himself in any thing; but made his repentance as public as his sin; and accompanied it with all the fruits in his power. Hence said Ambrose, “We have many who imitate David in his sin, but few who imitate him in repentance.”
From this case we learn many important lessons:
(1) That those who have committed secret sins, and slumber on secure and at ease, must expect a day when they are not aware, that God will send a Nathan or a judgment to spoil their joys and false repose. They had better therefore open their hearts in such a way to God or man, as would ease their conscience, and afford them repentance unto life. The counsel of some wise and holy minister is often the safest way to peace of mind.
(2) We learn from this, and from many other cases in the sacred writings, that the pardon of great and grievous sins is often accompanied with punishments which no tears, and no repentance can remove. How holy and dreadful is the God of justice! How indignant is he against men, who highly honoured by providence and grace, presume to dishonour his holy name, and cause the sons of Belial to blaspheme.
(3) While we revere the terrors of justice, we cannot but admire the fidelity with which Nathan executed his arduous mission, and pronounced the sentence of heaven. To address a monarch, and a monarch whose pleasure is little less than law, and to address him in the highest judicial style, is no common task; yet he neither softened the terms, nor apologized for his conduct. Oh that those reverend dignitaries who crowd the courts, and receive the highest favours of kings, would learn of Nathan to speak for God. Familiar with the rich, the noble, and the great, surely they cannot be ignorant of the sneers and puns daily directed against religion. They cannot but see the insults offered to the laws of marriage; and the immodesty which shows her brazen front on our theatres. Why then do they not cry aloud, and lift up their voice like a trumpet? Why then do they not speak at table to Herod? Why not reason before Felix of righteousness, temperance, and a judgment to come. Ah, the Nathans have ceased from the courts; the Pauls are found no more; nor even the Massillons to exhibit the horrors of the hero dying in his sins. But is it true? Is it really true that many of those ministers by flattering the follies of the great; by seeking preferments in preference to conversions, have led them to despise religion and its ancient ministers, because they despise its modern ministers! Woe then to the idle shepherds who eat the fat, and wear the fleece! God will require the souls of millions at their hands.
(4) We must farther regard Nathan's mission as a singular mark of God's compassion to David in his fallen state. Had the Holy Ghost never revealed the mystery of his sins, he had slumbered on, a stranger to the favours and comforts of his God. Therefore the voice which called him to repentance, and the consequences of his crimes which caused that repentance to be lasting as his life, were salutary marks of God's love. Hence every man, properly acquainted with himself, will think life short enough to mourn for foul and scandalous offences.
(5) But the sins of David were not only revealed for his sake, and to purge the throne and church of Israel, but to apprize all mankind that God will not be a party in concealment. He will stir up evil against the fallen in their own house, and in their accomplices in vice: he will bring to light the hidden works of darkness, and make manifest the secrets of the heart. He sees at midnight as at noon; he is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and consequently the most cautious cannot long conceal a crime from the public eye. Let us therefore learn to love righteousness and truth, that we may never be ashamed of the light.
(6) It is farther presumed that God revealed David's sins, to afford some sanctifying rays of hope to others who may have committed great and grievous sins. I say, sanctifying rays of hope; for though, on unfeigned repentance, followed by correspondent fruits, he will freely forgive the great part of the sins committed against himself, yet when the innocent is wronged and the weak are oppressed, he mostly accompanies pardon with such a series of punishments as induce the world to behold his purity, and revere his name. How marvellous are the characters of divine justice: the whole earth is full of his glory!